Vir Shetty

pg. 164 — tsar’s degree about clemencies
Tsar’s decree about clemency. This refers to Tsar Nicholas II’s decree of clemency in 1895, in which more than 20,000 prisoners were granted amnesty.

pg. 164 — more than a thousand years ago, Mary the Southerner gave birth to the Son of Man
Nearly two thousand years ago, Mary of Bethlehem gave birth to Jesus, the son of the Christian God. This is the narrator butchering the story of Jesus’ birth.

pg. 167 — Candlemas
A Christian Holy Day commemorating the purification of the Virgin Mary and the presentation of Jesus at the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. It is celebrated on February 2.

pg. 168 — May Day
A public holiday usually celebrated on May 1. It originated in the Hellenic world as a festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, held from April 27 to May 3 during the Republican era of Ancient Rome. In Germanic countries, it originated as a commemoration of the canonization of Saint Walpurga on May 1, 870. The modern holiday is mainly celebrated by Roman Catholics in honor of Joseph, the father of Jesus, and it was also co-opted by the Second International as International Workers’ Day in 1889 to commemorate the Haymarket affair in Chicago. The narrator is probably referring to either the Catholic holiday or the socialist holiday, although his celebration of Christmas and Candlemas makes the former more likely.

pg. 168 — Vizsla
A Hungarian dog breed of medium size, prominent among sporting dogs.

pg. 169 — schlagbauman
German for turnpike.

pg. 170 — Gypsy
A member of the Romani people, an Indo-Aryan ethnic group made up of traditionally nomadic subgroups that live mostly in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe and America, they originated from northern India. The term “gypsy” is considered by many Roma to be pejorative because of its use as an insult and to claim that the Roma illegally occupy private property. The Roma have been persecuted throughout history, with the worst of it being the Nazi and Ustashe genocide that claimed more than 220,000 lives. The use of the term “vagabond Gypsy” suggests the reinforcement of the Roma stereotype.

pg. 175 — stratocumuli
A type of clouds characterized by large, dark and rounded masses usually below 2,000 meters/6,600 feet above the ground. Notice the change in town from the previous chapter to this one.

pg. 176 — Maria biscuits
A British biscuit created by London bakery Peek Freans in 1874 to commemorate the marriage of Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia to Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.