Name: Mansi Sanjay

Bengali
Course: FYBMM
Roll No. 02
College: Malini Kishore
Sanghvi
Subject: English Literature
Author: Jhumpa Lahiri
Work: Interpreter Of
Maladies (Short
Stories)
A Temporary
Matter
Interpreter
Of Maladies
A Real
Durwan



About The Author
Jhumpa Lahiri is a famous Indo-American author of Bengali
origin. Her first novel, "The Namesake" was a major national
bestseller and was named the New York Magazine Book of the Year.
Jhumpa Lahiri was born in July 1967 in London and was raised in
Rhode Island. Jhumpa is an alumnus of Barnard College, where she
received a B.A. in English literature, and of Boston University,
where she received an M.A. in English, M.A. in Creative Writing
and M.A. in Comparative Studies in Literature and the Arts, and
a Ph.D. in Renaissance Studies. She took up a fellowship at
Provincetown's Fine Arts Work Center for two years. Jhumpa
Lahiri also taught creative writing at Boston University and
Rhode Island School of Design.









Short Stories
o Interpreter of Maladies (1999)
o Unaccustomed Earth (2008)
o Nobodys Business
o Hell-Heaven
o Once in a lifetime

Novels
The Namesake (2003)



SUMMARIES
THE NAMESAKE
The novel begins in 1968 with the birth of a son to Ashoke
and Ashima Ganguli, a Bengali couple that settled in
Boston. While Ashima is giving birth the reader is taken
back in time to 1961 when Ashoke almost lost his life in a
train derailment. Only the book he was clutching a
collection of Nikolai Gogols short stories revealed him
to the rescuers. With this story in mind, the Gangulis
confront the problem of what to do about their newborn
sons name. He needs both a bhalonam and a daknam to
keep with Bengali tradition, but the letter carrying the
good name never arrives from Ashimas grandmother in
Calcutta, so he starts his life with only his familiar
name, Gogol. At first Ashima is very lonely but as the baby
grows, so, too, does their circle of Bengali acquaintances.
When Gogol is six months old they have his annaprasan
ceremony. Gogol is little over a year old when they get the
news of the death of Ashimas father and they leave for
India. By 1971 the Gangulis move to the Boston suburbs.
When Gogol turns five Ashima is pregnant again. Gogol is
admitted to the towns public school under the name of
Nikhil. But the principal, Mrs. Lapidus, explains that due
to their sons preference he will be known as Gogol in
school. When Gogols sister is born the Gangulis are ready
with the name, Sonali/Sonia. For Gogol and Sonia Durga pujo
does not stand in comparison with Christmas in America. One
day on a field trip to a graveyard Gogol realizes that how
uncommon his name is and how names die over time. On
Gogols fourteenth birthday Ashoke presents Gogol with The
Short Stories of Nikolai Gogol. He tells Gogol that his
favourite author spent most of his adult life outside his
homeland like him but he cannot bring himself to tell Gogol
about his train accident. The next year they go for eight
months to India. When they return their American friends
are happy to see them back. When Gogol is in high school,
Mr. Lawson, their teacher, tells them about the life of
Nikolai Gogol. Once in a party he meets a girl called Kim.
Instead of the unromantic Gogol he introduces himself as
Nikhil. Before his freshman year at Yale changes his name
to Nikhil officially. During his sophomore year Gogol gets
involved with a girl called Ruth. After Ruths return from
Oxford they find it difficult to adjust with each other and
the relationship ends. One day when Gogol is late coming
from Yale because of a train accident, his father tells him
the truth of him being named so. It has a profound effect
on Gogol. Gogol graduates in architecture and starts living
in New York. There, Gogol gets into a relationship with
Maxine Ratliff. On his way with her to the Ratliffs lake
house in New Hampshire he drops by at Pemberton Road to
meet his parents because his father will be leaving for
Ohio on a nine months research grant. Ashima is alone at
home surrounded by the security system installed by Ashoke.
Ashoke comes home every three weekends. One day Ashima
receives a call from Ashoke that he is in the hospital for
an ordinary checkup. Later the hospital informs her that
her husband has expired. Sonia flies back from San
Francisco to be with Ashima. Gogol goes alone to Cleveland
to cremate his father. Ashima has no desire to escape to
Calcutta now and be far from the place where her husband
made his life, the country in which he died. Gogol
remembers how once his father told him, "Remember that you
and I made this journey, that we went together to a place
where there was nowhere left to go." After a year the
family plans to travel to Calcutta to scatter Ashokes
ashes in the Ganges. Maxine cannot understand being
excluded from their plans and says that she feels jealous
of Gogols mother and sister. The relationship breaks. As
time passes by, one day Ashima asks Gogol to meet someone
called Moushumi Mazoomdar whom he had known as a girl. They
meet and get involved romantically. Earlier, Moushumi after
years of being convinced that she would never have a lover
had moved to Paris with no specific plans and began to fall
effortlessly into affairs. It is there that she fell in
love with Graham who happily accompanied her to visit her
relatives in Calcutta. On returning when she realizes that
he was just pretending to enjoy himself in Calcutta, they
argue and their wedding is canceled. It is in this
condition that she meets Gogol and within a year they
marry. After the first anniversary of their marriage
Moushumi starts having an affair with Dimitri, which
eventually leads to the breakup of her marriage. Ashima
prepares to leave for India intending to live six months of
her life in India and six months in the states. Sonia is
going to marry her boyfriend, Ben. On Christmas Eve Ashima
throws a party for her friends in America. As the party
begins Gogol goes upstairs to get his fathers Nikon camera
but instead he retrieves the unread book that his father
had presented him on his fourteenth birthday. He turns to
the first story, The Overcoat, and as the party goes on
downstairs, he starts to read.
once in a lifetime
The story, told in second-person narration by a Bengali-
American girl, is set in Cambridge, Massachusettsa town
known for its intellectualism and diversity. The young girl
hails from a family that has achieved the American dream;
leaving behind their past in India, they have attained
education and financial stability. But the boy that the
narrator addresses in the story comes from a family with a
different version of that dream; although Bengali, his
family stands markedly apart from the narrators. The boys
parents achieved success in America earlier than their
peers. The narrator explains that while my father and the
other men were still taking exams, your father already had
a Ph.D., and he drove a car, a silver Saab with bucket
seats. Dr. Choudhuri would transport other couples and
families home after a party; at the time, only he could
afford a car.
But just as other immigrant families in this Cambridge
community begin to obtain their education and success, the
Choudhuris decide to move back to India, forsaking the
immigrant experience. The distance that already existed
between the Choudhuris and the narrators family only
deepens with this decision. Although it is evident through
food and custom that the narrators family treasures their
Bengali heritage, it is also apparent that they have made a
permanent decision to integrate into American society. When
the Choudhuris leave for Calcutta, their relationship
severs.
But after a number of years, the Choudhuris return. Not only
do they re-enter America, but also completely integrate into
the lives of their long-lost friends. The narrators family is
asked to host the Choudhuris until they can find a permanent
home. Over several weeks, the narrator and her parents
struggle to understand exactly how location plays into
identity. According to the narrators mother, "Bombay had
made them more American than Cambridge had.
Hell Heaven
This story tells about the relationship between Pranab
Chakraborty and the narrator Usha's family. Pranab, who
Usha comes to call Pranab Kaku (uncle) is essentially
adopted by Usha's family because he is so alone in Boston
when he moves there for graduate school. They take him in,
feeding him daily, and Usha's mother falls in love with
Pranab. Usha's parents had an arranged marriage, and it is
one of duty, rather than passion. This makes Boudi all the
more vulnerable when Pranab meets an American woman named
Deborah, falls in love, and marries her. Boudi predicts
they will divorce, and they do, but not for twenty-three
years, and then only because Pranab cheats on Deborah. By
this time, Usha's family has become like foster parents to
Deborah as they had to Pranab.
Unique Trait of Jhumpa Lahiri
A Unique trait about her work is that she uses the nature of
characters which are close to her, meaning all her characters
are mainly Bengali people who settled in the states and are
trying hard so that their children dont forget their basic
culture.
Her stories contain the cultural conflict that they have to face
and how are they coping with it. Her basic idea is to let the
audience be aware of how the Bengalis who go to live in states
are surviving. Her stories are filled with Indian Culture and
American Reality.
She is also known to give careful attention to the most
intricate details in her stories. She is fluent in describing
the minutest details in her stories.
Her Major Themes
Secrecy is a recurrent theme in this collection of short
stories. Main characters keep secrets from their partner or
community..She examines her characters' struggles, anxieties,
and biases to chronicle the nuances and details of immigrant
psychology and behavior.
Writing Techniques
Lahiri's writing is characterized by her "plain" language and
her characters, often Indian immigrants to America who must
navigate between the cultural values of their birthplace and
their adopted home. Lahiri's fiction is autobiographical and
frequently draws upon her own experiences as well as those of
her parents, friends, acquaintances, and others in
the Bengali communities with which she is familiar. Lahiri
examines her characters' struggles, anxieties, and biases to
chronicle the nuances and details of immigrant psychology and
behavior.

