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Chapter 1

• Ashima Ganguli goes into labor in her apartment in New York when her water breaks.

• Ashima's husband, Ashoke, stops his studies and takes her to the hospital in a taxi.

• At the hospital, during labor, Ashima is alone for the first time in her life.
• In India, women in labor are surrounded by family members and in American hospital, Ashima misses that close support.

• Ashima does not speak English well and does not converse with the other women in labor, making her labor even more difficult.

• Ashima is afraid while in labor, but is befriended by a nurse.
• While in labor, Ashima recalls meeting her husband when he visited her family home in India.

• While waiting for the baby's birth, Ashoke recalls a train accident he was in as a young man.

• Ashoke was reading a book by the Russian writer Gogol before the accident and believes...

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