Book Update: Chapters 8-14

Reading through chapter 14, I had quite a bit more thoughts and reactions to the story. To start off chapter 8, Shiva and her mother take a trip from Nandipuram, which is their hometown, to a placed known as the gurukulam school. This is will Parvati will be spending the next years of school. At first I was nervous for Parvati, because she may not fit in to a new place with different people who were more than likely different than she was. Once she arrived at school and her mother had left her, she realized that she wasn't alone. Parvati ends up meeting four other girls who were as gifted as she was. I thought that this was a really good thing because maybe she will make new friends and not be left out and excluded because of her special talents. Months pass, and Parvati is doing fine with understanding her new schedule. However, she has found a new talent that excludes her even more: She can understand animals. Her friend Nalini is the only person that does not laugh at her for it. To me, this seemed really hurtful because nobody seemed to accept it, but it was also very relieving that Parvati had one friend she could rely on. Parvati had also received some letters from family members thanking her for the money and that Venkat, who was her oldest brother, was going to be married soon. It was great to see her family appreciating her actions and trying to stay in touch with her as well. I had expected her family to kind of forget about her being away as school. One very tragic event happened when her closest friend, Nalini was in the bird sanctuary and was taken by Mayappan. At first it wasn't clear to me why Mayappan had taken her, but then it hit me. She had told Parvati that she had met a "handsome" man in the bazaar earlier, and Mayappan was the man. From that point and forward, Parvati dedicated herself to her education and dance skills. She found out that she would be performing for her arangetam. At first I had no clue what an "arangetam" was, but it meant that it would be her first performance. Her family would also be able to come. After her great performance (which her mother missed), she received the offer to perform at the Raja's birthday party, which was great because her hard work was finally paying off. When she got off the train at home, all she wanted to do was see her family. She spent that week with her family and tried to cherish the time she had with them.