India House - Chapter 3

Aboard the SS Persia

Aboard The SS Persia

The bell for lunch rang merrily and Tatya headed to the third class dining room. He hadn’t been that hungry at supper the previous night and had turned in early. The long trip from Nashik had exhausted him, and the listing and rolling of the ship rocked him to sleep.

Breakfast had been toast and porridge. Everything else was meat. Sausages, kippers, ham, and eggs. Barely had an hour passed after breakfast, had he found himself hungry again.

“Man can’t live by bread alone” he muttered to himself and laughed at his own joke. Was that from the Bible? It was true, though probably not in the way the Bible had meant it. Bread and butter were not filling or tasty, and too much marmalade and jam hurt his teeth.

What were other Indians on the ship eating, he wondered. He had seen some at breakfast, but they were coming in as he was leaving. He looked at the menu in the dining hall.