"1913." "Tagore returns from England, where he had two powerful experiences:" "the revolution for women's freedom and Ibsen's dramas." "After his return he writes "Letter from the Wife."" "Its publication causes a national uproar." "Through Mrinal, he has denounced the male-dominated society." "There's another incident behind the story:" "A teenage girl named Snehalata... had committed suicide by setting herself on fire, to relieve her father... of the burden of her marriage." "The reaction to this incident was fierce in Kolkata." "This story is the story of Snehalata." "Sister!" "Aunty." "She was on pilgrimage during your marriage..." "She's come today to see the bride for the first time." "Let it be, daughter." "Sit, my daughter." "Oh, my!" "Your mother-in-law only desired... a bride who would enlighten the house." "My Chander got married." "What a bride and groom." "Now I can leave him." "At least before dying..." "I achieved the desire of my life." "Let me see your hand." "I bless you to be a sati lakshmi." "Enlighten the family with your beauty and quality." "LETTER FROM THE WIFE" "From the Story by Rabindranath Tagore" "When you came to this house as a bride," "I was quite afraid of you." "Oh, God!" "Really?" "Why?" "Am I a ghost?" "During the time mother-in-law was alive, bringing someone like you..." "She'd married off her elder son" "There was no more thinking about that matter." "Why didn't she live?" "You could have seen what I would have done." "Could you have stopped the marriage?" "You don't know them." "They also don't know me." "If there is death to end my sad fate..." "What would you do, tell me?" "There is no question of death in mine, sister." "In childhood, both brother and sister fell in fever." "It took my brother." "Didn't take me." "I've been born female." "And I won't die so easily." "It's in the evening, to see the boss, you know..." "And not to the boss alone." "Those who went to Lovmento's reception." "All of them." "As an expense of the Englishmen." "I've run around a lot." "Why?" "The boss is devoted to the English." "Behari!" "Behari!" "The boss is a Ray Bahadur title holder." "What's the matter?" "Today..." "Why have you dressed up like a young girl?" "Have I dressed up like that?" "She dressed me like this, made me." "She won't dress up if I don't." "She behaves such like a child." "Younger daughter-in-law?" "A very good girl, very fortunate girl." "Just after her arrival there was an upheaval in our business." "A lot of unexpected contacts." "Really unexpected..." "This is excessive of you all..." "As if you were poor before she came" "Did I ask you to say anything?" "Women like you don't have any shame." "But what did I do?" "What do you do?" "Cry a lot, shedding your tears " ""Please give me sympathy!"" "That's why I introduced your brother to the business." "Don't you remember what he did after that?" "If he wasn't caught at the right time, wouldn't have been long before we were in the poorhouse." "I've stopped letting any of your family members in." "That's not without reason, it's after learning enough." "Elder sister." "What happened?" "Your brother has come to see you." "My brother?" "What name did he say?" "I didn't ask his name." "Can you tell me what he looks like?" "His complexion is... not light..." "But not exactly dark, either." "He has large eyes, a gloomy face." "Then..." "Should I call him up here, sister?" "No!" "I can't see her?" "All right." "Did you tell her my name?" "Name?" "You didn't tell her, right?" "Then say that Sarat has come." "Sarat?" "I'll say it." "Listen..." "Yes?" "Did you say something?" "You give this picture to elder sister" "Yes..." "I'll do that." "What is that in your hand?" "Yes..." "Elder sister's brother has come." "He gave me this." "This picture." "Can I see it?" "Minal!" "Minu!" "Minu!" "My mother's photo." "What name did he say?" "Sarat." "He's my brother." "Go on, bring him up here." "The rules of your in-laws' place are very strange." "Elder wife's brother is barred entry, while younger wife's brother gets attention." "What is that?" "I'll tell you about that later." "When did you come to Kolkata?" "Yesterday." "Yesterday?" "Where are you staying?" "At my friend's place." "His father is a professor." "Why there?" "Has your sister changed so much?" "Take it." "God... these are all mother's books!" "I took the admission test for the college." "Took the admission test?" "Really?" "Which college was that?" "Rippon College." "Suren Banerjee's college." "There's more stress on politics than studies in that college." "Please don't get involved in Swadeshi matters." "That will spoil