Content Warning: This section discusses parental abuse and ableism. It also replicates, in direct quotes from the source material, some offensive language surrounding physical and intellectual disability.

Sleep evades Remy Wadia, who has just arrived in Bombay, India, from Columbus, Ohio. He lies in bed at his friends Jehangir “Jango” and Shenaz’s place. He has not visited home or his mother, Shirin, since his father, Cyrus, passed away three years ago. He hopes that things will go better between him and Shirin this time around, as he doesn’t have to act as a buffer between his parents. Remy remembers a visit to the zoo as a child. His parents had been fighting, and when he ran to hug a teary Shirin, she pushed him away. Cyrus berated Shirin for venting her anger toward him on their son and took Remy to the zoo as a consolation.

Remy showers and gets ready for the day as Jango and Shenaz feed him a scrumptious breakfast. They chat about Monaz, Shenaz’s 19-year-old niece whom Remy is here to meet. She is a college student and didn’t realize that she was pregnant until she was five months in. Her father, Shenaz’s brother, is very conservative, and Shenaz doesn’t know what he would do if he found out.