Awards
1993 TransAtlantic Award from the Henfield Foundation
1999 O. Henry Award for short story "Interpreter of
Maladies"
1999 PEN/Hemingway Award (Best Fiction Debut of the
Year) for "Interpreter of Maladies"
1999 "Interpreter of Maladies" selected as one of Best
American Short Stories
2000 Addison Metcalf Award from the American Academy of
Arts and Letters
2000 The New Yorker's Best Debut of the Year for
"Interpreter of Maladies"
2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her
debut Interpreter of Maladies
2000 James Beard Foundation's M.F.K. Fisher
Distinguished Writing Award for "Indian Takeout" in Food
& Wine Magazine
2002 Guggenheim Fellowship
2002 - "Nobody's Business" selected as one of Best
American Short Stories
2008 - Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award for
"Unaccustomed Earth"



Personal Life
Lahiri was born in London, the daughter
of Bengali Indian immigrants. Her family moved to the United
States when she was three; Lahiri considers herself an American,
stating, "I wasn't born here, but I might as well have been."

Lahiri grew up in Kingston, Rhode Island, where her father Amar
Lahiri works as a librarian at the University of Rhode
Island; he is the basis for the protagonist in "The Third and
Final Continent," the closing story from Interpreter of
Maladies.

Lahiri's mother wanted her children to grow up knowing
their Bengali heritage, and her family often visited relatives
in Calcutta (now Kolkata).
When she began kindergarten in Kingston, Rhode Island Lahiri's
teacher decided to call her by her pet name, Jhumpa, because it
was easier to pronounce than her "proper names".Lahiri
recalled, "I always felt so embarrassed by my name.... You feel
like you're causing someone pain just by being who you
are." Lahiri's ambivalence over her identity was the inspiration
for the ambivalence of Gogol, the protagonist of her novel The
Namesake, over his unusual name. Lahiri graduated from South
Kingstown High School, and received her B.A. in English
literature from Barnard College in 1989

5 Famous Quotes By Jhumpa Lahiri
1. "Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have
traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known,
each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all
appears, there are times when it is beyond my
imagination."
Jhumpa Lahiri (Interpreter of Maladies)
2. "That's the thing about books. They let you travel without
moving your feet."
Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake)
3. "He owned an expensive camera that required thought before
you pressed the shutter, and I quickly became his favorite
subject, round-faced, missing teeth, my thick bangs in need
of a trim. They are still the pictures of myself I like
best, for they convey that confidence of youth I no longer
possess, especially in front of a camera."
Jhumpa Lahiri (Unaccustomed Earth)
4. "One hand, five homes. A lifetime in a fist."
Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake)
5. "My grandfather says that's what books are for," Ashoke
said, using the opportunity to open the volume in his
hands. "To travel without moving an inch."
Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake)





















