The dry facts that fiction must provide the reader with in order to establish a foundation for what's to come can be referred to as .

exposition

Explanation:

A detailed exposition of a concept or theory.

Dear sister

I am writing this letter to tell you the news of my stay in this place so new to me.

I met a very interesting and intelligent little girl, who reminds me a lot of you and allows me to kill a little homesickness and our moments together. Her name is Maggie and she plays the piano, I always ask her to play for me, like you did, but she doesn't seem very confident in playing and I never get a chance to listen to her.

Maggie's family is very friendly and they treat me well, although they have several superstitions about India and some kind of crazy mysticism that may exist. I find this very funny, because it shows me the view that other cultures have of us. As they are very sympathetic I never say that they are not sure about Indian mysticism, I just say that I do not know such concepts, or I do not see any revelation through the artifacts that they show me.

I hope you are all well and look forward to seeing you soon.

Yours sincerely,

Your brother, Gupta.