The Bridge Home

Rukku is repulsed by the stench of the garbage heap. She sits beneath an acacia thorn tree stringing beads together as Viji and the boys wade into the garbage mountain.

Viji’s feet disappear as she walks into the pulpy mound of waste. After working all day in the stench and waste, she accumulated about half as much as Arul and Muthu. They continually encourage and compliment her on her work.

When they are finished collecting recyclables for the day, the children pool what they have gathered. Viji tries to prevent Rukku from participating in the sorting because of the sharp edges of the trash until Arul intervenes. Watching Rukku sort, Viji realizes she underestimated her sister. She is jealous as well of the happy exchange between Arul and Rukku. Soiled and smelling awful, she wonders if they will ever recover from the aftereffects of the garbage mountain.

When Rukku resists going to the Himalayas trash heap the next morning, the boys lead the girls through town to the Blue Hills dump on the other side of town. They pass a town with shelters built out of every imaginable material.

With the ocean visible in the distance, they arrive at the Blue Hills and start collecting refuse. A small boy, Sridar, demands that Viji leave and spits on her when she refuses. Kumar, a young adolescent, intervenes but tells the four children this is not their location to gather trash. Arul argues with him briefly and Kumar concedes. At the end of the gathering trash, Viji ends up barefoot like the boys when her shoes disappear completely in the muck.

As Arul goes to the trash collector to sell their junk, Muthu leads the girls past the rubbish heap to the beach where they encounter multitudes of people and rows of vendors.

Rukku, who loves the color green, wants a green balloon. Viji refuses, saying they do not have enough money. Muthu helps Rukku to understand how money works. She responds by saying she wants to sell the necklaces she has made of beads. Spreading a half-dozen necklaces, eventually she sells almost all of them to college girls who are walking along the beach enabling her to proudly buy her balloon.

Arul is stunned at the amount of food, clothing, and money the three children possess when they return to the bridge. Rukku serenely releases the green helium balloon she purchased as the other children watch in surprise. Viji notes how she is changing in several positive ways in their new setting.

After they eat, the children discuss what to do with the money they have leftover. Muthu wants to go to the movies. Viji wants to save it. Arul asks how they can save it. They discuss their philosophies of whether they should save money, hope for better futures for themselves, and be prepared for difficult days. Viji hides the remaining money in a pothole in the bridge.

While Muthu and Rukku sleep, Arul steps out onto the bridge and Viji joins him. They look down at the river which appears silver at night. In their conversation, Arul compliments Viji on her storytelling and relates that his village priest was a great storyteller when he told stories from the Bible.

He speaks about his family and explains they were killed in a tsunami. He takes comfort in his belief that they will be reunited in heaven after he dies. Arul wonders why God did not take him. He was afraid to go out onto the dry seabed with the others when the ocean receded before the big incoming wave. He speculates that he was left behind because God wanted him to be friends with the other children.

Viji remarks that she understands now why he has such absolute faith: It allows him to hold onto his family. Viji realizes she is extremely attached to Arul and Muthu, that they are a bonded family.

The next morning, Viji argues that they should all start learning to string beads. The boys respond that they cannot depend on necklace sales, but that trash will always be there. They say that Rukku can make beads while they collect refuse.

The other group of ragpickers, led by Kumar, show up at the Himalayan garbage mountain, where they work side-by-side through the day. As they are sorting their trash at the recycling shop, the young troublemaker Sridar steals some trash from Muthu, for which Kutti bites him on the ankle.

As the children wrangle over their collected trash, the shop owner appears and begins to ask questions about the two girls. Sridar tells him the girls live on a bridge. Though this seems to make no sense to the trash collector, Viji finds this ominous.