A
Temporary
Matter
Themes
1. Grief
The story takes place six months after the stillbirth of Shoba
and Shukumar's first child, and the two are still filled with
grief. Shukumar has withdrawn from the world and seldom leaves
the house. He stays in bed half the day, unable to summon the
energy and concentration to make progress on his work which he
does from his house. Shoba, on the other hand, stays away from
the house as much as she can. She used to be an attentive
housekeeper and enthusiastic cook, but the house seems to remind
her of her loss. According to Shukumar, she treats the house as
if it was a hotel and would eat cereal for dinner if he did not
cook.
2. Alienation
Shoba and Shukumar's grief has led them to withdraw from each
other. Until the nightly power outages began, they avoided each
other. Shoba and Shukumar do not attempt to comfort or support
each other. Each withdraws from the relationship, and they
endure their grief as if they were two strangers living in a
boardinghouse.
3. Deception
Through the game that Shoba and Shukumar play of revealing
secrets, we learn that deception has been a theme in their
relationship. They have lied to each other, and the lies have
been selfish ones meaning they have been told not to spare the
other's feelings but to allow the person telling the lie to
escape some discomfort or sacrifice. To avoid having dinner with
Shukumar's mother, Shoba lied and said she had to work late.
Shukumar told Shoba that he lost a sweater she had given him,
when in reality he returned the sweater and used the money to
get drunk.
As these examples of deception are revealed throughout the
story, it is clear that Shoba and Shukumar's emotional
seperation began before the loss of their baby. They have always
dealt with difficult situations and unpleasant emotions by
lying. Throughout the week of power outages, Shoba appears to be
reaching out to Shukumar. In truth, she is engineering her final
separation from him.
Plot
The story opens with Shoba, a thirty-three-year-old wife,
arriving home at the end of a workday. Her husband, Shukumar, is
cooking dinner. Shoba reads him a notice from the electric
company stating that their electricity will be turned off from 8
p.m. to 9 p.m. for five consecutive days so that a line can be
repaired. The date shown on the notice for the first evening of
the outage is today's date, March 19.
The narrator mentions that Shukumar has forgotten to brush
his teeth that day and often does not leave the house for days
at a time, although Shoba stays out more as time goes on. Then
the narrator explains that six months earlier, in September,
Shoba had experienced fetal death three weeks before their baby
was due. Shukumar, a doctoral student, was in Baltimore for an
academic conference at the time, having gone only at Shoba's
insistence. By the time Shukumar had gotten news of Shoba's
premature labor and returned to Boston, their baby had been
stillborn.
Shoba leaves early each morning for her proofreading job in
the city. After work, she goes to the gym. She also takes on
extra projects for work that she does at home during the
evenings and weekends. Shukumar stays in bed half the day.
Shukumar is supposed to be working on his dissertation; instead,
he spends most of his time reading novels and cooking dinner.
When Shukumar remarks that they will have to eat dinner in
the dark because of the power outage, Shoba suggests lighting
candles and goes upstairs to shower before dinner. Shukumar
notes that she has left her satchel and sneakers in the kitchen
and that since the stillbirth Shoba has "treated the house like
a hotel." He brushes his teeth, unwrapping a new toothbrush in
the downstairs bathroom. This leads him to recall that Shoba
used to be prepared for any eventuality. In addition to having
extra toothbrushes for last-minute guests, Shoba had stocked
their pantry and freezer with homemade foods. After the
stillbirth, she had stopped cooking, and Shukumar had used up
all the stored food in the past months. Shukumar also notes that
Shoba always keeps her bonuses in a bank account in her own
name. He thinks that this is for the best, since his mother was
unable to handle her financial affairs when his father died.
The narrator explains that Shoba and Shukumar have been eating
dinner separately, she in front of the television set, he in
front of the computer. Tonight, they will eat together because
of the power outage. Shukumar lights candles, tunes the radio to
a jazz station, and sets the table with their best china. Shoba
comes into the kitchen as the electricity goes off and the
lights go out. She says that the kitchen looks lovely and
reminisces about power outages in India. She tells Shukumar that
at family dinners at her grandmother's house, when the
electricity went off, "we all had to say something"a joke, a
poem, an interesting fact, or some other tidbit. Shoba suggests
that she and Shukumar do this, but she further suggests that
they each tell the other something they have never revealed
before.
Shoba begins the game, telling Shukumar that early in their
relationship she peeked into his address book to see if she was
in it. Shukumar reveals that on their first date he forgot to
tip the waiter, so he returned to the restaurant the next day
and left money for him.
The next evening, Shoba comes home earlier than usual. They eat
together by candlelight again. Then, instead of each going to a
