His name is Chandu. His father was Dewa. He discovers his mother's name when he is fourteen. He reads 'Sukki' in the death registry kept at the tehsildar's office. He's grown up without knowing his siblings' names, or even how many of them there were. The aunt in whose home he has sheltered says, "Never mind." But he waits many hours for the clerk to return with the necessary form so he can add to the registry the names his aunt gives him – 'Bidde', 'Kosa', 'Podiya', and the youngest, too young to be named, who the aunt remembers vaguely was simply called 'Bachchi'.
He is leaving the village for the first time. It is time for the one daily bus to depart, and the clerk still has not returned with the form. Chandu can no longer wait for the clerk. He boards the bus. He sits with his elbow propped on the sill and his face set in either anger or sorrow, the aunt cannot tell. Too late, she realises it is fear. She reaches, up on her toes, to touch him. And when the bus spits smoke, she takes two steps forward with it and cannot think of what to say to reassure him.
***
His aunt is the old woman who prays. She prays for him.