I really enjoy reading. Nothing transports me to another place quite like reading does. The closest I have come to something similar has been listening to Ghazals, but each song only lasts a couple of minutes and then you are jolted back to the real world. People who know me, also know that I have a predilection for drifting off into my imaginary world, where things are always perfect and there are no menacing jobs to be sought after, no crazy relatives to deal with and where everyone always picks up their phone....AND I have drifted again.. My original idea behind writing this post was to write about a short story that I have read innumerable times and one that I love every time I read it.
The story is called A Temporary Matter by Jhumpha Lahiri. In one line it is about a young couple coping with the loss of their new born baby but when you look at the story, it is really about human emotions and about how people deal with mundane events. There is no end-of-the world disaster to deal with, no wars, no parental opposition to marriage etc etc... rather it is about what afflicts a relationship and how people in the relationship deal with it...
The main characters Shobha and Shukumar are second generation Bengalis living in USA. Shobha is described as a confident, self reliant person who likes to plan ahead and be prepared for all eventualities, good or bad. Shukumar on the other hand seems more reactive than proactive... This difference is even evident in the work they do. Shobha, in her job as a proof reader, is very clear on the specifics of what is right and what is wrong, where as Shukumar who is pursuing his PhD and is in the process of writing a research paper, is dealing with a lot of ambiguity at work.....This difference also extends to their perceptions of parenthood. Shobha considers motherhood a natural extension of herself and is completely clear on her duties and obligations as a mother, while Shukumar is still trying to get used to the idea of becoming a father and is struggling to find his place in their new lives...
Jhumpha Lahiri is a truly gifted writer, since she is able to bring out the couples' sorrow through their actions rather than the words they exchange with each other. While Shobha was the one always ready and prepared for any eventuality, she is now confronted with something she had never contemplated or could not have possibly planned for: the still birth of her baby... and this throws off Shobha from her rhythm...Shukumar on the other hand has the onerous task of now being the one in control and also of bearing the secret of having seen and held their dead baby. Both of them are extremely ill equipped at the new tasks that fate has drawn up for them and this causes them to drift away.
Ironically, a tiny ray of light comes in the form of the week long electricity cuts in their neighborhood, causing the couple to spend time with each other, albeit in the dark....Slowly the two re-connect by telling each other something they had never told one another. The story ends with the two weeping together for the things that they now know...
Of all the short stories that Jhumpha Lahiri has written and also including The Namesake, this story is by far my favorite. It pulls at my heartstrings on multiple levels.. Lahiri makes emotions come alive, almost to a point where you can feel a mother's agony of having lost her baby. She even manages to make the tension and awkwardness between Shobha and Shukumar even more palpable and in such few words.
My gauge of liking or disliking a book or movie is generally if I can read or watch it again.... I have read this story at least a 100 times and have found something new every time I read it...
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