different room, Shoba suggests that they sit outside, since it
is warm. Shukumar knows that they will play the game again. He
is afraid of what Shoba might tell him. He considers but then
discounts several possibilities: that she had an affair, that
she does not respect him for still being a student at thirty-
five, or that she blames him for being away when she lost the
baby.
Shoba tells Shukumar that she once lied to him, saying that she
had to work late when actually she went out with a friend.
Shukumar tells her that he cheated on an exam many years
earlier. He explains that his father had died a few months
before and that he was unprepared for the exam. Shoba takes his
hand, and they go inside.
The next day, Shukumar thinks all day about what he will tell
Shoba next. That evening, he tells her that he returned a
sweater she gave him as an anniversary gift and used the money
to get drunk in the middle of the day. The sweater was a gift
for their third anniversary, and Shukumar was disappointed
because he thought it was unromantic. Shoba tells Shukumar that
at a social gathering with his superiors from the university,
she purposely did not tell him that he had a bit of food on his
chin as he chatted with the department chairman. They then sit
together on the sofa and kiss.
The fourth night, Shoba tells Shukumar that she does not like
the only poem he has ever had published. He tells her that he
once tore a picture of a woman out of one of her magazines and
carried it with him for a week because he desired the woman.
They go upstairs and make love.
The next day, Shukumar goes to the mailbox and finds a notice
that the electric repairs have been completed early. Shukumar is
disappointed, but when Shoba arrives home she says, "You can
still light the candles if you want." They eat by candlelight,
and then Shoba blows out the candles and turns on the lights.
When Shukumar questions this, she tells him that she has
something to tell him and wants him to see her face. His heart
pounds. He thinks that she is going to tell him that she is
pregnant again, and he does not want her to be. She tells him,
instead, that she has signed a lease on an apartment for
herself.
Shukumar realizes that this revelation has been her planned
ending for the game all along. He decides to tell Shoba
something he had vowed to himself that he would never tell her.
Shoba does not know that Shukumar held their baby at the
hospital while she slept. Shoba does not even know the baby's
gender and has said that she is glad that she has no knowledge
about the lost child. Shukumar tells Shoba that the baby was a
boy and goes on to describe his appearance in detail, including
that the baby's hands were closed into fists the way Shoba's are
when she sleeps. The two sit at the table together, and each of
them cries because of what the other has revealed.
Characters
o Mr. Bradford & Mrs. Bradford (Flat)
Mr. and Mrs. Bradford are neighbors of Shoba and Shukumar. Shoba
and Shukumar see them walking by, arm in arm, on their way to
the bookstore on the second night of the power outage and
Shukumar sees them again, through the window, on the last
evening of the story. The Bradfords seem to be a happily married
couple and as such provide a contrast to Shoba and Shukumar. The
writer mentions that the Bradfords placed a sympathy card in
Shoba and Shukumar's mailbox when they lost their baby.
o Shoba (Round)
Shoba is a thirty-three-year-old woman who is married to
Shukumar. She is described as tall and broad-shouldered. She
seems to have been born in the United States of immigrant
parents from India, and she has spent considerable time in India
visiting relatives. She now lives with her husband in a house
outside Boston. Shoba works in the city as a proofreader and
also takes on extra projects to do at home. She works out at a
gym regularly. Six months before the time of the story, Shoba's
first child was stillborn. This tragedy has changed her habits
and her relationship with her husband. While she was formerly a
neat and enthusiastic housekeeper and cook, she has become
careless about the house and has stopped cooking. The author
remarks that she previously had the habit of being prepared for
anything, from keeping extra toothbrushes on hand for last-
minute guests to stocking the freezer and pantry with homemade
Indian delicacies.
o Shukumar (Flat)
Shukumar is a thirty-five-year-old doctoral student who is
married to Shoba. He is a tall man with a large build. He, too,
seems to be an American-born child of Indian immigrants, but he
has spent less time in India than Shoba has.
Because of the loss of his child six months earlier, Shukumar
has been given a semester away from his teaching duties. He is
supposed to use the time to focus on writing his dissertation on
agrarian revolts in India. However, Shukumar accomplishes
little. He stays in bed until midday, doesn't leave the house
for days at a time, and often forgets to brush his teeth. He has
spent the past months preparing dinners for himself and Shoba
using the foods she has stored in the freezer and pantry.
Setting
The basic setting throughout the story is Shukumar and Shobas
home which is located outside Boston. The detail regarding the
interiors of the house is well explained also sometimes the
setting goes to the hospital where Shoba gave birth to a death
infant. The time frame is of linear type.


