Unaccustomed Earth Questions

5. When Sudha was born, their parents had not settled down in America yet, and therefore, did not offer as much care and time as they did when Rahul was born. Being the eldest, Sudha also had to take on a lot of responsibility for Rahul, and to help out their parents. Because Sudha did not have such a great childhood, she had helped make Rahul's childhood great however jealous she was of it. Rahul and Sudha both reacted differntly to the "perplexing fact of [their] parents' marriage" [p/ 137]. Sudha had worried over their lack of emotion and interaction between their parents while Rahul had remained distant and impartial. Sudha is attracted to Roger because he is responsible and mature, a reflection of her own personality; while Rahul is attracted to Elena because life with her is risky and exciting, a reflection of his own personality.

6. Sang is just about the complete opposite of Paul. Instead of spending her time studying or working, she spends it socializing. She lives in a different world than Paul, instead of worrying over her studies, she worries over relationships, and constantly receives marriage proposals. Therefore, Paul became intrigued by Sang, who lived a life Paul didn't have. I think that Paul got involved with Sang's relationship with Farouk just because he really wanted to help Sang. Otherwise, he would have told Sang about Deidre right away instead of trying to hint it and ease it into her. Lahiri used the title "Nobody's Business" to show the Paul's dilemma of whether to get involved or not. To me, this title shows that although other people's business may be "Nobody's Business", because we are all in some way or other connected/influenced by each other, involving ourselves to other people may not be such a bad thing.