Pictures Through the Rearview Mirror

By Shibani Ghose Chotani

An Indian scientist moves his family to America in this debut novel. It is September 1967 when Samen Bose; his wife, Monu; and their two children leave India for the distant shores of the United States.....The family settles in a small town in the Northeast, which manages to be much different than Calcutta.....this sunniness is depicted in heartwarming passages.........it excels in its portrayal of vivid details. And these details are telling.....While quiet at times, this story deftly portrays the countless nuances of the immigrant experience.
Kirkus Reviews


Pictures Through the Rearview Mirror is an album of memorable moments a family experienced while living in a small town in America in the years 1967-1970. The stories portray the familys acquaintance to a new kind of life and a community of unique people they met and lived with. They were created from recollections of moments orally narrated from jottings made in journals. They were enhanced through fictional characteristics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Feb 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543701784

Shibani Ghose Chotani

Shibani Ghose Chotani was born in Calcutta. She graduated from Woodstock school, Mussoorie, India. Shibani studied German in Jawaharlal Nehru University(Delhi), University of Heidelberg (Germany) and later lived in France where she studied French and continued German at the University of Sorbonne. She taught German for several years with teaching certification from the Goethe Institute. Shibani has been living in the United States since 1985. She completed her Masters from the University of Rochester, NY. She taught in elementary schools, community college, and later in private language schools. She enjoys reading, singing, travel, gardening and volunteering in community work in her city. Shibani has published two books – Scattered Petals (2019), and Pictures Through the Rearview Mirror (2018). Shibani lives in California with her husband, daughter and her dog.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Calcutta

M arriage was the highlight of conversations between Monu and her family soon after she completed the MSc exam. It was about a proposal that came from a family friend about the prospective husband, Samen Bose.

He is a good man from an educated family. We should not disregard the family’s interest in you, Monu’s older sister, Bina, mentioned to Monu. She was fourteen years older than Monu and harbored her youngest sister like her own child. Bina wanted nothing more than to see her sister settled in marriage with a qualified man who would take care of her. Marriage, after all, was an important step in a woman’s life, and Monu had reached the marriageable age of twenty-one. What could be more appealing than a highly educated man of twenty-eight years returning from Europe after the completion of his doctoral degree from a reputed university? Bina repeated the line to Monu.

When do they want to meet? asked Monu.

Tomorrow. They liked your photo.

At first, Monu was reluctant with the idea of meeting a man she did not know. So soon?

At least allow yourself the chance to meet him in person. We will decide after.

Monu could not imagine forming an attachment with someone she did not know, yet she knew her family would remain anxious about her present comfort of keeping her distance from eligible young men.

Samen’s relatives and friends spoke highly of him, uttered Monu’s oldest brother, Dipen.

Monu heard the same spoken lines when her two older cousins and sisters’ marriages were being arranged. Everyone spoke exceptionally high of the grooms; it almost sounded like all girls got perfect grooms. She realized it was how the adult family members reassured themselves listening to exemplary words of admiration.

He wishes to take you out for an afternoon tea if everything works out, Bina spoke gently, inserting her favorable thoughts to the possibility.

Even though the idea sounded romantic and adventurous at first, Monu had no idea what he was really like. From his photograph, he appeared reasonably attractive according to the standards her parents placed on physical appearance. But his educational qualifications superseded everything for her parents. Even Samen’s cultivated mannerisms were given a lot of weightage along with his swimming and adventurous hiking skills even though Monu knew how her own family’s gallantry was limited to leisurely boat trips on lakes or beach walks by the seaside.

Khoob bhalo chelay! Monu heard her eldest brother, Dipen, tell her mother. She had to be fully pleased about the boy in whose hands she would place her daughter.

Would he leave India to work in a foreign country? Monu asked, knowing that the boy had lived and studied in a foreign country.

We don’t know. But whatever he does, he will have a promising future, Dipen told her thoughtfully. He was the oldest of the siblings. Gentle at heart, he was somehow convinced an independent, educated man like Samen would reach high in his career and that it would also make his sister’s life full of contentment.

