ABSTRACT
“When are you giving your daughter in marriage?” people frequently asked my mother after Dada’s wedding had taken place. One day, in my presence, Young Grandmother raised her scanty eyebrows and asked the same question, adding a few more words in her own inimitable manner. “Surely you are not going to wait for her to become an old woman before giving her in marriage? She is already ten years old. The honour of the Ghose family will certainly be tarnished if you delay much longer.” Mother murmured something about the indifference of Father. “What does he know about such matters?” snapped the irascible old lady. “If you need a man to help you, surely you can get Bankim, he is old enough.” So, after this, whenever I noticed Dada and Mother conferring in the evening I tactfully kept my distance.
