A Desperate Case Some men are angry with their wives for giving birth to one daugh- ter after another but never a son. They know it’s not the wives’ fault, or if it is, then no more than their own, but just the same whenever you see them they're vexed with their wives, call them unlucky and continue to torment them. Nirupma was one of these unlucky women and Ghamandi Lal Tripathi one of those cruel husbands. Nirupma had had three daughters in a row and everyone in the household gave her unkind looks. Her mother-in-law’s and father- in-law’s displeasure did not concern her particularly —they were old-fashioned people who considered daughters an unpleasant responsibility, the result of sins in earlier incarnations. But it was her husband's disaffection that grieved her, especially since even the fact that he was an educated man did not restrain him from speaking nastily to her. Far from loving her, he never spoke to her without getting angry; for days at a time he would not even come into the house and when he did he was so on edge that she trembled with fear lest there be a row. Although there was no lack of money in the family Nirupma never dared express a wish for even the most trivial object. She thought, ‘I really am ill-omened — oth- erwise would God have created only girls in my womb?’ She longed for a gentle smile from her husband, a tender word, to the point where she hesitated to show affection to her daughters lest people say, ‘She’s certainly making a lot of fuss over trifles!’ When it was time for her husband to come home she would on one pretext or another keep the girls out of his sight. The greatest calamity was that Tripathi had threatened, if she had another girl next time, to leave the hquse forever rather than tolerate such hell for another second. Nirupma worried constantly about this too. She fasted on Tuesdays, on Sundays, on the eleventh of the month of Jeth and at countless other times. She was always performing rituals, but no ritual had fulfilled her wish. Continually putting up with disdain, insults, scolding and contempt, she had become dis- gusted with the world. It was inevitable that she should be dishear-tened in a house where, longing for a tender word, a friendly glance, a loving embrace, no one so much as bothered with her. One day, feeling absolutely desperate, she wrote a letter 10 her elder brother's wife; every word of it cost her an intolerable pain. Her sister-in-law replied: Your brother is coming to fetch you right away. Recently a genuine saint has come to the village and his blessing has never been known to fail. Several childless women have had sons after his blessing. We have every hope that with you as well it will have the desired effect. Nirupma showed this letter to her husband. Sadly he said, Saints have nothing to do with procreation and conception, it's God's business.” “Yes, but saints can attain to special powers.” “Maybe so, but visiting them won't do any good.” “Still, I'l go and visit this one.’ ‘Go if you want to’ “Ifbarren women have had sons, am 1 any less worthy than they?” ‘Didn't | tell you to go? When you do you'll find out. But it seems to me that it’s noc in our fate t0 See a son's face.” A few days later Nirupma went with her brother to her father's, house. She took the three girls with her. Sukeshi, her sister-in-law, embraced her affectionately and said, ‘The people of your house are very cruel — to curse fate for having three such darlings! They must be heavy for you, give them to me.” When, after dinner, with Sukeshi and the younger brother's wife, they were going to bed Nirupma asked, Where does this saint live” ‘Why such haste?’ Sukeshi said. ‘Tl tell you in good time. ‘It’s close by, isn’t it” ‘Very close. When you want, Ill send for him.” ‘He's very fond of you people, is he?” ‘He eats here twice a day. He lives night here.’ “Then why suffer when the doctor's already in the house? I want to see him right away. “What will you give me? ‘What is there I could give you Give me your youngest girl.” Go on, you're making fun of me.’ irupma said. “All right, but you'll have to let him hug you just once." ‘Sister, if you laugh at me I'll go away.’ ‘This saint's very fond of pretty women.’ ‘Then he can go to the devil,’ Nirupma said. ‘He must be a scoundrel.” ‘But that's the payment he demands for his blessings. He doesn’t accept any other award.” Foe Ser ros kt Soca kya wee working im." ‘Well, he arranges everything through me. I take the offerings, 1 also give the blessings, | also make the food for him,’ Sukeshi said. ‘So you made all this up, admit it, just to get me here” ‘No, notat all, I'm going to tell you of a plan that will allow you to live in peace in your own home.’ ‘Then the two of them began to whisper. When Sukeshi had fin: ished talking, Nirupma said, ‘And what if it should be a girl again, after all?” ‘So what? You'll have spent a little while in peace and quiet anyway. No one will be able to take those days away from you. If you have a son, then all will be fine; if it’s a daughter then some new plan will have to be worked out. With the idiots you've got in your house what else can we do except resort to tricks like this?” ‘T feel a little nervous about it” ‘In a couple of days write to Tripathi to tell him you've seen the saint and that he's told you he'll grant your wish. God willing, from that day on you'll be treated with a lot more respect. Tripathi'll come on the run ready to sacrifice his life for you. For at least a year ‘you'll have a pleasant time of it. After that, we'll see.’ “But wont it be a sin to lie to my husband” o pull the wool over the eyes of a selfish fellow like him is a virtue! After three or four months Nirupma went home. Ghamandi Lal came to get her. Sukeshi was very detailed in her description of the saint. She said, ‘It’s never been known that a holy man gave a blessing like that without producing results. But of course, some people are so unlucky there's nothing to be done for them. Ghamandi Lal openly expressed his contempt for blessings andpromises; he seemed ashamed to give credence to such things in this day and age, but there was no doube that he was impressed, Nirupma was welcomed back. When she became pregnant eve ryone’s hears thrilled with new hopes. The ‘mother-in-law, who before had never done anything but revile her, treated her like a guest. ‘Daughter, let it be, I'll make the supper, youll get a head- ache.’ Whenever Nirupma began to take out the water jugto fill itor to move a cot, then the mother-in law would run to her. ‘Daughter, Jeave it, I'm here, you mustn't lift anything heavy.’ If she had been ‘going to have a girl none of this would have had any effect on the ‘child, but boys, even while they'te still in the womb, begin to sit up and be proud. Now Nirupma was made to eat quantities of milk pudding so the boy would be robust and fair. Ghamandi Lal made a habit of getting clothes and jewellery for her, every month he would bring something new. Even when she'd been a new bride Nirupma had not led so pleasant an existence. ‘The months began to slip by. According to signs and omens she recognized Nirupma began to be convinced that it would be a git] this time too, But she kept this heretical opinion to herself. She ‘would think, ‘I's like a monsoon sunshine — how can you trust it? Enjoy it while you can, the rain-clouds are going to cover it all.’ She ‘was jumpy about every little thing. She had never been particularly |, but no one in the house would make the slightest noise lest she be upset and thus produce an ill effect upon the boy. ‘Sometimes just to torment the family Nirupma would carry out a teligious fast, and she found pleasure in tormenting them. She would think, ‘The more | torment you selfish ones the better. You honour me, don't you, only because I'm going to give birth to a child who'll carry on your name./m nothing, the child alone is ‘everything; I have no importance, everything hinges on your child. And this is my husband: at first how much he loved me, he wasn't worldly and greedy then. Now his love is a little trick to satisfy his selfishness. I'm an animal to be stuffed with fodder and water for the sake of my milk. If that’s the way itis, fine, but now I can control youall. I'll make you give me as many jewels 2s | can, you won'tbe able to take them back.’ ‘And sathe nine months came ton end. Nirupma's two sisters in law were sent for from her father's house Golden ornaments had already been made for the child; a fine milch-cow was purchased for his milk and Ghamandi Lal brought a little pram to take him on swalks. On the day the labour pains started the astrologer was sum moned to the door to cast the horoscope. A huntsman had been called to fire off the shotgun and women were gathered together to strike up a hymn, Everyone wanted details of what was happening inside the house. The woman doctor had been sent for. The musi cians sat waiting for the word; the village singer with his fiddle was ready to sound the strains of ‘Let the mother be proud, Lord Krishna.’ All the preparations, all the hopes, all the jubilation was hanging on one word only. With every moment of delay the impa- tience grew. To hide his excitement Ghamandi Lal was reading a newspaper, just as though it were all one whether it was a boy of a Rirl. But his old father was not so controlled. He could not restrain his exuberance, he talked to everybody and laughed and kept rat- ing a bag full of coins. ‘The huntsman said, ‘Tl take a turban and scarf from the master,” Delighted, the old man said, “Go on, how many turbans will you take? I'l give you such an expensive one every hair on your head will fall out.” ‘The singer said, ‘And I'l accept something to live on from the master.’ ‘And how much will you eat? We'll feed you till your belly bursts. Suddenly a housemaid came out looking flustered, Before-she had managed to say anything the huntsman fired off the shotgun and immediately afterwards the pipes struck up a tune and the singer, hitching up his dhoti, sprang up to dance. ‘The maid shouted, ‘Are you all drunk on bang. you people? ‘What's happened?’ the huntsman said. ‘What's happened? I's a gir! again, that’s what's happened.” ‘A girl? the old man said, and with that he threw up his arms and sat down as though hit by a thunderbolt. Ghamandi Lal came out of his room and said, ‘Go and ask the lady doctor — you just came running out here without really seeing anything.” "Babuji,’ the maid said, 'l saw with my own eyes. ‘And it’s really a girl” ‘Such is our fate, his father said. ‘Go, everybody, get along. If t's ‘written in your fate that you're not going ta have something, then how can you ever get it? Go, run! Hundreds of rupees thrown away, all our preparations ruined!" Ghamandi Lal said, ‘We'll have to talk to this saint. 