Monu felt a certain excitement in her family’s confidence on Samen, a man outside her family circle, she had never been with men other than her cousins and brothers. Monu was accustomed to certain traditions her family followed. The prospective husband was going to be different. What was more, the man could be her life partner. Despite, he was still a stranger to her, he had no idea about her likes, dislikes and everything she was as a person, it was an arranged relationship.

Never underestimate a woman’s strength and sensibility in a relationship. Monu’s mother sounded somber and confident. I believe you have the qualities.

Monu was most agreeably surprised when she met Samen for the first time. He had an above-average height, light-tan skin, and overall likable facial features. His amiable expression suited to her reasoning of a rational, sociable, and deep-thinking person. He displayed a quickness of mind, in particular, in the diverse topics of conversation he initiated with her family members. She found him remarkably unconventional as she observed the creative ways he made admiration towards Monu clearly obvious. He was certainly attracted to her composed independent personality, her attractive face, and her placid demeanor.

Jokingly, he asked Monu’s sister if he could have her permission to take Monu out for an afternoon tea alone. He promised to return her on time. Monu admired his artful mannerisms. She watched Bina’s face, wishing she would be reasonable with his cordial request and not impose restrictions.

Amused by the request, Bina told Samen that he could have tea with Monu as long as he liked. She would not keep track of time.

Thank you! I was hoping you would say that. Samen looked at Monu and smiled at her bashfully.

Samen and Monu were married after six months.

After eleven years of marriage, living in Calcutta, and having two children, nine years old daughter Tara and five years old son Topu, Samen accepted the invitation from a renowned scientific research laboratory in America. When he first told Monu, she thought it was a good advancement for Samen’s career. She was delighted.

But quickly, as the days passed, her feelings started to dwindle, and the reality set in. I would be far from Calcutta and everyone!

She could not imagine living in a foreign country. She had barely seen places far from Calcutta. Before her marriage, their annual holiday trips were either to Lakhimpur in Assam or to Puri during the Puja break when everyone preferred the refreshing air of the countryside and sea-side beaches away from the humdrum of city life. They lodged in bungalows, even brought with them the family cooks, who prepared the daily meals and kept them aware of local news happening around. After her marriage, it was Darjeeling with family friends, cherishing the mountains and the reputed tea estates or taking horse rides on hilly paths with the help of local Nepalese men and women. Those short trips to natural landscapes felt unusually refreshing from what she was used to in the metropolis. She felt invigorated in spirit and immersed herself in cherishing the magnificent views of snowcapped mountains and the landscapes with pines and ferns. There was something calming about the change of place; it did not take effort to adjust.

Yet now, the mere fact that she had to travel for hours in a plane to reach America appeared like a weighty decision that she needed time to reflect on.

Tara and Topu would experience a new world at a young age, said Samen when he saw Monu occupied with stacking the neatly folded shirts, pants, ties at one side of the bed. There was a lot on her mind; she did not wish to show her feelings openly. She was careful.

Would we come home for Durga Puja? Monu asked softly even though she was prepared to hear no from Samen.

Samen came close. Standing behind her, he put his hands gently on her shoulders. It was not often he got private time with Monu in the joint-family environment of his four brothers, their wives and his parents. Even the young children, who walked in and out of rooms, and the domestic helpers, who would suddenly appear to ask about what fruits and vegetables to buy from the market. It was their normal home life, yet Samen felt committed to recognize Monu’s feelings. She was much younger to him, and the only home she knew was Calcutta, the established sheltered place of her connections. Any other place was insignificant.

We will have to see, Samen spoke carefully. He knew it would be unlikely.

Samen had stepped out of India for doctoral studies at a young age. He was familiar with the European style of living. His own outgoing personality allowed him to take full command of European languages and extend himself enthusiastically with people in academic circles. He devoured hiking, motorbiking and skiing trips with his closest European friends during the student years. But now he was not sure how Monu, with their two children to look after, would adjust in a new place where she would not know anyone. He, himself, barely knew what the town would be like where they would live. He was invited to America on a scientific assignment and he was aware of the amount of work he would be occupied with. Trips to India would not be convenient, he was certain.

