The Storyteller's Secret

Amisha struggles to write while juggling all the chores Chara insists she complete. Chara brings a friend to the house for sherbet and orders Amisha to bring it. Chara’s friend questions why Amisha doesn’t have a servant of her own, as befits a married woman. Amisha is astonished. She confronts Chara; to avoid losing face in front of her friend, Chara accedes. She warns Amisha to choose wisely: “Your servant will know all your secrets” (58).

One day at the mill, Amisha watches a young man, Ravi, beg the manager for a job. Ravi is too low caste to work in the mill, so the manager sends him off with disgust. As an Untouchable, Ravi doesn’t live in the village; therefore, Amisha can be certain that he is beyond Chara’s influence. To persuade him to work for her, Amisha tells Ravi a short story about how neither should judge the other for their social circumstances. Ravi agrees to work for Amisha to hear more stories.

At dinner, Chara is disgusted by Ravi’s caste. She throws a steel plate at Amisha and demands that her marriage to Deepak end immediately. Deepak asks why Amisha would want to bring an Untouchable into their home. In response, she quotes Mahatma Gandhi’s argument that Dalits should be accepted as the children of God. Deepak agrees to let Ravi be Amisha’s servant under the condition that Ravi not handle the food or come too close to the people of the house. 

A year later, Amisha is pregnant with their first child. Deepak’s business has been steadily doing better, allowing him to buy expensive furniture. Amisha continues to struggle balancing her chores and duties as a wife with her desire to write. Especially since she’s been pregnant, Amisha has felt more creative than ever; the stories in her mind are insistent and constant. Ravi attempts to help her when he can, preparing dinner (despite being banned from touching food) to allow her more time to work on a story.

Amisha and Ravi have developed a rewarding, supportive, and equitable friendship, one which is blind to the restrictions of the caste system. Amisha touches shoulders with Ravi despite the widespread prejudice that Untouchables are too physically and spiritually contaminated to be touched. 

Several years have passed. Amisha has given birth to three sons. Chara is recently deceased; before her death, the two women grew closer. Chara often talked with Amisha about the instability of a woman’s place in their society: “It was only when a son was raised and wedded that the mother could at last stake her place in the world” (70).

At Chara’s funeral, Deepak hugs Amisha for the first time in their marriage. Their communication thus far has largely centered on the house and their growing family: “Though they had been married for years, he still felt like a stranger” (70). Amisha accepts this as normal. Moved by Deepak’s loss, Amisha prays to a statue of the Hindu god Vishnu, asking for a daughter.

Six months later, Deepak’s father also dies. Amisha promotes Ravi to head servant and the house is fitted for electricity. Ravi asks Amisha to find his sister extra work, to which Amisha responds by hiring the young girl full time.

At dinner one evening, Deepak announces that he has decided to expand the family business by partnering with a farmer in another village. Amisha worries that the Raj will disapprove, but Deepak has already secured the Raj’s permission.

A new British school is built in the village. Amisha is excited: “They want to cultivate us. Here, in our small village, they will teach English writing” (73). Amisha has been following the progress of World War II in the local papers. Indian troops fighting alongside the British military is a prevalent topic at the dinner parties she attends with her husband’s wealthy friends. Some support Indian involvement, while others vehemently argue against India’s colony status.

World War II and issues of sovereignty are far removed from Amisha’s village life. Their local officer is Vikram, a wealthy man with a close relationship to the Raj. Vikram has approved the new British school. Amisha has long tried to understand the English alphabet, but finds teaching herself extremely difficult. Amisha desires to attend the British school to improve her writing and inspire pride in her sons: “Imagine my boys when they see their mother writing in English” (75). Ravi encourages her to attend classes. She has fought so hard to help Ravi feel like he can attain a higher position despite his caste that he wholeheartedly supports her desire to learn English writing.

When Deepak returns after a week-long business trip, Amisha massages Deepak’s feet with oil and brings up the subject of the British school. He is dismissive as always, and initiates sex. With thoughts of school and writing in her mind, Amisha speaks up. She is not ready for another child. Deepak continues regardless, but pulls out before ejaculating. Deepak explains that she has given him three healthy sons already; he can wait for her to be ready to bear another child.

Amisha goes to look at the British school. A friend from the village, Sujata, joins her. Sujata argues that the British have no good intentions with the school—that they will use the promise of education to disparage Indians: “My husband says the whites hope to convert us with one hand while beating us with the other” (78). Though Amisha doesn’t outright disagree with Sujata, she struggles to reconcile her desire to learn English writing with the realities of being colonial subject.

A young British officer wearing an arm sling joins Amisha. She assumes that he was injured in the war. He introduces himself at Lieutenant Stephan, the head of the British school. His arm was injured when he fell out of a tree attempting parachuting just outside of London. Stephan has frequently seen Amisha watching the construction of the British school and promises her a spot in a class. He explains that, in theory, the British monarchy supports any Native person’s desire to learn at the school. Amisha is skeptical, but decides that she “couldn’t care about [British] reach or reason. All she could focus on was the chance she had” (81). Amisha leaves after promising to attend classes on the day the school opens.

