India, June 20 -- Ammu gets her wish. A boat to take her on the Muvattupuzha. George refuses even to consider it.

He can't swim and it is too late to learn. And there is one more thing. 'Your people don't believe in life preservers,' he says to Ammu.

'My people?'

'River people.'

'We've been preserving very well so far.'

'Without life preservers. Or jackets. Or belts. Or flotation devices of any kind.'

'We don't need them. We can swim.'

Not strictly true, she knows. In her newly weakened state, she wouldn't be able to swim very far. When her father was alive, the boathouse was full of vessels. Narrow canoes the width of a man's foot and wide-bottomed boats that could seat a dozen people. Under the new management, some of the boats w...