Vindicate (verb)
to free from allegation or blame.
Holistic (adjective)
relating to or concerned with wholes or with complete systems rather than with the analysis of, treatment of, or dissection into parts.
Inert (adjective)
lacking the power to move.
Feasible (adjective)
capable of being done or carried out.
Afflict (verb)
to cause pain or suffering (to someone or something).
Submission (noun)
the condition of being submissive, humble, or compliant.
"I was the last to be born to that kind of submission, that expectation of ignorance" (229).
Liberate (verb)
to free (something, such as a country) from domination
Inherent (adjective)
involved in the constitution or essential character of something.
Patriarchy (noun)
a social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family, the legal dependence of wives and children, and the reckoning of descent and inheritance in the male line. More broadly, control by men of a disproportionately large share of power.
Contemptuous (adjective)
showing contempt; scornful.
"He was fourteen when we got him; now he’s seventeen, a junior in high school. He does well, though he’s sometimes contemptuous" (13).
Avaricious (adjective)
havinig or showing an extreme greed for wealth or material gain.
"Vimla’s avaricious husband-to-be with the perfect horoscope was demanding a red Maruti car from Potatoes-babu" (80).
Dhurries (noun)
heavy cotton rugs of Indian origin.
"Sundays were our days to eat too much and give in to nostalgia, to take the carom board out of the coat closet, to sit cross-legged on dhurries and matchmake marriages for adolescent cousins or younger siblings" (146-147).
Dum
(noun) Steam
(verb) To cook with steam
"There are no grandchildren for us to play with. This country has drained my son of his dum" (147).
Deliquesce (verb)
to become liquid, typically during decomposition.
Scabrous (adjective)
rough and covered with, or as if with, scabs; indecent, salacious.
Indolent (Adjective)
1. wanting to avoid activity or exertion; lazy
2. (of a disease condition) causing little or no pain
3. (especially of an ulcer) slow to develop, progress, or heal; persistent
"Even the bacteria, when they settle in his ulcers, become 'indolent'" (226-227).
Nightsoil (noun)
human excrement collected at night from buckets, cesspools, and outhouses sometimes used as manure
Crotchety (adjectives)
subject to whims, crankiness, and ill-temper
Calamity Jane (proper noun)
A US frontierswoman known for being an acquaintance of Buffalo Bill's
Sikhism (noun)
a monotheistic religion founded in Punjab in the 15th century by Guru Nanak.
