11On the morning of the next day, I woke up early to a voice calling the two maids: ‘Miri, Luza, Miri, Luza.’ I didn’t hear either answering. The same voice started angrily calling someone else, but I couldn’t make out the other name. I went to the bathroom, which was between my room and the room of Raju and Babu. Old Babu was looking at me through the kitchen window. I ignored him. In the inner courtyard Raju was holding a hose and spraying water on the floor to wash it. He looked at me too. They both looked suspicious of me, as if to say ‘Who’s this intruder?’ My self-confidence replied, ‘I’m one of the family.’ I felt that even the door of the bathroom I shared with Raju and Babu saw me as an intruder on their space. Neither of them approached me to talk to me, and I didn’t take the ini
