Short Story: What Was Weighed

Through this short story, Susmita Mukherjee narrates a timely message relevant even in today’s times.

The gold was weighed before I was.

On the morning of my wedding, my aunt spread a newspaper on the bed and placed Ma’s bangles on it, one by one. The scale belonged to the jeweller downstairs, which was borrowed for the occasion. Its needle shook even before it was touched.

“Six bhori,” my aunt said. “It should have been eight.”

Ma said nothing. She sat on the floor, legs folded, tying loose threads on my red sari. Her fingers trembled only when she thought no one was looking.