Analysis of the title
As the title suggest a lot of things which are temporary in life
like power cuts, truce between people who cant stand each other
because of their personal problems ,etc are discussed. It was a
temporary matter of power cut so was their stay with each other.
It seems as though the power outage might bring the couple
closer together yet it is only a temporary matter, or a
temporary respite to the pain the couple is feeling and is a
brief moment in which they can reflect on what has changed
between them.







Interpreter
Of
Maladies

Themes
o The Difficulty of Communication
Mr. Kapasi, who is the interpreter of maladies, as Mrs. Das
names him, has lost his ability to communicate with his wife,
forcing him to drink his tea in silence at night and leading to
a loveless marriage. He has also lost his ability to communicate
in some of the languages he learned as a younger man, leaving
him with only English, which he fears he does not speak as well
as his children. Mr. and Mrs. Das do not communicate, not
because of a language barrier but because Mrs. Das hides behind
her sunglasses most of the time and Mr. Das has his nose buried
in a guidebook. The children do not listen to their parents, nor
do they listen to Mr. Kapasi about the monkeys. All these
frustrated attempts at communicating with one another lead to
hurt feelings. The Kapasis are trapped in a failing marriage.
The Dases are openly hostile to each other.
o The Danger of Romanticism
The main conflict of the story centers on two people who
romanticize each other, although in different ways. Mr. Kapasi
sees Mrs. Das as a lonely housewife who could be a perfect
companion to him in his own loneliness. He misses or ignores
cues that she may not be interested in him for his own sake
because, at some level, he wants her to be this companion. He
sees many details about her, such as her bare legs and
Americanized shirt and bag, but he passes over others, such as
the way she dismisses her childrens desires and her selfishness
with her snack.. Likewise, Mrs. Das wants Mr. Kapasi to become a
confidante to her and solve her personal and marital
difficulties. She views him as a father figure and helper and
misses or ignores indications that he may not fit those roles.
For example, she doesnt notice that he is uncomfortable with
her personal revelations and presses him for help even when he
explicitly tells her that he cannot give it to her.
Mr. Das, for example, photographs the Indian peasant whose
suffering he finds appropriate for a tourists shot. He sees
only what he wants to seean interesting picture from a foreign
landnot the actual man who is starving by the roadside. Even
when Bobby is surrounded by monkeys, in genuine distress, Mr.
Das can do nothing but snap a picture, as though this scene is
also somehow separate from reality. Throughout their trip, Mr.
Das fails to engage with India in any substantial way,
preferring to hide behind the efficient descriptions in his
guidebook. His romanticized tourists view of India keeps him
from connecting to the country that his parents call home.