your future." "Bengal's soil..." "Bengal's water..." "Bengal's air..." "Bengal's fruit..." "Be replete!" "O God!" "Bengal's soil..." "Bengal's water..." "Bengal's air..." "Bengal's fruit..." "Be replete!" "O God!" "Bengal's homes..." "Bengal's markets..." "Bengal's earth..." "Bengal's ground..." "Bengal's homes..." "Bengal's markets..." "Bengal's earth..." "Bengal's ground..." "Be replete!" "O God!" "Bengal's soil..." "Bengal's water..." "Bengal's air..." "Bengal's fruit..." "Be replete!" "O God!" "Bengali's sentiment..." "Bengal's work..." "Bengal's language..." "Bengal's sentiment..." "Bengal's work..." "Bengal's language..." "I am extremely sorry, Mr. Mallik." "The baby is... dead." "Sister..." "What is that?" "A client of elder sir's has come... has sent this as a gift." "Leave it on the ground." "Sister..." "A young girl has come and is asking for elder sister." "Take it away." "I'll look after it." "Sister!" "A young girl has come and is asking for elder sister." "When the man asks for elder sister, bring him up." "Take it." "Hide it well." "Hide it safely." "Make sure that it doesn't flee!" "Sister." "Your sister has gone for a bath." "Till then you sit in my room." "Come." "Come." "Who is that girl?" "Yes?" "That girl?" "She is the sister of elder sister." "Does elder sir know about this?" "Yes?" "Who gave the orders to bring her up here?" "Younger sister said..." "Younger sister?" "Just look!" "Just look at this!" "This is the work of my talented brothers." "I wondered why she's come here." "She has ﬂed them to here." "They aren't able to feed her or give her anything to wear..." "But they sure have beaten this delicate girl." "Who is that girl?" "Bindu." "My uncle's daughter." "She has fled from her brothers." "They can't feed her, but they beat her regularly." "I also told her once:" "If you ever come to Kolkata then stay with me." "Is Kolkata a place for amusement?" "Our forefathers and fathers flew pigeons for fun." "That Kolkata no longer exists, understood?" "Kolkata is on fire now." "Playing with fire." "Don't know what will happen to business." "And you people have started..." "Diplomacy, domesticity." "What do you know about domesticity?" "Nothing, I'm just saying." "Today sister has come." "Tomorrow the brothers will come." "Then brother-in-law." "Sister-in-law." "Brother of sister-in-law..." "In your family everybody gets by without food." "Is everybody coming?" "Nobody has to come." "Your sister has come." "Let her stay for a few days." "Then find a way to tell her to go." "I can't feed anybody for their entire lives." "You broke all the crockery right?" "One of the brothers broke the lockers, now you break all the expensive items in the house." "Why are you standing like a wooden doll?" "Get out of my sight!" "From today you will stay downstairs and work as a maid in the house for your meals." "Get up." "Have something to eat." "From today you will stay with me." "Did you pick it?" "Bindu." "Bindu!" "Bindi!" "You've been idling a lot." "Can't you see the sky is cloudy?" "Who will gather the clothes from the terrace?" "Done!" "Gold necklace." "Done!" "Show me." "You will never learn, Bindi." "Go and get the cakes." "Nobody will marry you if they see this handwriting." "Bindi!" "Bindi!" "Go." "See what she wants." "You know, sister..." "I..." "I'm leaving that college." "But why?" "Then where will you study?" "Our national college isn't part of the establishment." "Aurobindo Ghosh is coming from Baroda as our principal." "Rabindranath, Safish Mukherjee, Gurudas will be professors." "We will not enter into the English slavery." "Have you joined Swadeshi?" "Am I alone in that?" "There are thousands of other people!" "Speak softly, Sarat." "This is a house of the devout." "Where are these devout people, can you show me?" "You don't know, sister, in Barishaal and other places, how the police are torturing people" "No one protests the torture?" "See the marks on the face?" "It may be prickly-heat." "Why would only the face be affected by prickly-heat?" "I don't know." "The things that are going on outside..." "God willing these things will cease." "Let me inform Dr. Gajen." "What do you say?" "Is there any pain on your body?" "No pain?" "Thirst?" "Is there a sourness of the tongue always after eating?" "How about sleep?" "Good!" "Do you dream?" "What kind of dreams?" "Won't tell?" "Do you feel choked while dreaming?" "Let me see your tongue." "I don't think it's pox." "It's better to take precautions." "I'm giving you some medicines." "Why are you making a bed here?" "Who will sleep here?" "The same person who sleeps here every day." "What