We often have to get acquainted with the unknown, but there is also a good that comes out of it. It was what Monu expressed to Samen listening to the welcoming letter of the invitation from America.

She felt proud of the honor given to him. It was Samen’s first trip to America, to a reputed place of scientific work. He would be the sole Indian scientist. The more Monu thought about Samen’s future, the more she did not want to dwell on uncertain thoughts, to lose hope for the favorable aspects of a new place in a foreign country that would be her temporary home for a few years.

She made everything seem agreeable in front of her children and her family members for the journey they were about to begin. She even thought that the independent living in a new country would give her a chance to experience a kind of separate life from her family she had not lived before. But, in between those persuading thoughts, she remembered her parents, her sisters and brothers, her joint family of in-laws, her friends whom she would not see or spend time with. She knew it would be an adjustment for Tara and Topu. Despite, she did not feel the urgency to draw attention on the subject. It was in those moments she remembered her eldest brother’s inspiring words.

The distance that you feel is all in the mind. Never allow adverse feelings to get in your way. This kind of opportunity does not come to many people. You will soon surround yourself with people in America, live the life in a young country with a spirited culture we read and hear about, there will be much to see and learn, cherish each day of your stay. We will eagerly wait to learn about America in your letters.

The Pan American flight was on September 1967, leaving Calcutta after midnight. The aircraft stood far from the airport building, and the shuttle bus sped through the dark humid air, transporting the family near the humongous aircraft standing with flickering lights.

Tara was in awe. She had never seen such an immense machine in her life. Just looking at the size of the aircraft overwhelmed her. She stared motionless just as the bus stopped in front of the stairs to the aircraft. Everyone hurriedly walked down the bus steps and started walking up to the aircraft’s entrance door.

Monu walked up slowly with Tara and Topu. Samen followed from behind. At the entrance door of the aircraft, Tara was instantly stunned by the gracious and beautiful air hostess in a blue-and-white uniform with a cap on her head. Immediately, she remembered the photos of women in her mother’s English magazines on knitting designs, the woman looked like one of them in her perfect attire and pleasant smile. The air hostess greeted them and directed to their seats.

Stepping inside and looking at the long aisle in front of her, Tara at once sensed the alien surrounding. Men and women, with straight faces, sat silently in their seats. Light music played as a backdrop to the stillness. A queer sense of tension started developing in Tara. Her heart throbbed as she walked to her seat. Her brother followed behind her. She reached the seat number and took the seat by the window. She had already decided on the arrangement since she knew she could secretively embrace her feelings of heavyheartedness looking out the window more than her brother. He preferred to look at the engaging things inside the plane than the darkness outside. He sat next to her and Monu took the seat next to Topu. Samen sat across the aisle from Monu, he was completely at ease and assuredly smiled and nodded as he conversed with Monu. Tara stared at the distant lights of airport’s building. She wondered if her uncles and aunts could see her, she waved her hand, just in case they did. They had all come to see them off at the airport. Her aunts had wept as they hugged and kissed Tara and Topu. The younger uncles and aunts touched Samen and Monu’s feet as a Bengali gesture of respect when saying good-bye, they squeezed Tara and Topu’s cheeks out of affection. At that time Tara wished they were not so emotionally expressive, but now, she teared up thinking about them. Outside, it was pitch-dark. She saw no other aircraft around. She gazed dolefully at the bus driving away towards the building.

Tara kept listening to the soft music inside the aircraft, and a strange blend of feelings started to deepen inside her. She looked at her brother. He was staring at the fan and light buttons on top. She looked at the other passengers. They all sat immobile like statues. Some had their eyes closed; others just stared blankly in space. No one talked.

Then all of a sudden, there was a loud noise as the engine started. The sounds got louder, then the noise deflated, and the lights dimmed inside. She felt the aircraft passively moving back. Tara gazed outside, the buildings were moving farther away. Now it suddenly felt true - she was leaving Calcutta. As the plane indolently moved farther towards the runway, a deep hollow darkness emerged outside. The buildings and the lights were completely out of sight.

