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

Today, she had awakened earlier than usual and had at once stepped out
of her bed and made way to the balcony. Since she didn’t trust her own legs, she
walked a little slowly collecting her strength from the walls, the chair knobs and
the windowsills, leaning in briefly. On her way Mrs. Mehta corrected the
lopsided frame that held within itself her doctorate degree. In the terrace she
wiped the rain drenched swing with her saree pallu and then sat tentatively so
that any rainwater gathered on the swing poles wouldn’t shower down on her.
Then she pushed herself in quick, short bursts of energy, for her toes didn’t
easily touch the ground. The swing hadn’t been oiled so it keech‐kieeched in to the
sounds of the early morning traffic, the milkman’s cycle bells and the chirping of
the birds. Since Mrs. Mehta had made the pact with herself this morning, she
continued swinging; today she didn’t stop to worry about the sound awakening
her husband asleep in his bedroom upstairs. It wasn’t clear exactly when they
started sleeping in separate bedrooms, probably after a long day at work Mr.
Mehta wanted to sleep undisturbed, free of Mrs. Mehta’s tossing and turning
and then had continued to climb the stairs to the guest bedroom every night, an
activity that had weaved itself into the Mehta household and become a habit –
the sort that grows inarguable because of its regularity. But that one‐week
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