do you mean?" "Will someone with the pox sleep in my room?" "Pox!" "How do you know that she is suffering from pox?" "I don't." "But what if that's what has occurred?" "If Bindu sleeps here... then make my bed in the other room." "Sister, will you sleep here?" "Yes." "Why are you doing this?" "It's just the matter of one night." "Tomorrow morning she will be shifted to the hospital." "Hospital?" "He said that these diseases spread fast to others if one is infected." "Brother-in-law is still awake." "Will you really not go upstairs?" "Bindu!" "Look at me." "Are you going somewhere?" "To the theatre." "Why are you here at such an odd time?" "Can you give me some money?" "Money?" "How much?" "As much you can." "100, 200, 300, 500..." "Where would I get so much?" "My monthly money is also finished." "It is a grave matter regarding Bindu." "Do you have time on your hands?" "Why?" "I'll show you something." "I have written some poems." "Read them and tell me how they are." "Stay here." "I'll be back." "What happened?" "Are you done?" "What a problem..." "I can only find one bracelet." "Have you looked everywhere?" "I've looked all over." "It didn't grow wings and fly away." "Are you sure it's somewhere in the house?" "All right." "You get ready." "I'll keep looking for it." "Behari!" "Behari!" "Behari!" "Sister!" "Sister!" "Please send Bindu at once." "Go and find out what he wants." "Do you know your sister's bracelet has been stolen?" "Just tell the truth." "Nobody will say anything." "Do you know?" "What happened, brother-in-law?" "My wife's missing a piece of jewellery." "One bracelet." "Since when?" "This evening." "What shall I do?" "About what?" "The maid Ganga told me she saw her taking it." "What?" "Have you taken it?" "What a problem!" "Tell me truly whether you have taken it or not." "No." "How did the maid see you if you didn't take it?" "You and your brothers are all the same, aren't you?" "You plague me wherever you go." "Why have I had to stoop down my entire life for you all?" "So many people die..." "Why don't you people die?" "She didn't take it." "You don't say anything." "It's because of your showering affection on her." "We'll prove now whether she has taken it or not." "Bindu!" "Look!" "Look!" "What is that?" "A seed." "Seed of what?" "Of a mango." "I see." "Keep it like that." "You won't go?" "What a shame!" "Have you gone mad or what?" "What is the point in being late?" "As fast as possible, understood?" "0 my ill fate!" "My sister is not married yet." "Won't get the money until she's married." "Aunty!" "Aunty!" "Hide!" "Hide!" "Not there - hide there!" "In the sea..." "A girl..." "Like a beautiful queen..." "Was laughing..." "Was playing..." "Was laughing again..." "And was again playing..." "See what I've written here." "You would have just said laughing, playing etc." "See what I've said here." "Was laughing..." "Was laughing..." "Was playing..." "Was laughing again..." "The peerless lady is remembering." "Do you remember Draupadi's promise?" "Winning over his foes by his unwavering vow?" "Giving his life to mere mortals." "Being a woman who kept a vow " "The peerless lady is remembering." "A sacred and affectionate relationship." "Forget about Hindu and Muslim, but spread the love." "Bind the vast life with a fine thread." "Do remember Draupadi's promise." "Do you know who has written this?" "Hemchandra!" "Tongolaal?" "Then..." "Sarah Devi." "Isn't it?" "My elder sister." "Have you brought the horoscope?" "Obviously!" "Let me see." "Let it be here." "Bindu!" "Bindu!" "Where are you?" "Bindu!" "Bindu!" "Where are you?" "Bindu!" "I've searched for you in the entire house." "And what are you doing sitting here?" "Why are you crying?" "Does anybody cry after hearing a marriage proposal?" "Get up." "Come on." "You'll be married and go to your in-laws' house." "You will be the mistress of your husband's house." "The husband is everything in a woman's life." "The happiness you feel staying at your sister's place..." "I understand that very well." "Get up." "Come." "Come." "See?" "She's started crying because of her marriage proposal." "Why are you crying?" "I have kept some jewellery and sarees for you separately." "There will be so much light and music on the wedding day." "And you are crying!" "Silly girl!" "Go and have a bath." "What is the matter?" "The marriage is in seven days." "And no one's making arrangements in the house." "Why should arrangements be made if she's not to be married here?" "What do you mean?" "It will be at the groom's house." "That is what they insist." "Don't create any disturbance over this, I beg you." "She's