Chapter 1: The Portrait of a Lady

The grandmother of the author did not speak to them before her death. The night before she died, she did not pray while singing homecoming songs and beating the drum, as she was not ready to waste time. She laid peacefully in her bed praying and telling beads and ignored the protests of her family members.

The dead body of the author’s grandmother was surrounded by thousands of sparrows which did not chirrup. They did not even notice the bread crumbs which were thrown by the author’s mother to feed them. They quietly flew away once the corpse of the grandmother was carried away. Hence, this way the sparrows expressed their sorrow when the author’s grandmother died.