MAMONIR CHOBI

Mrinmoyee, a woman in her early seventies, lives alone in an apartment in Kolkata with her sole companion, Champa, her maid.  Mrinmoyee’s son, who is settled in the U.S., periodically sends her coffee mugs with pictures of her granddaughter, Mamoni.  The coffee mugs are guarded by Mrinmoyee, who keeps them locked in a china cabinet and spends hours admiring them. Her whole existence is centered around those coffee mugs. Champa, who has worked her entire life as domestic help, is trying desperately to educate her daughter, who lives in the village far from her. Mrinmoyee typifies the loneliness of parents with immigrant children but it transcends that loneliness by exploring Mrinmoyee’s attempt at forging new relationships.