Meena Joshi is short and skinny, 12 years old, and her skin resembles the “color of tea in a cup” (37). She came to New York three years ago from her mountain hometown in Mussoorie, India. Meena is a hard worker, doing laundry for her family and for Mrs. Lau, and constantly cleaning up after her brother, Kiku. She loves nature and animals, and she misses the mountains in Mussoorie almost as much as she misses Dadi, her grandmother. Her love for reading and writing inspires her to be a poet, and later a teacher, in honor of Dadi’s high regard for teachers.

Meena spent the majority of her childhood separated from her parents, and when she finally came to the US, she didn’t even know who to look for at the airport because she didn’t know what her parents looked like. She struggles with feeling abandoned by her family, and feels left out when they talk about memories from living in America before she joined them. At the same time, she feels she abandoned Dadi by leaving for America, and wishes her entire family could be together.

Throughout her correspondence with River, Meena describes her inner conflict between staying true to her Indian upbringing and adapting to life in America.