Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth

In the second part of Jhumpa Lahiri's acclaimed collection, Unaccustomed Earth, the two main characters have little in common, although a prevalent fear is in both character's lives.
Both Hema and Kaushik have a fear of attachment, a fear of being anchored down, whether to a place or a person.

Kaushik takes a trip alone after he leaves his father and his new family. He says, “I had never traveled alone before and I discovered that I liked it.” His trip takes him to the border of Canada on the East Coast, and with his accent and dark skin, he stands out. Because of this, he chooses to stay in the shadows, separating himself even more from the locals. He craves the solitary, and even though he sees other people, he does not talk to them. He compares the feeling to death, his “escape allowing [him] to taste that tremendous power [his] mother possessed forever.” He loves not having to try to connect with anyone. He doesn't want to feel anchored down to a relationship, and not forming any bonds
Through his harrowing and haunting photographs, she sees his hesitance to form bonds and the way he can tell someone's story without becoming a part of it himself. After spending some time with him, she explains his way of life by saying, "She began to understand his willingness- and she thought perhaps this was also a need- to disappear at any moment." His bags are always packed and he is ready to run from any possible relationships. She "refused to . . . hope for a thing that was unchangeable," because, in the end, Kaushik is unwilling to form strong relationships. They both start off untethered and free, but by the end of the story, Hema decides to let herself be weighed down by Navin, her new husband, while Kaushik dies never being truly attached to anything or