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Harendra pointed at Nilima and said: 8220;She is our role model. We walk the simple road, like her. She shows no external signs of widowhoo...

Harendra pointed at Nilima and said: 8220;She is our role model. We walk the simple road, like her. She shows no external signs of widowhood8212;one may even think she8217;s leading a life of pleasure. But I know her fervent dedication to rites and rituals, her brutal self-regulation.8221;

Kamal remained silent. Harendra said: 8220;You have no respect for ancient India, you are not impressed by India8217;s ideals; but tell me, does any other country have such an ideal of womanhood, such deep values? She runs this home, she is like the mother that my brother8217;s son lost. She has taken this household8217;s entire responsibility on her shoulders. Yet there8217;s no self-interest here, no ties. Tell me, in which country do widows devote their lives to other people?8221;

Kamal smiled. 8220;What8217;s great about this, Harenbabu?8221; she asked. 8220;Yes, there is no other example in the world of the selfless homemaker of a home that8217;s not hers, the selfless mother of a son that8217;s not hers. But that only makes it unusual and peculiar, how does it make it good?8221;

Harendra was dumbstruck, and Nilima could only stare at Kamal8217;s face with startled eyes. Kamal said: 8220;Men use wordplay to make it sound glorious, but there is no value to this false pretence of housewivery. Life is much better without this glory.8221; Harendra was deeply hurt by this. 8220;This advice you are giving her to leave a perfectly ordered family, I didn8217;t expect this of you,8221; he said.

8220;But this family is not hers,8221; said Kamal. 8220;If it was, I would not have given the advice. But this is the way that men keep us drunk on this notion of karma and of paying for the sins of past lives. We taste the strong wine of their praise and we start believing that this is what makes a woman8217;s life worthwhile. I remember Harishbabu at our tea estate. When his 16-year-old sister lost her husband, he brought her to his home, handed his large brood of kids over to her, and said, with tears in his eyes: 8216;These are now your children, Lakshmi. You have nothing to worry about, bring them up, be their mother, take charge of this home and be a fulfilled woman from today. Woman, this is my aashirwad to you.8217; Harishbabu was a good man, and our estate rang with his

praises. Everyone said: 8216;Lakshmi is a lucky girl.8217; Lucky, sure. Only women know that there8217;s no greater misfortune, no greater fraud than this, but by the time this deception is caught, the time for redress is long past.8221;

Saratchandra Chattopadhyay; Shesh Prashna 1931