At the end of the first story in Unaccustomed Earth, the action of Ruma sending the post card that her father left behind is a symbol. This action symbolizes Ruma accepting that her father choose to live alone rather with her and her family. The post card represents the life of travel and secludedness    that her father desires because it is addressed to Ms. Bagchi, who is the new woman in his life.

When Ruma discovers the postcard in the garden her first impulse is to shred it but something within her restrains her from shredding it. This represents her decision and realization that her father actually just left her for a different life. Also, because the post card is in Bengali letters she can not interrupt what the letter says, just how she does not fully understand the life that her father is choosing over her. Within both situations of the foreign language in the post card and the unknown components of her father's new life, Ruma becomes accepting of them.