getting married." "That's enough." "Will you listen to the drama?" "Come, come." "What are you looking at?" "The photo?" "Our family photo." "Great grandfather..." "Great grandmother..." "Grandfather..." "Father... and..." "Me!" "I was so small then." "You are also so small!" "Hey," "do you know songs?" "Sing..." "Softly." "Everybody is asleep." "Sing." "You know... you must know a song." "Shall I sing?" "Whose wife are you?" "Whose wife are you?" "Going to fetch water" "But nobody is accompanying you" "Whose wife are you?" "Whose wife are you?" "Do you know what they told me?" "They used to say:" "Balai, you won't get married ever." "I am mad, is what they said." "You know what I used to say?" "Look." "Look!" "Look here." "I said..." "I said I won't marry anybody except Rani Rashmoni." "Your name is Rani Rashmoni." "My name is Bindu." "What did you say?" "Bindu?" "Mother!" "Mother!" "Mother!" "Mother!" "Mother!" "Open the door!" "Open the door!" "Don't roam about like a bird." "Don't roam about like a bird." "What a pain, this going and coming back." "What a pain, this going and coming back." "Don't you know what pain there is in going and coming back?" "Don't roam about like a bird." "There are ten-faced people in the world." "Be alert and don't fall prey to their words." "Aren't you eating?" "Have it." "What is this?" "Who has given you food on this plate?" "Mother!" "Mother!" "Mother." "Mother!" "Mother!" "Who has stolen my wife's plate?" "Tell me!" "Tell me quickly!" "Mother!" "Who has stolen my wife's plate?" "Tell me!" "You have stolen it, and nobody else." "Tell me or I will kill you!" "Tell me quickly." "I will destroy everything." "I will break everything!" "Kanai!" "Kanai!" "Kanai, come fast and hold him, or else he will break everything!" "Who has stolen my Rashmoni's plate?" "Take him inside!" "I'll kill that bastard!" "Bindi!" "Bindi!" "Bindi!" "How did you come here?" "Tell me." "Tell me!" "Have you fled?" "Why?" "My husband is mad." "Come, son." "Come down." "Come on, my son." "Won't you have any rice?" "I've made it for you." "Come on." "Come on now, my good boy!" "I will send someone to bring your wife back." "Sister!" "I won't leave you!" "Who has told you to leave?" "They're coming for me!" "Who?" "Greetings!" "From where have you all come?" "We have come from..." "He is a relative from your sister-in-law's place." "For whom have you come?" "For Chandranath, sir." "I'm Chandranath." "What do you want to tell me?" "We have come to take our sister-in-law back." "To take Balai's wife." "He hasn't eaten since his wife fled." "He cries day and night." "Yes, there is a lot of tension in the house." "You wait here." "Your sister-in-law will come." "Let them sit inside." "Keep it!" "What are you saying?" "People have come from Bindu's in-laws to take her back." "Tell your wife she needs to send her out." "People have come from Bindu's in-laws to take her back." "I know." "Elder brother said to send her with them." "I knew it!" "Are you going to do it?" "No!" "She will stay with me, as she did before." "What do you mean?" "Do you want to shatter the peace in our house over Bindu?" "Why would you ruin her life?" "Bindu is no one in our family." "Why are doing this?" "Even if a madman, or a goat, he is the husband." "Can you change her fate by simply loving her?" "I can change the husband." "What do you mean?" "Do you want to re-marry her?" "What's wrong if I do?" "That is not a real marriage." "Younger wife!" "I have never ordered you." "But today I am ordering you." "You'll send Bindu with them." "Bindu's food and clothing, any responsibility for her, is not possible for me to take." "If you agree to giver her up, then it's all right." "Otherwise I have to make other arrangements." "She will not eat a single grain of yours." "I will give her half of my own food." "Bindi!" "Bindi!" "Bindi!" "Sister!" "Aunty!" "Let it be, my daughter." "It's been a long time since you've come." "What did you say?" "She's hard of hearing." "She says it's been a long time!" "I find happiness in visiting pilgrimage spots." "This time I will go to Jagannath." "So I thought I'd stop by while I had the chance." "If you're going to Puri then take me with you." "No, no." "I can't see anything without spectacles." "She is asking to go to Puri with you!" "To go to Puri with me?" "Are you able to leave the family?" "Will Indra let you?" "They'll survive if I leave." "She's saying that if she goes, then..." "How are you?" "Haven't you had a child, then?" "Who will carry on the family line if nobody has a child?" "What kind of a family is this?" "Chander can adopt a child." "Aunty, will