A Temporary Matter

"Our baby was a boy,' he said. "His skin was more red than brown. He had black hair on his head. He weighed almost five pounds. His fingers were curled shut, just like yours in the night."





"He had held his son, who had known life only within her, against his chest in a darkended room in an unknown wing of the hospital. He had held him until a nurse knocked and took him away, and he promised himself that day that he would never tell Shoba, because he loved her then, and it was the one thing in her life that she wanted to be a suprise."





"As he watched the couple the room went dark, as he spun around. Shoba had turned the lights off. Se came back to the talve and sta down, after that moment Shukumar joined her. They wept together, for the things they now knew." -Interperter of Maladies



Living in a foreign country is not an easy task. The miles that separate you from your family and culture takes a toll on you. The couple that is described in the first story, "A Temporary Matter" is faced with more hardships than just the fact that they are living away from a country that they both call home. Shoba had given birth to a still born while her husband was away on a business trip. This life event has severly damaged not only, Shoba and Shukumar but the strong loving relationship that they once had.