Cracking India

It is 1942 and three- or four-year-old Lenny Sethi’s “world is compressed” (12). Lenny lives in the wealthy outskirts of Lahore, India.

One day, when Lenny’s Ayah, or nanny, pushes her in a pram, an Englishman accosts them, lecturing Ayah because Lenny looks old enough to walk by herself. Ayah shows the man the braces on Lenny’s legs: Lenny cannot walk far on her own. He continues to give unsolicited advice, only giving up when Ayah and Lenny ignore him. Lenny has noticed that Ayah is beautiful, and her curvy body constantly draws attention from men. Ayah pushes Lenny’s pram to visit her Godmother, whom Lenny adores, and Lenny leaps out of the pram to embrace her.

Lenny’s mother takes her to the hospital where the doctor, Colonel Bharucha, saws the cast off one of Lenny’s legs. Lenny’s mother is dismayed that Lenny’s foot remains deformed, but Lenny is pleased because her disability is now less visible. Because of this, at school, when the teacher asks Lenny and her cousin which of them is disabled, they both point to the able-bodied cousin, allowing Lenny the chance to play.