He adds that this closeness led to further conflicts after Dadu rejected Ruma's offer to stay with them. Lahiri concludes that Dadu's decision had crushed Ruma and her son's hope of further developing the bond. As a result, independence and autonomy were harmful to Ruma's family because they disrupted the relationship Ruma had with his father despite Ruma's best efforts, and destroyed Akash's hope of developing the bond he had begun to develop with his grandfather. First, this concept of independence and autonomy played a major role in the loss of the bond between Ruma and Dadu and destroyed the relationship they had. The author explains that the loss of ties between Ruma and her father, Dadu, was caused by Dadu's newfound independence, not having family responsibilities, and not bothering to communicate frequently with his daughter. He says: “After his mother's death it was Ruma who took on the task of speaking to his father every evening, asking him how his day had gone” (4). This shows that the communication was only one-sided and Dadu's independence meant that he was not interested in contacting