Chapter 2: Plant response to elevated CO2 - DRUM - University of ...

threads of magenta, scarlet, green, blue and yellow were deftly shaped into the
life that surrounded the girl, and elephants, parrots, and mango trees were all
embroidered. Small mirrors were embellished on these threads. It seemed that
the girl as a painter had expressed herself on this canvas. The mirrors glinted
against the flame of the lantern and reflected a myriad design of bright dots on
the mud walls. Megha stepped outside to change. The black ghaghra fitted her
perfectly, she was of the same height as the girl, and the choli was beautiful even
if it hung loose from the sides, it felt warm and soft against her skin.
Eager to see herself, Megha asked the girl for a mirror, and in the cracked
mirror and Megha was surprised at how different she looked— her eyes seemed
big, sunk into large, deep hollows and her cheekbones made her thin face, seem
long — the same light that imparted to the girl a softness, even a glow, seemed to
be drawing away from her, rendering her face brittle, so that it looked stitched
up all wrong and haywire in the cracks of the mirror. Maybe it is the angle,
Megha thought and turned away from the lantern, her back facing and then
caught herself, only her eyes, in the biggest wedge of the cracked mirror.
Then shivering a little, inspite of the embroidered red and green parrots
and heavy mirrorwork, she stepped into the front porch, shaking her damp hair,
splaying drops of water around the porch, on herself and leaving a straight line
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