How we cite our quotes: (Abbreviated Title.Paragraph)
Quote #7
It was the last afternoon Eliot spent with Mrs. Sen, or with any baby-sitter. From then on his mother gave him a key, which he wore on a string around his neck. He was to call the neighbors in case of an emergency, and to let himself into the beach house after school. The first day, just as he was taking off his coat, the phone rang. It was his mother calling from her office. "You're a big boy now, Eliot," she told him. "You okay?" Eliot looked out the kitchen window, at gray waves receding from the shore, and said that he was fine. (MS 129)
Obviously, becoming a latch-key kid is a huge change from Eliot's afternoons with Mrs. Sen. You can tell he's lonely and that, in some way, he probably prefers being with Mrs. Sen. She's warm and inviting while his mother and their empty beach house are definitely not.
Quote #8
It bewildered Sanjeev that it was for him, and his house, and his wife, that they had all gone to so much care. The only other time in his life that something similar had happened was his wedding day, but somehow this was different, for these were not his family, but people who knew him only casually, and in a sense owed him nothing. (TBH 96)
Maybe Sanjeev's a little "bewildered" here because he's also experiencing how it's completely possible to create a "family" out of friends and acquaintances when you're living far away from family. Not that these guests really are "family" to him (at least, not yet), but we're thinking Twinkle might understand this more easily than Sanjeev.
Quote #9
Before the year's end the family moved away, leaving an envelope containing three hundred rupees under Bibi's door. There was no more news of them. One of us had an address for a relation of Bibi's in Hyderabad, and wrote explaining the situation. The letter was returned unopened, address unknown. (TBH 46-47)
Bibi's family is not much use to her at all. Makes us wonder again, "What is family, really?"