In preparation for her first class, Amisha asks her son Jay to lend her paper out of his school supplies. She “[wants] to raise her sons with the knowledge that women were equal to men” (84),so she explains to Jay that she has a right to study regardless of her gender. To clarify this, Amisha tells her son a story about a young girl who cuts her hair to look like a boy and compete in sports. When the team wins, they realize the rules must be changed. The story doesn’t change Jay’s mind. He says, “I like you best as my mummy” (85) and leaves without giving her paper.

Ravi enters the room with a gift for Amisha: a new schoolbag with supplies inside. Overwhelmed by emotion, Amisha prepares to leave. She feels guilt at not telling Deepak of her plans, but Ravi encourages her to go forward.

Stephan waits for her by the doors of the school as she arrives. Amisha confides her uncertainty about attending the school: “I feared my desires would infringe upon my responsibilities” (88), taking too much attention away from her children. When they reach the classroom, Amisha’s resolve breaks at the sight of the young students inside, “dressed in Western uniforms, fully British if not for their skin tone.” (89). Amisha, ashamed and embarrassed, flees the building.

Amisha runs into a small garden—the same garden where Ravi brought Jaya when he began telling Amisha’s story. Stephen follows her and insists that they can find a way for her to comfortably become a student. Amisha’s determination and desire to learn are admirable and remind him of his older brother, who recently died in the war. Though Stephen would like to help Amisha as a way to honor his brother’s memory, Amisha is overcome with disappointment and leaves.

Amisha returns home to find Jay crying in Ravi’s arms. There is a large welt on the boy’s palm. Jay told the story Amisha used to explain equality between men and women to his teacher, who deemed it inappropriate and punished Jay.

To assuage her guilt, Amisha visits the temple to pray for her children. Ordinarily, she would pray “in front of the makeshift shrine at home rather than at the temple,” (93), but in her guilt Amisha feels driven to do more. She makes an offering to Lord Shiva and asks the god to protect her sons. Then, she turns to the Goddess Parvati and asks the goddess to take her stories away so that she no longer wants “to be more than I am allowed to be” (94).

Though her son soon forgets the incident at school, Amisha’s guilt continues. She lies to Ravi when he asks for more stories, claiming the ability has left her. Ravi doesn’t believe her, knowing her character too deeply. Stephen arrives at the house to make Amisha a new offer: He proposes that Amisha take over the class she was about to join and teach them writing. In exchange, he will personally tutor Amisha in the English alphabet and grammar.

As Stephen argues for Amisha’s education, he reveals that helping her may be “the only worthy thing” (98) he does while stationed in the British colony. He wants to “help you evolve [...] The Raj are here in fact to civilize and modernize” (98).With help from Amisha, Stephen reads some of her stories in Hindi and concludes that they are worthy. Amisha confesses to having visited the temple in a desperate attempt to banish the stories from her mind.

Stephen encourages her to take the opportunity. Finally seeing her writing get recognition, Amisha decides to teach at the school in exchange for private lessons.

To prepare to ask Deepak about teaching in the school, Amisha prays to the Goddess Parvati at the shrine in her home, begging to be allowed a balance in her life between family and independent commitments.

Deepak returns home with the news that his business continues to thrive. Amisha reflects that the distance between them is “no different from everyone else’s” marriage (102). She is afraid to bring up teaching as she doesn’t “know her husband well enough” (103) to anticipate his reaction. When she breaks the news, Deepak points out the nonconforming nature of her personality: She danced after the music ended on the night of their wedding, stubbornly insisted Ravi work for them, and now this. Amisha argues that Gandhi supports the idea of women being more than homemakers, which incenses Deepak, since Gandhi is an anti-Raj activist. Chara once cautioned Deepak about Amisha’s temperament, calling Amisha “a spirit trapped,” (105) striving after independence regardless of whom she might hurt in the process.

Deepak’s main worry is what the rest of the village and his business connections will think: “one piece of gossip could alienate them from the community. It wouldn’t be just the loss of their social status; their livelihood would also suffer” (105). Eventually, Deepak concedes, under the condition that she remain mindful of her household and familial duties. 

Head teacher Miss Roberts, an Englishwoman, questions whether Amisha has the necessary teaching credentials to teach at such a prestigious institution. Amisha asserts her right to be there by claiming that she will teach the children how to write nonjudgmental stories that show respect for each person.

Amisha’s class is comprised of five girls and 12 boys. They will speak in English and write in Hindi until they are ready to practice English letters. To connect with her young students, Amisha shares a story about raising her children. As a new mother, she was learning to be a mother in the same way her sons were learning to be sons. This resonates with the students. Amisha concludes: “If you will help me to become a good teacher, I will do my best to help you become better storytellers” (109). During the ensuing lesson, one girl, Neema, stands out to Amisha as grasping the purpose of creativity and freedom of expression behind the assignment.

After Amisha’s class, she meets with Stephen in the garden for her tutoring. The two banter before Stephen writes out the English alphabet so that Amisha can practice copying it. As she does, their conversation veers toward the English occupation of India and the morality of colonialism. Amisha becomes upset, asking Stephen, “Do you believe any country has the right to rule another?” (113). Remembering that she is speaking to a lieutenant of her country’s occupier, she apologizes for her rashness, but Stephen asks her to speak her mind when they are alone. He doesn’t not presume a higher social position than Amisha just because of his race, which is deeply inspiring to Amisha, who wonders why she has never questioned the expected respect she shows toward others.