you not meet elder wife?" "Let's go." "What have you started again?" "What?" "Where did you hide Bindu?" "Bindu?" "Yes, Bindu!" "Her in-laws have come to get her." "Bindu is missing." "What are you saying?" "Then why did we come here?" "On Friday, May 1st, 1908, at around 8 PM in Muzaffarpur..." "Mrs. and Ms. Kennedy were killed in a bomb blast near Mr. Kingsford's gate." "Will you be able to get there?" "Yes." "Yes, I can." "On Saturday, May 2nd, 1908, 24 miles away, near Waini station... suspected terrorist Khudiram Basu is killed." "The room was locked." "I waited for so long." "He didn't open the door." "Please go again." "You wrote this letter to Sarat." "Yes." "Why?" "Sarat is not allowed to enter in this house." "Why not?" "We've been informated that he has joined the anti-socials." "We don't want that a name from our family in the police records." "Who is it?" "Its me, Amol." "Open the door." "Sarat." "Sister." "You..." "Can I come in?" "You know, sister..." "I made a mistake." "Your bracelet." "I know that." "Listen..." "I have a serious requirement of you." "Bindu has fled from her in-laws' house." "Previously she would come to me." "This time she did not turn up." "I'm going to Puri with aunty the day after tomorrow on the night train." "However you can try to find Bindu and get her to me." "Can you?" "I can." "Sister!" "Where is Bindu?" "Have you brought her?" "Bindu is not there." "What did you say?" "Then?" "I went to her brothers." "They said she'd come there, but they'd sent her away." "Back to her in-laws' place." "I ran there." "Nobody wanted to tell me anything." "At last I came to know about her friendship with a little boy of the house." "I also found out that she'd written a letter addressed to you." "But that they'd burnt it." "O Respected One," "I am the younger wife of your house." "It has been fifteen years." "Madam?" "Birodgaron!" "You came and..." "This letter from madam also arrived." "Is madam there?" "She's away." "What is in your hand?" "Photographs." "I took a few photos of madam and have brought them." "Come, come." "Have a seat." "Let me see." "It's been fifteen years since we married." "I haven't written a letter to you in all that time." "But today I am writing one." "This is not from the younger wife of your family." "Because of your mother's disappointment with elder sister, from a remote place in Bangladesh you all brought me, the beauty." "It didn't take you long to forget that I had beauty." "But... that I had a mind as well... was not something you could cease to notice." "And I had something that none of you knew anything about." "In secret..." "I used to write poems." "Those poems may have been of poor craft." "I don't know." "But that is where my freedom was." "There I was free, myself..." "I was a poet." "In all those fifteen years you never saw a sign of it." "My child... died before birth." "I got to feel the pain of being a mother;" "I didn't get to feel the joy of being a mother." "I was on the verge of death in the delivery room." "If at that time death had taken me... then it wouldn't have been necessary to write this letter." "What people normally understand as sorrow..." "I did not suffer that in your family." "There was no scarcity of food or clothing." "You did not have the faults of your elder brother." "There was nothing in your character about which I could complain." "That's not the point of this letter." "I have no complaints against your family." "But still I won't return to your No.27 Makhanbarari Lane." "I won't return because... when I saw Bindu" "I understood the worth of a woman in your house." "I don't want that anymore." "You all wanted to trample Bindu's life under your feet." "But your legs are not long enough." "Death is beyond you all." "You people may not know..." "Bindu... is no more." "She set herself on fire, burned to death." "In the place she is now" "Bindu is not a Bengali girl, not the sister, not the wife of a mad husband." "There she is... eternal." "Your family... had covered me up in the darkness of your conventions." "Bindu came and upset all that." "She broke through that indifference of mine that I hadn't even realized was there." "Today the azure sea is in front of me, above are dense clouds." "In the world of God it's possible for me to live, to have pride." "Do not fear that I might commit suicide like Bindu." "I wouldn't play a trick like that on you." "Mirabai was a woman like me, her chains were no less heavy, but she did not have to die to live." "I too will survive." "I have survived." "Yours, seperated from the shelter under your feet," "Mrinal" "THE END"