CHAPTER 4

Summary

• The chapter is set in 1900 in Parambil, within a new householder's kitchen.
• The bride, an unnamed character, is adapting to her new surroundings guided by the cook, Thankamma.
• Thankamma teaches the bride how to prepare local cuisines such as steamed rice and spicy curry, insisting the bride relaxes and absorbs everything.
• The bride's young husband spends his time working outdoors on the property, and doesn't engage much with his wife.
• The young husband also seems to have an association with the pulayar caste, particular Shamuel Pulayan, who works as a Pulayar foreman for the family and carries loads using a burden stone -- a traditional method of carrying heavy loads.
• The bride learns from Shamuel the history of the land and the story of a resident elephant named Damodaran.
• Thankamma's efforts to teach the bride about household life also reveal details about the family's past, including how the bride's husband was tricked out of his family home by his older brother and given the current property.
• When Thankamma is about to leave the household, the bride gets anxious and insists on having Thankamma write down some recipes, but they realise there are no pen and paper in the house.
• The bride brings lunch for her husband in the field and witnesses a group of young men (presumably Nairs, a warrior caste) challenging each other to lift a burden stone until it eventually falls. Her husband arrives, restores the stone, and challenges one of the youth to do the same.
• Upon her return, the bride discloses the incident to Thankamma who comforts her by ensuring that her husband, described as serious and reserved, is caring and would never harm her.