Short Story: Prerna by Vineet Deshpande

Vineet Deshpande’s short story with its engaging narrative captures the pain and the agony in the life of a married woman in India, reminiscent of some of the powerful movies released recently.

Chapter 1

The milk was boiling on one burner of the stove. Onions were sauteing in another. Her lifesaver, the pressure cooker, was cooking rice and dal. Prerna focused on the sauteing, but one eye kept looking at the milk. Meanwhile, her mind was going through all the items on her to-do list. She still had to prepare lunch. The late afternoon rain forecast meant that she had to wash the clothes in the early morning and hang them out to dry. She would prepare lunch immediately after breakfast. The vegetables, dal, and salad could be prepared earlier but chapatis had to be fresh, at least for Rajas. She herself was not at all picky about her food. For her, the best meal was the one she did not have to cook herself.