The Weight of Heaven by Thrity Umrigar Page B

shade of a large tree near the cluster of houses, but they merely
    raised their heads and yawned luxuriously as the two women walked
    past. Ellie recalled what Nandita said—how rural poverty looked
    much cleaner than urban poverty—and, remembering the slums
    that she’d seen during her visits to Bombay, she agreed. Radha’s
    house had a traditional grass roof, one of the few of its kind. Most of
    the houses around hers had metal sheeting, which raised the indoor
    temperature much more than the cooling grass. But Asha had explained to Ellie that the grass roof had to be replaced each year, and
    in the last few years, the grass was not growing as abundantly as it
    always had. A few chickens pecked near their feet as Asha knocked
    on the door. A weak voice answered in Hindi, asking them to enter.
    They opened the bamboo door and walked in.
    It was dark inside the house—like many in the village, Radha’s
    house had no electricity. A kerosene lamp blazed in front of the girl,
    who sat on her haunches on the floor, which Ellie knew the villagers
    made out of a plaster of mud and cow dung. Despite the darkness
    7 8 Th r i t y U m r i g a r
    in the room, Ellie sensed that the girl appeared even more dejected
    than a few weeks ago. “ Namaste , Radha,” Asha said, and the girl
    replied, “Namaste,” as she rose off the floor. Her voice was dull, her
    movements slow.
    Ellie grabbed the girl’s hand and squeezed it in greeting, noticing the marks on her forearm as she did so. “Please to sit,” Radha
    said, her glance including both Asha and Ellie, and all three women
    sat on the floor, Radha and Asha on their haunches and Ellie crosslegged. “How are you, Radha?” Ellie asked, Asha translating for
    her.
    In reply, Radha lowered the pallov of her sari and opened a button
    on her blouse so that the other two could see the marks on her chest.
    Ellie swallowed the gasp of horror that sprang to her lips. Instead,
    she asked, “Has he always beaten you, Radha? And how long have
    you two been married?” She looked around the hut. “Who else lives
    here?”
    “We married when I was sixteen, didi ,” the girl replied in Hindi.
    “And first few years my husband was very nice. After the birth of
    my son, we were very happy.” Her face fell. “But what to do, didi ?
    He lost his job six months ago, and now we have no income. All day
    he goes out looking for the leaves, but the guards chase him away.”
    “What guards? What did he do for a living?” Ellie asked, marveling at the sudden torrent of words that spilled from Radha’s
    mouth. She looked expectantly at Asha, waiting for her to interpret
    Radha’s words. But Asha looked uncharacteristically embarrassed.
    “All rubbish she’s saying, miss,” she mumbled.
    “Hey,” Ellie said. “I need to know what Radha said. Otherwise,
    we can’t help her, can we?”
    Radha continued to speak and Asha gazed quickly from one
    woman to the next before translating. “She says her husband used to
    cut leaves from the girbal tree, make a bundle, and sell to other villages nearby, miss,” she said. “Villagers use the paste of those leaves
    for medicine. But then the company say that the trees now belong
    Th e We i g h t o f H e av e n
    7 9
    to them, not to the villagers. Put up big signs saying, ‘Private Property. No trespassing.’ So he is trying to steal some leaves when the
    guards are not looking, but they find him and give him a beating.
    Now he is afraid to go back, miss. So no moneys in the family plus
    peoples getting sick without the leaf paste.”
    Ellie felt her heart pounding. “What’s the name of the company?”
    But before Asha could reply, “It’s HerbalSolutions, isn’t it?”
    Asha bowed her head. “Yes, miss,” she said simply.
    Despite herself, she heard herself asking, “Does—does she know
    my husband is—that he works for the company?”
    Asha was twisting the pallov of her sari in embarrassment. “That
    I don’t know, miss.”
    Ellie