With the tension within the family due to the Arjie being a "Funny Boy" and the suspicion of his homosexuality, as a punishment from the previous situation he was told from then on that he had to do tasks around the house for Ammachi. In result of not being able to play, Arjie found himself spending more time with Radha Aunty when she arrived. When Arjie first hears of her return to Sri Lanka and her engagement, his imagination had worked itself up, and he had produced a mental image of his aunt as someone "separated from everyday people, because she inhabited the realm of romance and marriage (Selvadurai, 45).Later on when she arrives and Arjie speaks with her, his mind is filled with the perfect idea of a wedding, in which he had played out endlessly during the game of "Bride-Bride". Radha Aunty's appearance is marked as Arjie is torn between the innocence of childhood and the realities of life. Through Arjie's relationship with Radha Aunty, he learns of the political corruption that has created problems between the Tamils and the Sinhalese people. In the time spent with her, Arjie had been attending drama, in which Radha Aunty had introduced him to, and where she had met a man named Anil, who quickly became close to Radha Aunty. Arjie could tell that she was interested in him but due to the tense relationship and the secrecy of it all, she could not be with him. After finding out for the first time that Radha Aunty was in contact with a Sinhala boy Ammachi's immediate reaction was "And what if the Nagendras hear that you're gallivanting around with an unknown Sinhala boy? (Selvadurai, 57). For Arjie, this relationship contradicts what Arjie's conception of love and romance had been, which he had mainly taken from movies and love comics. Arjie soon finds that the secrecy of their relationship is due to the racial tensions in Sri Lanka. As his awareness of the political problems in Sri Lanka grows, so does the severity of the corruption that surrounds Arjie.