Chapter 1, City by the Sea Summary

Although Dina Dalal avoided reminiscing about her past, she does indulge herself occasionally and thinks back to the times that she was Dina Shroff. She was the younger of two children, and her older brother, Nusswan, who was nine years her elder, took care of her and her mother after her father had died treating villagers. Her father, Dr. Shroff, had been well known for his ambition and dedication to his career as a general practitioner, and Dina, very much a daddy's little girl, had admired and respected him and modeled herself after him. Now responsible for both her and their mother, Nusswan ruled with a heavy hand, gradually assigning more and more chores to Dina. Meanwhile, their mother's mental health deteriorated, and Dina found herself having to remind her mother to carry out everyday...