Horrible spoilers follow, but I know I have trouble keeping the characters straight, and I imagine some of you do too, so for those who want some assistance with the facts, here's the family timeline I've been putting together so far:
SPOILERS FOLLOW!
- 1942 fall - Samiksha and Arvind meet
- 1943 spring - Samiksha and Arvind marry
- 1943 summer - Arvind moves to Boston
- 1943 November - Samiksha pregnant
- 1944 May - Samiksha graduates
- 1944 June - Laila born
- 1944 September - Samiksha and Arvind move to Philadelphia
- 1945 - Lekha born
- 1946 July - Leilani born
- 1946 - Samiksha and Arvind move to New York
- 1947 - Latika born
- 1948 - Luluah born (v. difficult birth)
- 1949 - Samiksha and Arvind move to Chicago
- 1950 - Samiksha starts teaching at Lab School
- 1951 - Lakshmi born
- 1954 - Leilani sees father (Arvind) kissing blonde woman (Carol Sawyer)
- 1955 - "The Princess in the Forest"
- 1956 October - Leilani kisses Jesus
- 1962 - Arvind decides to stay in Chicago, "Other Cities"
- 1962 September - Laila starts college
- 1963 September - Lekha starts college, Latika starts college
- 1964 - Laila secretly marries Michael, another sophomore, doesn't tell anyone
- 1965 - 1967 - "Pieces of the Heart"
- 1965 - Laila miscarries
- 1966 June - Laila graduates college, tells parents about marriage, moves in with Michael
- 1966 June - Latika graduates college, v. bright
- 1966 July - Latika marries Arjun, twenty years older, English professor, "Acts of Faith"
- 1966 September - Latika starts grad school, history, Laila starts med school
- 1967 January - Lekha marries Suresh
- 1967 - Leilani graduates college, starts working as secretary, career as poet
- 1967 - Nihal born to Lekha/Suresh
- 1967 December - Laila miscarries again, is told she shouldn't try to have c hildren
- 1968 February - Shefali born to Latika/Arjun
- 1969 - Latika graduates grad school, takes a year's sabbatical
- 1970 - Laila graduates med school, Latika starts job at Northwestern as history professor
- 1969 July - 2000 July - Lakshmi marries Raksha - "Lakshmi's Diary"
- 1970 February - Chaya born to Lakshmi/Raksha
- 1973 - Lulu marries Venu
- 1980 December - Sanjeev born to Lulu/Venu
- 1981 March - Raksha dies in car accident
- 1981 March - Savitha born prematurely to Lakshmi/Raksha
- (no more cousins born after her)
- 1981 - May - Latika dies in chidlbirth, along with child
- 1986 - Shefali starts college - "The Light at Dawn"
- 1995 - Sanjeev and Savitha first have sex (both fourteen)
- 1998 September - Savitha marries Sanjeev (both seventeen) and moves to Berkeley - "Savitha"
- 1998 October - Lakshmi calling Savitha in Berkeley
- 1999 April - Chaya starts affair with Daniel - "Bodies in Motion"
- 1999 spring - Sanjeev and Savitha decide to visit Sri Lanka in the summer
- 2000 April - Minal writes to Chaya - "Minal in Winter"
- 2000 July - Chaya leaves for Davis, California; Lakshmi sends her letter/story
