The Gift of a Bride: A Tale of Anthropology, Matrimony and Murder by Serena Nanda

Author:Serena Nanda [Nanda, Serena]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, pdf
Publisher: AltaMira Press
Published: 2009-05-15T16:00:00+00:00

Anjeli shook with a mixture of fear and anger. Who is this man? Can he be making this all up? But if so, why pick on Kumar? She would have to tell Kumar what happened when he came home. She hoped he wouldn’t be late tonight, and, now that she thought of it, Anjeli didn’t understand why the man said Kumar wasn’t at work. She made herself a cup of tea; whenever she was upset her American coffee habit gave way to her life-long habit of drinking tea, which comforted by evoking home.

I must give Kumar the chance to explain, Anjeli thought. It will be no good to yell at him. If he lost his temper, he could get very mean. But why should he be angry at me? she wondered logically. I have not done anything wrong. He cannot blame me for this.

Anjeli forced herself to continue cleaning to pass the time until Kumar came home. To her surprise, she heard his key in the lock long before the hour he normally arrived. Steeling herself to be calm, Anjeli called from the kitchen, “Is that you, Kumar?”

“Who else would it be, Anjeli? Are you expecting someone else?” he answered in a hostile voice.

Anjeli came out to the living room and faced Kumar squarely, saying, “Kumar, we must talk. Something very bad happened today, and I don’t know what to do. But I must tell you, and you must answer me with the truth.”

“Okay, okay, just let me take off my coat.” Kumar sat himself down on the sofa and glared at her, but Anjeli would not allow herself to be intimidated. “This afternoon I had a very frightening experience, Kumar. Some awful man called and said you weren’t at work; then he came to the apartment, even though I told him you were not at home.” Kumar’s face looked grim and his frown grew deeper as Anjeli plowed on.

“He told me he was the brother of a girl you had promised to marry, some Carol, from your office. That she didn’t know you have a wife; she thought your sister was living here. How is that possible, Kumar?”

Kumar jumped out of the chair and shouted at Anjeli angrily, “Stop harassing me, Anjeli. I get that all day at work. This was a girl I saw long before I came to India to meet you. This is all finished; that man was trying only to make trouble for me and to scare you.”

“Don’t shout at me, Kumar. This is not blame on me, but it is your doing. All the time you are at me that we have no money, but now I hear you are seeing this girl. Don’t say it has ended: if it was ended before we married, why does she still work at your office and think I am your sister? Now this man wants you to give him $5,000 because out of shame this girl must leave her job. Where will you get $5,000? He threatened to hurt you, maybe set our apartment on fire.

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