Plot
The Das family is in India on vacation, and Mr. Das has hired
Mr. Kapasi to drive them to visit the Sun Temple. The family
sits in the car, which is stopped near a tea stall. Mr. and Mrs.
Das are arguing about who should take their daughter, Tina, to
the bathroom, and Mrs. Das ultimately takes her. Ronny, their
son, darts out of the car to look at a goat. Mr. Das, who
closely resembles Ronny, reprimands him but does nothing to stop
him, even when he says he wants to give the goat a piece of gum.
Mr. Das tells Bobby, the younger of their two sons, to go look
after Ronny. When Bobby refuses, Mr. Das does nothing to enforce
his order.

Mr. Das tells Mr. Kapasi that both he and his wife were born and
raised in the United States. Mr. Das also reveals that their
parents now live in India and that the Das family visits them
every few years. Tina comes back to the car, clutching a doll
with shorn hair. Mr. Das asks Tina where her mother is, using
Mrs. Dass first name, Mina. Mr. Kapasi notices that Mr. Das
uses his wifes first name, and he thinks it is an unusual way
to speak to a child. While Mrs. Das buys some puffed rice from a
nearby vendor, Mr. Das tells Mr. Kapasi that he is a middle-
school teacher in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Mr. Kapasi reveals
that he has been a tour guide for five years.
The group sets off. Tina plays with the locks in the back of the
car, and Mrs. Das does not stop her. Mrs. Das sits in the car
silently and eats her snack without offering any to anyone else.
Along the road, they see monkeys, which Mr. Kapasi says are
common in the area. Mr. Das has him stop the car so he can take
a picture of a starving peasant. Mr. and Mrs. Das quarrel
because Mr. Das has not gotten them a tour guide whose car has
air-conditioning. Mr. Kapasi observes that Mr. and Mrs. Das are
more like siblings to their children than parents.
Mr. Kapasi tells the Dases about his other job as an interpreter
in a doctors office. Mrs. Das remarks that his job is romantic
and asks him to tell her about some of his patients. However,
Mr. Kapasi views his job as a failure. At one time, he had been
a scholar of many languages, and now he remains fluent only in
English. He took the interpreting job as a way to pay the
medical bills when his eldest son contracted typhoid and died at
age seven. He kept the job because the pay was better than his
previous teaching job, but it reminds his wife of their sons
death. Mr. Kapasis marriage was arranged by his parents, and he
and his wife have nothing in common. Mr. Kapasi, seduced by Mrs.
Dass description of his job as romantic, begins fantasizing
about Mrs. Das.
When they stop for lunch, Mrs. Das insists that Mr. Kapasi sit
with them. He does, and Mr. Das takes their picture together.
Mrs. Das gets Mr. Kapasis address so that she can send him a
copy of the picture, and Mr. Kapasi begins to daydream about how
they will have a great correspondence that will, in a way,
finally fulfill his dreams of being a diplomat between
countries. He imagines the witty things he will write to her and
how she will reveal the unhappiness of her marriage.
At the temple, Mrs. Das talks with Mr. Kapasi as they stare at
friezes of women in erotic poses. Mr. Kapasi admires her legs
and continues to dream about their letters. Dreading taking the
Dases back to their hotel, he suggests that they go see a nearby
monastery, and they agree. When they arrive, the place is
swarming with monkeys. Mr. Kapasi tells the children and Mr. Das
that the monkeys are not dangerous as long as they are not fed.
Mrs. Das stays in the car because her legs are tired. She sits
in the front seat next to Mr. Kapasi and confesses to him that
her younger son, Bobby, is the product of an affair she had
eight years ago. She slept with a friend of Mr. Dass who came
to visit while she was a lonely housewife, and she has never
told anyone about it. She tells Mr. Kapasi because he is an
interpreter of maladies and she believes he can help her. Mr.
Kapasis crush on her begins to evaporate. Mrs. Das reveals that
she no longer loves her husband, whom she has known since she
was a young child, and that she has destructive impulses toward
her children and life. She asks Mr. Kapasi to suggest some
remedy for her pain. Mr. Kapasi, insulted, asks her whether it
isnt really just guilt she feels. Mrs. Das gets out of the car
and joins her family. As she walks, she drops a trail of puffed
rice.
Meanwhile, the children and Mr. Das have been playing with the
monkeys. When Mrs. Das rejoins them, Bobby is missing. They find
him surrounded by monkeys that have become crazed from Mrs.
Dass puffed rice and are hitting Bobby on the legs with a stick
he had given them. Mr. Das accidentally takes a picture in his
nervousness, and Mrs. Das screams for Mr. Kapasi to do
something. Mr. Kapasi chases off the monkeys and carries Bobby
back to his family. Mrs. Das puts a bandage on Bobbys knee.
Then she reaches into her handbag to get a hairbrush to
straighten his hair, and the paper with Mr. Kapasis address on
it flutters away

