Ice Candy Man

Lenny’s mother and father have been married for about 6 years; her mother adores her father, calling him “Jana,” from the word “jan,” meaning “life.” Lenny appreciates her deformity because only she is allowed to sleep with her mother, a coveted intimacy.

Lenny and her mother are awakened early one morning by Ayah, whose real name, we learn, is Shanta (21). Papoo, the daughter of the Sethis’ sweeper, Moti, has again been beaten unmercifully by her mother, Muccho. Ayah carries Lenny, who is still wearing the heavy cast from her recent surgery, as Lenny’s mother rushes to the Sethi children’s nursery, where Papoo lies unconscious, pale, and lifeless. Lenny’s mother ensures that Papoo goes to the hospital; Papoo stays there for two weeks for a concussion. Normally cheeky, defiant, and full of life, Papoo is about 8 years old, but she is Lenny’s size—malnourished, small for her age, and grossly mistreated by her mother.

Lenny’s parents take her to Colonel Bharucha’s to have the cast removed. To Lenny’s relief, her foot remains “gratifyingly abnormal” (24). Her worst nightmare would be to lose the precious deformity that brings her so much attention and special treatment. However, when her parents lament her inability to attend school like other children, Colonel Bharucha reassures them that she will live a happy and fulfilled life as a wife and mother, and that there is “no need to strain her with studies and exams” (25). Furthermore, he blames the British for bringing polio into India. Shocked, Lenny hears her first criticism of the British and of their governing of India. Only 200 Parsee live in Lahore, with only 120,000 world-wide, and typically, the Colonel encourages the community to safely adapt to their environment: “ ‘hunt with the hounds and run with the hare!’ ” (28). The idea that the Colonel, the de-facto leader of the Parsee community in Lahore, would talk of independence and British failings foreshadows the coming Quit India independence movement. 

On the way to Queen’s Park for a daily outing, Lenny witnesses the Salvation Army band exiting its compound. To her, the band looks like "a slick red and white caterpillar”: a disturbing vision (28). At the park, Ayah’s many admirers gather around her, and Lenny learns to understand the subtle clues and communication among the men vying for Ayah’s attention and between Ayah and various men. Lenny comments that this is how she learns to be observant and to understand the undercurrents of communication between men and women, including sexuality. After all, “Things love to crawl underneath Ayah’s sari” (28). Ayah’s admirers and friends include men from all faiths and all walks of life: the cook from a grand English hotel, a Hindu masseur, the Muslim Ice-candy-man, the Sikh zookeeper, and a gardener.

Lenny’s cousin also teaches her many things, most memorably showing her his genitals and allowing her to shock herself with electricity.

At age 5, Lenny reports that she suddenly notices that she has a brother, Adi, who is 4 years old. He is as beautiful as she is ugly; she strives to get and hold his attention, but often fails. He goes to regular school, and he leads a life separate from hers.

Now that cold weather is arriving with winter, the Ice-candy-man changes professions and identity: now he sells parrots. Though the Ice-candy-man takes Ayah, along with Lenny and Adi, to restaurants, and attempts to woo her in other ways, Ayah only tolerates him: “With his thuggish way of inhaling from the stinking cigarettes clenched in his fist, his flashy scarves and reek of jasmine attar, he represents a shady, almost disreputable type” (37). When he holds Adi upside down by his ankle, threatening to drop him unless Ayah consents to go to the movies with him, she consents, to save Adi, but then chases the Ice-candy-man off by hitting him with her sandal.

In the summer, the Sethi family goes to the Murree at the foot of the Himalayas to escape the heat. This summer, in May 1944, they hear the announcement of the end of WWII in Europe over the radio. The family returns to Lahore to attend a Jashan prayer celebration. The heat in the city is incredible, over 116˚ F. After the religious ceremony, Colonel Bharucha gives a rousing speech in which he encourages the Parsees to side with whatever majority group ends up ruling Lahore. independence, long promised by the British to arrive at the conclusion of WWII, will soon arrive.