Maybe it is to conceal what I am leaving behind, Tara thought. She could not trace a single light, a building or even a person. She now had to anticipate what was ahead. It was a distant place….America.

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Chapter 2

The First Weekend in America

T he clouds listlessly drifted across the gray sky. Rain started to cease, clearing away the dullness, when the Pan Am flight landed early afternoon at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in September 1967. It was the longest air journey Samen, Monu, and their two children had ever made; they had a few days’ stopover in Europe.

Monu was not tired; it was the drifted, befuddled feeling that remained lodged inside her. Far from the familiarity of things she recognized, her wistful, hazy thoughts remained restrained, barring the senses from being animated. As the plane taxied toward the gate, Monu took out the comb and the compact powder from her purse. She combed her hair. She made a loose bun at the back as she normally did, keeping the hair in one place. She lightly powdered her face, looking at the mirror on the round powder box. She thought she still looked energized considering the fragmented sleep and the schedule variations she underwent from the start of the journey.

Monu passed the comb to Tara and told her to tidy her hair. Topu had short hair; his hair never looked uncluttered. Samen was quietly checking his diary and jotting notes. Looking at him, someone would think he traveled as an everyday activity. He knew what to do even if it was his first time in a place; it was how he was.

Monu put the comb and the compact powder inside the purse. She glanced at the black-and-white photograph of her parents tucked inside a small envelope with the gold chain that her mother gave her to wear on the journey. Monu had taken it off before going sightseeing in Rome thinking that the gold chain stood out in public places. It was the same hesitation she had on wearing expensive jewelry in crowded places in Calcutta.

Besides, who would even notice or compliment me in places filled with tourists? Monu thought. The sari was noticeably appealing than the bright-gold chain around her neck.

They entered the airport. Signs and bright lights were all they saw as they walked toward the immigration counters. Tara noticed how everyone walked briskly, focused on one direction, walking straight in front as if they were supposed to follow an imaginative line. No one walked irregularly, stared at others or said anything. Certainly, there was no one dressed like her mother in a sari. She did not see children like she saw in rail stations or bus stands in Calcutta, everywhere, chaperoned by their parents. All she heard was the sound of footsteps silently approaching from behind or moving forward. Passing them every time were well-dressed tall fair people—mostly men, few women. She noticed how much behind her family was in walking than the rest, especially her mother in a sari. It suddenly felt strange.

People walk fast here. My family could never walk like them, Tara thought.

The checking of their passports and long-stay paperwork went faster than expected, and after a short while, they exited the building after picking up their luggage.

William Newton and his wife, Margaret, waited at the arrival gate with bouquets of flowers and boxes of chocolates to welcome their guests and drive them to their suburban home. It did not take them long to recognize the family. They came forward as they saw Monu in a sari and Samen next to her. William Newton was Samen’s acquaintance in the same field of work, and he invited Samen and Monu to spend the first three nights in their home after arrival. They were a few years older in age to Monu and Samen. Traditional and dignified, they carried friendly conversations with Monu and Samen, enquiring about the journey, their stay in Europe, and whether they were ready for the two-hour drive to their home.

Tara and Topu were greeted with affectionate hugs and loving words. It was Margaret’s first time meeting an Indian family. She admired Monu’s sari instantly, feeling the silk texture and appreciating the designs that seemed unique to her eyes. She spoke to Monu about her two daughters, who were excited and anticipating what their Indian guests would be like.

William had parked the car close by to load the luggage, and as soon as everything was in and everyone was seated inside, he maneuvered the black Cadillac Coupe de Ville out of the airport. The car seemed immense in size to Monu, all her life she rode the largest Indian car, the Ambassador. What she now saw surprised her. She felt like a celebrity sitting inside the spacious elegant car with Samen and the children. They drove through parts of New York City then on to interstate highways with lanes of speeding cars.

They traveled farther toward the Newtons’ home, passing local towns and commercial areas, and the surroundings became more sparse and devoid of people. They drove on roads with very few cars and sometimes through countryside with farmlands visible on both sides of the road. The car’s speed stayed constant, and there were no jerks or bumps on the roads along the way.

Even the isolated places have maintained roads, Monu thought.

As