Characters
o Mr. Kapasi
Mr. Kapasi believes that his life is a failure and longs for
something more. In his efforts to lift his existence out of the
daily, monotonous grind it has become, Mr. Kapasi develops a
far-fetched fantasy about the possibility of a deep friendship
between himself and Mrs. Das. This fantasy reveals just how
lonely Mr. Kapasis life and marriage have become. His arranged
marriage is struggling because his wife cannot recover from her
grief over the loss of their young son or forgive him for working
for the doctor who failed to save their sons life. His career
is far less than what he dreamed it might be. He uses his
knowledge of English in only the most peripheral way, in high
contrast to the dreams of scholarly and diplomatic greatness he
once had. In his isolation, he sees Mrs. Das as a potential
kindred spirit because she also languishes in a loveless
marriage. He imagines similarities between them that do not
exist, yearning to find a friend in this American woman. Not
surprisingly, the encounter ends in disappointment. When Mrs.
Das does confide in him, he feels only disgust. The intimacy he
thought he wanted revolts him when he learns more about Mrs.
Dass nature.
In both of Mr. Kapasis jobs, as a tour guide and an interpreter
for a doctor, he acts as a cultural broker. As a tour guide, he
shows mostly English-speaking Europeans and Americans the sights
of India, and in his work as an interpreter, he helps the ailing
from another region to communicate with their physician.
Although neither occupation attains the aspirations of diplomacy
he once had, Mrs. Das helps him view both as important
vocations. However, Mr. Kapasi is ultimately unable to bridge
the cultural gap between himself and Mrs. Das, whether it stems
from strictly national differences or more personal ones. Mr.
Kapasis brief transformation from ordinary tour guide to
romantic interpreter ends poorly, with his return to the
ordinary drudgery of his days.
o Mrs. Mina Das
Mrs. Dass fundamental failing is that she is profoundly selfish
and self-absorbed. She does not see anyone else as they are but
rather as a means to fulfilling her own needs and wishes. Her
romanticized view of Mr. Kapasis day job leads her to confide
in him, and she is oblivious to the fact that he would rather
she did not. She persists in confiding even when it is clear
that Mr. Kapasi has no advice to offer her. Mrs. Das is selfish,
declining to share her food with her children, reluctantly
taking her daughter to the bathroom, and refusing to paint her
daughters fingernails. She openly derides her husband and mocks
his enthusiasm for tourism, using the fact that they are no
longer in love as an excuse for her bad behavior. Although Mrs.
Das has been unfaithful, she feels the strain in her marriage
only as her own pain. She fails to recognize the toll her affair
takes on her husband and children. Rather than face the misery
she has caused, Mrs. Das hides behind her sunglasses and
disengages from her family. Likewise, when her attempt at
confiding in Mr. Kapasi fails, she leaves the car rather than
confront the guilt that Mr. Kapasi has suggested is the source
of her pain.
Mrs. Das embodies stereotypically American flaws, including
disrespect for other countries and cultures, poorly behaved
children, and a self-involvement so extensive that she blames
others for her feelings of guilt about her infidelity. She is
messy, lazy, and a bad parent. She has no concern for the
environment or her effect on it and drops her rice snacks all
over the ground, riling the local wildlife. She represents what
is often called the ugly American, a traveler who stands out
in every situation because of her expansive sense of self-
importance and entitlement.
Symbols
The Camera
Mr. Dass camera represents his inability to see the world
clearly or engage with it. Because he views the world through
his camera, Mr. Das misses the reality of the world around him,
both in his marriage and in the scenes outside the cab. Mr. Das
chooses to have Mr. Kapasi stop the cab so that he can take a
photograph of a starving peasant, wanting the picture only as a
souvenir of India and ignoring the mans obvious need for help.
His view of the mans reality is distorted because he sees the
man only through the camera lens. Mr. Das snaps pictures of
monkeys and scenery, taking the camera from his eye only when he
turns back to his guidebook. Rather than engage actively with
the India that surrounds him, he instead turns to the safety of
frozen images and bland descriptions of ancient sites. He has
come to visit India, but what he will take away with him
pictures and snatches of guidebook phraseshe could have gotten
from any shop at home in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Mr. Das also uses the camera to construct a family life that
does not actually exist. His children are insolent and his wife
is distant, yet Mr. Das tries to pose them in pictures that
suggest harmony and intimacy. When Mrs. Das refuses to leave the
car when they visit the monastic dwellings, Mr. Das tries to
change her mind because he wants to get a complete family
portraitsomething, he says, they can use for their Christmas
card. This happy family that Mr. Das aspires to catch on film
is pure fabrication, but Mr. Das does not seem to care. He would
rather exist in an imaginary state of willful ignorance and
arms-length engagement than face the disappointments and
difficulties of his real life.
Mrs. Dass Puffed Rice

