Funny Boy

One of Arjie’s female relatives, Radha Aunty, receives a marriage proposal from a man named Rajan Nagendra; the Nagrendras are friends of Arjie’s family. The family approves of the marriage because Rajan is an engineer and his family has no history of mental illness. Arjie reads Janaki’s love comics, which tell the romantic story of Mani-lal and Shakuntala. Arjie imagines Radha Aunty and Rajan Nagendra’s romance will unfold in a similar fashion, and he eagerly looks forward to the wedding festivities like cake, bridesmaids, and fancy saris. Since the last chapter, Ammachi has taken it upon herself to fix what she believes is Arjie’s “devil temperament” (42) by occupying him with household tasks. We learn that Ammachi had beaten Arjie with a cane for his supposed misbehavior.

Meanwhile, Radha Aunty leaves America and returns to Sri Lanka. Arjie is disappointed because she is not as pretty as he imagined and plays the piano poorly, thus ruining his image of the perfect bride. Nevertheless, the cheerful Radha surprises Arjie by standing up for him to Ammachi and not berating him as the other adults do. She decorates Arjie with a pottu (a type of ornamental decoration that many women in Sri Lanka and other South Asian countries wear on the forehead) and applies makeup to his face, saying he would have made a “beautiful girl” (48).