The Bridge Home

Celina Aunty takes Rukku from Arul, who will not come into the school. Once inside, Aunty calls the doctor, who comes to the school and examines the sick children, asking Viji many questions about their illness. As the doctor talks to Aunty, Viji looks at the cross on the wall and says the Christian prayer Arul taught her as well as all the Hindu prayers her mother used to pray.

An ambulance comes for Rukku and Muthu. Viji and Aunty ride with them. Aunty tells Viji the doctor suspects the children have Dengue Fever. Viji repeatedly asks for assurance that Rukku will recover. Celina Aunty replies, “They will be well looked after” (150). She reflects on the irony of the reality that Rukku avoided most of the foul water and toxic substances the others experienced. Aunty points out that life is unjust.

Back at the school, she asks if Viji would like to write or call anyone. Viji writes a letter to her mother, leaving out the news that Rukku is terribly ill.

Viji stays in a dorm room with other girls, though she does not interact much with them. Rukku’s health is her only concern. She learns both children have Dengue Fever, though Rukku also contracted pneumonia. Muthu recovers enough to be moved to a different unit in the hospital.

Arul shows up, deciding to live in the school as well. He brings the new doll Viji bought for Rukku, and they take it with them to the hospital, learning there that Rukku died. Celina Aunty asks if she can contact the sisters’ parents and Viji says no. Arul says that Rukku was a Christian and thus should be buried rather than cremated. Viji does not believe it matters.

Viji describes Christmas at the school. All the children, including Muthu and Arul, receive gifts. The boys, who are gaining weight, get tunics they wear immediately. Viji receives a rudimentary notebook. Celina Aunty encourages her repeatedly to write, though for weeks she is unable to write anything.

The boys visit Rukku’s grave and place flowers on it. Viji does not go with them.

Viji describes the routine at the school, explaining that older children such as Arul and herself get to remain at the school until there is a safe location for them to live and they have learned a trade. The school begins the day with what seem to Viji to be interminable prayers that are spoken for three different religions, none of which she believes in.

When she inadvertently causes all the students to start yawning during prayer, the teacher takes her to Celina Aunty, who confronts the unresolved grief she is feeling. They have a frank conversation about religion and individual purpose. Aunty cautions Viji that disavowing all religion is a form of disavowing one’s own goodness.

Assigned to do dishes together, Arul and Viji seldom talk. Finally, Arul asks her how she is doing and does not accept her token response of “fine” (162). The two have a loud argument in which Arul points out that Viji did the best she could and is not responsible for Rukku’s death any more than the boys are. She finally shouts her feelings of guilt and grief, which Arul correctly predicts will make her feel better.

For the first time, she feels like writing Rukku. At Easter, she goes with the boys to decorate Rukku’s grave.

Celina Aunty takes Viji out of class one morning and drives her to a different institution that she says is for children like Rukku. Viji reacts angrily, shouting that “‘No one’s like Rukku” (Page 166). In the ensuing conversation, Aunty reveals that her sister has an intellectual disability and is living a successful life after going through this school.

They go into the school and meet the director, who shows Viji into a room with many children. Viji ends up painting and playing with Lalitha, a charming little girl who asks her to come back. Aunty offers the possibility that Viji might one day be a teacher at this school, fulfilling her longtime dream of teaching.

Arul asks Viji to walk with him. They go to the house where Kutti was adopted and see Praba, the girl who bought him, playing with him happily. Kutti is clean, playful, and very much at home. Arul says this is a lesson about how love works.

Next, they go to the bridge home. Viji calls to Rukku, thinking she is most likely to hear her voice here, though she hears no reply except the river flowing below them. Celina Aunty and Muthu are standing on the street watching for them anxiously when they return.

Celina Aunty summons Viji to her office to tell her that, while she can remain at the school, she is ready to move to a boarding school where she can prepare for her career as a teacher. Viji finds this ironic since she has just come to regard the school as her home. That evening she discusses the offer with Muthu, who does not want her to go, and Arul, who tells her to seize the opportunity.

Viji’s father shows up at the school to speak to the girls. Celina Aunty promises the school will not allow him to take her home against her will, though she has the privilege of going with him if she wishes.

He offers her a gift, which she initially refuses. She tells him the Rukku is dead, which stuns him. On his knees, defeated, he pleads with her to return home with him. She pities him and nearly relents until she senses Rukku telling her not to go. Her father promises to return to visit. She makes him promise to bring Amma.

Viji marches to see Aunty after the meeting and says she wants to go to the boarding school. That evening she shares the news with Arul, who is thrilled for her, and Muthu, who good-heartedly hopes that she fails at the new school so she will return to Celina’s.

Chapter 44 is an extended love note from Viji to her sister Rukku. She reviews the beautiful, uplifting, and brave moments they had during their adventure, concluding that though she thought she was protecting and providing for Rukku, it was actually the other way around. Rukku was teaching her and caring for her. Viji pledges to live in the present, as Rukku did, and carry forward the love of her sister, who is still present with her.

Venkatraman explains the reasons behind and the sources for the writing of the novel. As a child in India, she participated with her mother and other family members in outreach to children without homes. She relates that the narrator, as well as the other children portrayed in the book, are based upon actual children without homes and many of the events are retellings of their life experiences. Venkatraman describes the scope of the problem of child who are unhoused and hardship throughout the world and closes by writing, “this book is written with the hope that children everywhere will someday live in a world that treasures and nurtures them” (191).