Sister of My Heart

Anju is blissful in her new marriage, although she experiences occasional pangs of foreboding. She eagerly anticipates moving to the United States, which Sunil has painted as a fairy-tale land of opportunity.

Anju also instantly warms to her mother-in-law, though she is shocked at how cowed and submissive she becomes before Sunil’s bullying father. At dinner, after serving a selection of dishes prepared on her husband’s orders, Sunil’s mother tries to slip a small dish of tamarind chutney to her son. Enraged, Sunil’s father throws the dish at her and shouts at Anju when she rises to assist her mother-in-law. Sunil rises in turn and enters into a shouting match with his father, declaring that he intends to pay back all the money that has been spent on him so that he has no further debts to his father. Anju’s mother-in-law pulls Anju into another room, away from the fighting men.

Anju lies alone and cries, missing Sudha, with whom she has not been in touch since the wedding. She is perturbed by her father-in-law’s allusion to his son’s “drinking and whoring” (184). Sunil arrives with food and words of comfort. Anju tells him she would prefer to return home while she awaits her visa, and Sunil reluctantly agrees, asking her to at least visit his mother.

Sudha’s mother-in-law has given her the keys to the household, and Sudha is adapting to her new responsibilities and to living in a house full of men for the first time.

Since Anju returned to the mothers’ house, her phone calls with Sudha have been strained and superficial. Now that Anju’s visa has come through, though, Sudha has managed to convince her to visit. Sudha is excited to see her cousin but apprehensive about what Anju will think of her new life.

In preparation for her life as an emancipated, independent woman in the United States, Anju stubbornly insists on taking the train alone to visit Sudha. She arrives hot, exhausted, and “smelling like chicken droppings” (193).

Anju is frustrated by Sudha’s servile role in the household and by her benignly passive acceptance of the situation. Anju dislikes and distrusts Mrs. Sanyal. She reflects on how marriage has changed them both and that she has no right to judge her cousin’s survival techniques.

In the car home from the station, Singhji sees Anju crying and anxiously asks if anything is wrong with Sudha. Anju asks Singhji if she thinks they will be happy in their marriages. He responds that they must make and persist in pursuing their own happiness.

Sudha eagerly awaits Anju’s letters from the United States. She reads them in privacy, then burns them, delighted each time to hear of her cousin’s adventures and bemused at how tame her own life is by comparison.

The household is thrown into frantic preparations by an announced visit by Ramesh’s aunt Tarini, the sister of his late father with whom Mrs. Sanyal has always been in fierce competition. Mrs. Sanyal is furious to learn that Aunt Tarini’s daughter-in-law, Deepa, is already pregnant. Sudha and Ramesh have been trying for a baby for two years, and Sudha longs to become a mother. Mrs. Sanyal stares at Sudha with a new coldness.

Anju is homesick and worried about her mother and Sudha, who, she has learned, is being dragged to a gynecologist in Calcutta for a second opinion after another doctor has already stated that there is nothing wrong with her.

Sunil remains something of an enigma to her. Anju is distressed to learn that he only pretended to like Virginia Woolf because her mother had mentioned Anju was a fan. Anju is still very much in love with Sunil, but they argue frequently. Sunil sends large checks home to his family every month and often stays out late into the evening, responding angrily if she asks where he has been. At the same time, he encourages her to enjoy the freedoms of American life and to pursue her education. She continues to worry that he still has feelings for Sudha. When she gives voice to her concerns about Sudha’s situation, Sunil responds that such dynamics are common in India and implicitly suggests Anju should be grateful to be in the United States. When Anju grows angry, Sunil storms out. Alone, Anju jots down ideas about how she might help her cousin.

Sudha, Ramesh, and Mrs. Sanyal travel to Calcutta to see the gynecologist. Much to his mother’s annoyance, Ramesh has agreed that he and Sudha will spend the night at the mothers’ house.

The doctor repeats that the fertility problems have nothing to do with Sudha. He writes down the number of a specialist for Ramesh to contact. Mrs. Anjali takes the paper as soon as they leave the appointment, but Sudha memorizes the number.

The mothers have made a feast for their visitors. That night, Sudha initiates lovemaking and then asks Ramesh if he will see the doctor. Ramesh agrees immediately.

Anju finds communicating through international phone calls increasingly expensive; short on money, she always feels under pressure to cut the conversation short. Sunil points out that part of the problem is the growing cultural divide between Anju and her family.

In speaking to Sudha, Anju learns that Sudha’s husband, Ramesh, has agreed to seek treatment for his infertility and that Sudha longs for a baby. Anju is worried about Mrs. Sanyal’s treatment of her cousin. Sudha hints that she glimpsed Ashok from the window of Singhji’s car, then swiftly changes the subject, imploring Anju to encourage her ailing mother, Gouri, to go ahead with the heart bypass operation. When Anju calls, Gouri is adamant about refusing surgery and very fatalistic about her death.

Finding Anju in tears, Sunil orders Chinese food from her favorite restaurant and they eat it sitting up in bed.

Singhji has stayed on with the mothers, even though they can no longer afford to pay him. When Sudha visits him, he tells her that he has been in regular contact with Ashok, who has remained unmarried, waiting for Sudha. He hands Sudha a note from Ashok, which simply says “Come with me” (231).

When the pair return to the Sanyal house, they find Ramesh’s mother dressed up ready to take Sudha to the goddess Shasti’s shrine in Belapur. Sudha enters alone and finds herself in a courtyard full of weeping women. A teenage girl is beating her head on the concrete floor. The girl tells her that she has just heard the goddess speak, but does not understand her words: “You must choose between your two loves, for only one love is allowed to a woman” (238).

Sudha is convinced that the message is meant for her. The girl tells her she fears for her life if she cannot get pregnant. Sudha gives the girl her bracelets and tells her that the goddess orders her to visit a gynecologist. Sudha leaves the temple, resigned that she must relinquish her love for Ashok once more.

Anju discovers that she is pregnant. The pregnancy is unplanned, and she is anxious about their finances and Sunil’s reaction. However, Sunil swiftly comes around to the idea and becomes increasingly excited and happy about becoming a father. Anju puts off sharing the news with family in India because she is worried about how Sudha will feel. When Anju finally calls her cousin, she is delighted to learn that Sudha is also expecting a baby.

Mrs. Sanyal has grown solicitous and kind now that Sudha is pregnant, but Sudha continues to feel uneasy around her, recalling the woman’s earlier behavior. Sudha is struck by a film recounting the story of Rani of Jhansi, a widow queen who led a rebellion against the British in 1850 and died a heroic death in battle.

When Anju writes, Sudha is pleased to hear that Anju’s husband, Sunil, has changed with the news of Anju’s pregnancy. Sudha has long worried that he does not adequately reciprocate Anju’s love. Gouri has told Anju that another relation has had a baby with the same birth defect as the distant cousin they briefly glimpsed as children. Gouri has suggested Anju go through prenatal screening and imagines Sudha has been given the same advice. Sudha has heard nothing from Gouri and takes this lack of an update as confirmation that the mothers know she is not biologically related to the family.

Nalini calls that evening and tells Mrs. Sanyal about the risk to the pregnancy. Sudha is surprised at how calmly her mother-in-law takes the news. Mrs. Sanyal has already booked an amniocentesis for Sudha.