'll go today to make inquities about the bastard.’‘He's a fraud, a fraud” his father said. ‘Tl expose all his cheating,’ Ghamandi Lal went on. ‘If 1 don't crack his skull then I'l eat my words. He's some kind of swindler. Because of him I've thrown away hundreds of rupees. The pram, the cow, the swing, the golden ornaments — whose head can I throw them at? Think how many he must have cheated like this! If the score is paid off for once, then it will be some satisfaction.” ‘Son, it's not his fault, t's the fault of fate’ ‘Why did he claim this wouldn't happen? How much money ‘women must have squandered on the cheat! He's got to be made to cough it all up, otherwise I'll report him to the police. The law has punishments for swindling too. From the very first 1 was afraid it might be a fraud. But my brother in-law’s wife fooled me — if she hadn't I'd never have been caught in such a swindler's trap. He’s just a pig” ‘Be patient,’ his father said. ‘What God has wished he has ‘wrought. Both gitls and boys are gifts of God. And where there's three you can be sure there'll be another. Father and son went on talking. The singer, the huntsman and the others picked up their staffs and set out on their way. The house seemed to have gone into mourning, The lady doctor had also taken leave, and apart from the mother and the midwife there was no one in the lying in room. The old mother wasso disconsolate that she'd taken to her bed. When the child's twelfth-day ceremony had been Ghamandi Lal went to his wife for the first time and said angrily, ‘So it's a girl again?” ‘What could I do, Nirupma said, ‘it’s not in my control.’ “That wretched swindler really cheated us.’ ‘What can I say now? If he were a swindler, why would all those ‘women keep going to the saint day and night? It's not in my fate. If he'd taken anything from anybody then I'd say he was a fraud, but | take an oath that { never gave a pice to him.” ‘Whether he took anything or not I've spent a fortune. We've learned that it’s our destiny not to have a son, If the family line is coming to an end, then what does it matter if it happens now or in ten years? I'll go away somewhere, there's no joy left in this household. For a long time he stayed on bemoaning his fate; but Nirupma did ‘hot even lift her head. The calamity had fallen on her once again, and again the same reproaches, the same insults and snubs, and no one cared whether she ate or not, whether she was sick, whether she was happy. Gha- mandi Lal did not go away but the threat was almost always in Nirupma’s mind. In this way several months passed and then once again Nirupma wrote Sukeshi to tell her she had put her in a more wretched situation than before, and now nobody even cared whether she lived or died. If this state of affairs went on, then whether her husband renounced the world and became an ascetic or not, she herself would ceainly leave the world in a different way. When she read this letter Sukeshi understood how things were. This time she did not invite Nirupma, knowing that they would not let her come, so she herself went, taking her husband along. she was a very lively, clever and fun-loving woman. As soon as she arrived she saw the baby girl in Nirupma’s lap and said, ‘Arey: what's that?’ It's fate — what else? said Nirupma’s mother in-law. ‘What do you mean fate? You must have made some mistake in following the saint's instructions. It's not possible that whatever he's. promised should fail to come about. Now tell me, did you fast on Tuesdays? ‘Without fail, I didn’t skip one fast,’ Nirupma said. ‘And did you feed five Brahmans on Tuesdays also?” But he didn‘ tell me to do that.’ ‘Don't you tell me, | remember perfectly, he said it right in front of me and with a lot of emphasis too. You must have thought, “What's the point of feeding the Brahmans?” You didn’t understand that unless you fulfilled every part of the ritual it wouldn't come out the way he said’ ‘She never said anything about it, the mother in-law said. ‘And why five? We would have fed ten Brahmans — we're not lacking in religion, after all’ ‘Of course not, she just forgot, that's obvious. There's no possibil: ity of getting a son this way. Great devotion and piety are necessary and you were confused by just one Tuesday fast?” She's unlucky, what else” said the mother-in-law. Ghamandi Lal said, ‘How could anybody not remember what he made such a fuss about saying? She's just trying to upset us al. ‘And I ask you,’ his mother said, ‘how the saint's words could fail10 be fulfilled. For seven years I've lit the lamp and made offerings to the Goddess of the tls plant to get a grandson.” “And she thought it was going to be easy as eating rice,’ Ghamandi Lal said. “Well,’ Sukeshi said, ‘what's happened has happened. Tomorrow's “Tuesday, fast again and give a dinner to seven Brahmans. We'll see whether or not the saint’s promise will be fulfilled." “It's useless’ Ghamandi Lal said, ‘nothing will come of doing it! “Babuji,’ Sukeshi said, 'you're educated, but with your learning how much your heart has shrunk! How old are you right now? How many sons would you like to have? If you don’t have so many you're fed up with them T'll eat my words.’ ‘The mother in law said, ‘Daughter, how can anyone have that many sons?” “if God wills,’ Sukeshi said, ‘then you'll get your wish, I got mine.” “Are you listening, my dear? Ghamandi Lal said. ‘Don’t make any mistake this time. Make sure you understand everything sister in- Jaw tells you." “You can be sure,’ Sukeshi said, I'll remind you, How to prepare the feast, how to go about everything, how to perform the ablutions, Tl write ttall down for you and Mother, ancl no more than eighteen months from today I'll claim a fat reward from you.’ Sukeshi stayed a week and after giving careful instructions 10 ‘Nirupma she went back home. Nirupma's star shone again; Ghamandi Lal was consoled with the thought that the future would redeem the past. Again Nirupma went fiom slave to queen, the mother-in-law treated her with the highest consideration, and everybody paid her the greatest attention. ‘The days passed. Nirupma would sometimes say, ‘Mother, last night 1 dreamed that an old woman came to me and called out and gave me a coconut. She said, “This is what I've given you.” And sometimes she would say, ‘Mother, I don't know why buta great joy has sprung up in my heart, I long to hear beautiful singing, to bathe in the river. It’s almos like being intoxicated.’ When the mother-in: law heard these things she would smile and say, ‘Daughter, these are good omens” Nirupma had bbang brought to her on the sly and ate it, because red and drunk looking eyes meant a son, and then looking at Gha ‘mandi Lal with her drowsy eyes she would say, 'Are my eyes red? ‘It'scems as though you were actually drunk, he would observe contentedly. This is.a good omen.” Nirupma had never been especially fond of perfume but now she ‘was ready to give her life for a fragrant garland Before going to bed Ghamandi Lal now made a habit of reading heroic stories to her out of the Mababbarata, sometimes he would describe the glorious deeds of Guru Govind Singh. Nirupma was very fond of the story of Abhimanyu, Ghamandi Lal wanted to ensure that his unbom son would be a hero. ‘One day Nirupma said to him, ‘What name will you give him? ‘Y'm sure you've already picked one out. haven't thought about it atall, Ithas to be a name associated with valourand glory. You think ofa name.’ The two of them began to discuss names. They went through every name from Harishchandra to Zoravar Lal but they couldn't pick one out for this extraordinary boy. Finally Ghamandi Lal said, ‘What do you think of Teg Bahadur?” “That's fine, I like it’ ‘It's a splendid name. You've heard about the great deeds of Teg Bahadur. The name has a tremendous influence on the person.” ‘The name is really everything, Nirupma said. ‘Whether it’s Damri, Chhakauri, Ghurhu, or Katvaru, whenever you look at some: body's name you find, “As the name, so the man.” Our child's name will be Teg Bahadur — the warrior's sword.’ The time for the delivery came. Nirupma knew what was about to happen. But outside everything was ready for the celebration. This time nobody had the slightest doubt. Everything had been made ready for the singing and dancing. A canopy had been put up and a throng of friends sat under it chatting. The sweets-maker took purts and sweets out of his boiling pan, Several sacks had been filled with rain so that as soon as the good tidings had been received it could be distributed among the beggars. To avoid all delay the sacks had already been opened But with every second Nirupma’s heart sank. What would happen now? She had got through three years by some sort of deceit, andthey'd been happy years, but now disaster was hovering over her head. Alas, she thought, what a victim she was. To be punished this way without guilt! If it was God's wish that no sons should ever be born from her womb, what fault was it of hers? But who listened? She was really an unlucky woman, she ought to be abandoned, she was ill-omened, and that was why she was a victim. What was going to happen? In a second all the joy and jubilation would collapse in lamentation. They would begin to revile her, curse her inside and out. She was not afraid of her mother and father-in-law, but her husband might once again cease to look at her, in his disappoint ment he might renounce his house and home. There was nothing but evil fortune on every side. ‘Why should | live to see the misery of my family?’ she said to herself. ‘The trick is done with, there's no hope to be had from it any more. There used to be such longings in my heart; to bring up my darling girls, to get them married and see their children would have been happiness. But it’s all finished now. Lord, be their father, look after them, but I'm going now.’ The woman doctor said, Well, it’s a girl again.’ Inside and outside there were sounds of lamentation. Ghamandi Lal said, ‘A curse on such a life, I'm ready for death!’ His father said, ‘She's ill-omened, damned ill-omened.’ The beggars said, ‘Weep your destiny, we'te going to look for some other door!’ The noise had not died down when the doctor said, ‘There's no hope for the mother, we can’t save her — her heart has stopped.’