You should not answer this question at once. Nor should you jump to the conclusion that it is the body that grows, not the ring. For is it not true that this strange country of ours has the ability to transform mere stones into women? All kinds of miracles are possible here. Miracles which occur nowhere else. Perhaps, after all, we should take it that it is the ring which grew bigger. Surely, anything is possible with the grace of God?
It was seven in the evening. Kannamal was busy cooking. Rice was boiling on one stove and kuzhambu on another. Kannamal’s eyes were brimming over with tears. “It was a waste to have married my son to a good for nothing donkey,” scolded her mother-in-law. “Useless to have performed the wedding. Saniyan! Saniyan! Unlucky face! You know how to eat, alright! You don’t skip a single meal. After eating up everything at home, she has become as fat as a pig. If she goes, we can get another girl for my son”.
At this, the father-in-law chipped in, “Why are you inviting your destruction by scolding someone else’s daughter? Is it saying anything? It is just doing its own work quietly. It wakes up at five in the morning. Do you let it sit down for even half an hour? This morning, it drank this much old gruel accompanied by green chillies. In the afternoon, some five or six grains of rice and after nine in the night some leftovers – if there are any – is all it gets. On top of this, you scold your son and accuse him of demanding rice with the surreptitious purpose of feeding her. You terrify him so much that he wipes every last morsel off the leaf and leaves. The girl has become very thin. You will have to pay the price for your sins! There is no escape for you!”
The mother-in-law turned to her husband, “All right. Now look at the old man instigating the daughter-in-law. So how come this sudden spurt of affection towards her? But what is that to me? I will leave home if you like. Live happily with each other! Can a mother-in-law refrain from scolding her daughter-in-law? Did my own mother-in-law ever leave me in peace? Can’t I say that my daughter-in-law has eaten well and grown fat? Men should not interfere in all this! Women will talk to each other in this manner. Men cannot hope to understand domestic affairs. So you don’t say anything!”
At this point, a small boy came running in to announce that Kannamal’s parents were approaching the house. The mother-in-law subsided into silence and the guests were welcomed. Kannamal’s tears spilled over. She wiped them away. One does not know how she consoled herself but in a couple of minutes her tears had dried. She then washed her face and eyes. The small boy came and said to her, “Amma is calling you.”
Kannamal went out. On seeing her mother and her mother-in-law, she stood aside. For a while, mother and daughter enquired after each other’s health and well-being. Kannamal informed her mother of the gemstone that had fallen off her ring. Her mother asked her to fetch the ring, promising to have it reset and sent back. Kannamal replied that if the size of the ring was reduced, she could actually wear it. “But we made the ring to fit you. You have lost weight. You can use a thread to tighten it around your finger”, her mother said slipping the ring onto Kannamal’s finger. It seemed as though one and a half fingers would slip through the ring! “There is no need to tie a thread. From now on where am I going to put on any weight?” Even as Kannamal was saying this, her eyes began to fill with tears. The mother suggested that she come home for ten days. Kannamal replied that even if she did, she would eventually have to return and then her troubles would only increase. Taking the ring with them, her parents left.
I had watched all these goings on from outside. A ring that would fit one finger comfortably was now able to accommodate one and a half fingers! Such was the state of affairs! The mother-in-law insists however that the girl has become fat. We should investigate further. The orthodox will believe that the ring must have grown bigger owing to the mother-in-law’s magic powers. Researchers will conclude that an inanimate gold ring could not have grown. It is the girl, they would argue, who must have lost weight. Every woman – whether a mother-in-law or a daughter-in-law – would guess the truth. We cannot describe the suffering of girls like Kannamal. Where is their salvation? Long live Self Respect! Long live women’s education! Therein lies our only hope.
Excerpted with permission from ‘Which Grew Bigger – the Ring or the Body?’ in The Other Half of the Coconut: Women Writing Self-Respect History (1928–1936), edited and translated from the Tamil by K Srilata, Zubaan Books.
