Radha shows us how hard a marriage in India can be.
The author Jai Nimbkar has written this short story in the year 1983. It is about a woman named Radha, who has married a man with the name Shripati. Shripati’s mom is a woman with a serious and strict mind, the aunt of Shripati also lives with them, but she is more kind than the mother-in-law. Radha didn’t live with her parents, because her mom is dead and her father she doesn’t see, this means that Radha did not come with dowry. There was no payment from her side. The mother-in-law did not like Radha, she was only going to show a little bit of consideration because Radha’s pregnancy. She knew, that Radha was carrying her grandchild so a little consideration, was needed from her side.
Radha enjoyed the consideration from her mother-in-law, because at other times she had always been a coldhearted person towards Radha, so she could do nothing but accept and enjoy this temporary period of consideration. Shripati knew that his mother and his wife did not get along very well, but he believed it could be changed. At least so it seemed, from his perspective. He also comforted her by saying“ Don’t worry so much, Radha. I will come and see you whenever I can. You will be all right.” When it was about time, that Radha was to give birth to a child there was no signs, for the birth to be happening. So they said, that sometimes it takes longer when it is a boy for the birth to happen. They waited in hopes of the birth taking place soon, but when the nine months had passed and now the tenth month was going on, they had at this time only called an old lady, who knew a little more about this than they did themselves. When Shripati came home, he asked why his wife had not been brought to see a doctor in Songaon. They said that they had called the midwife, which Shripati clearly was not pleased with. He felt like they had not done enough for his wife, who was overdue, bloated and in pain. So he took Radha