Puffed rice, insubstantial and bland, represents Mrs. Dass
mistakes and careless actions. Physically, Mrs. Das is young and
attractive, but she is spiritually empty. She does not love her
children or husband and is caught in the boredom of her life as
a housewife. Her depression and apathy distance her from her
family, but she harbors a secret that could tear the entire
family apart. She carelessly scatters the puffed rice along the
trail at the monastic dwellings, never thinking about the danger
her actions pose to others. Even when she realizes the danger to
Bobby, as monkeys surround and terrify him, Mrs. Das does not
take any responsibility for the situation, just as she refuses
to acknowledge any guilt about her affair with Mr. Dass friend.
If Mrs. Dass secret is ever revealed, Bobby will be the true
victim of that carelessness as well. Conceived out of anger,
boredom, and spite and then lied to about his real father, Bobby
is surrounded by deceit. Mr. Kapasi feels the urge to tell Bobby
the truth as he carries him away from the monkeys. He knows that
the safety he is providing for the boyscattering the monkeys
and lifting Bobby away from dangeris insubstantial. He delivers
Bobby back to Mrs. Das, whose distance and carelessness fail to
provide true safety.
Settings
The main setting of this novel is in a car on a visit to
sun temple in Orissa. The time format is linear.



























A
Real
Durwan
Themes
Jhumpa Lahiri explores the themes of power and control, and
how this power is used and abused in this story when the
residents did not have money they wanted a durwan who would
not charge money but as soon as they have money they want a
better durwan. They did not even think about the old lady
as to what will she do after she goes out in the world.
Plot
Boori Ma is a feeble 64-year-old woman from Calcutta who is the
stair-sweeper, or durwan, of an old brick building. In exchange
for her services, the residents allow Boori Ma to live on the
roof of the building. While she sweeps, she tells stories of her
past: her daughters extravagant wedding, her servants, her
estate and her riches. The residents of the brick building hear
continuous contradictions in Booris storytelling, but her
stories are seductive and compelling, so they let her
contradictions rest. One family in particular takes a liking to
Boori Ma, the Dalals. Mrs. Dalal often gives Boori Ma food and
takes care of her ailments. When Mr. Dalal gets promoted at
work, he improves the brick building by installing a sink in the
stairwell and a sink in his home. The Dalals continue to
improve their home and even go away on a trip to Simla for ten
days and promise to bring back Boori Ma a sheeps hair blanket.
While the Dalals are away, the other residents become obsessed
with making their own improvement to the building. Boori Ma even
spends her life savings on special treats while circling around
the neighborhood. However, while Boori Ma is out one afternoon,
the sink in the stairwell is stolen. The residents accuse Boori
Ma of informing the robbers and in negligence for her job. When
Boori Ma protests, the residents continue to accuse her because
of all her previous inconsistent stories. The residents'
obsession with materializing the building dimmed their focus on
the remaining members of their community, like Boori Ma. The
short story concludes as the residents throw out Boori Mas
belongings and begin a search for a real durwan.
Characters
Boori Ma
She is a 64-year old feeble woman who works as an
unofficial durwn in a society. She keps the society
clean and also stays over there. She is a round
character we can see her changing trying to adapt to
her surroundings.
Mrs. Dalal
Mrs. Dalal stays in the building and takes care of
Boori Ma. She feels pity for her. And so offers her
help from time to time. She is a typical housewife who
expects all the riches from her husband and it is
during their absence that Boori ma is thrown out of
the building.




















Personal Conclusion
In my personal opinion, many of the short-
stories ended incomplete. With this
incompleteness came the sense of having the
sheets ripped off of you in the morning, only to
be greeted by cold shivers. And although this
sensation swelled up inside of me several times, I
found I was content. I discovered that as I
stepped out of bed I was not greeted by those
cold shivers, but instead I was greeted by
indifferent warmth. The stories incompleteness
made "Interpreter of Maladies" all the more
complete.


THE END