Benimadhav Singh was the zamindar and nambardar of Gauripur village. His grandfathers were once very wealthy and prosperous. The village's solid pond and temple, which were now difficult to repair, were their pillars of fame. Benimadhav Singh had gifted more than half of his property to lawyers. His current income was not more than one thousand annually.
Thakur Saheb had two sons. The elder one's name was Shrikant Singh. He had obtained a B.A. degree after many days of hard work and effort. Now he was a servant in an office. The younger boy, Lal Bihari Singh, was a well-built, handsome young man - a full face, broad chest. He used to get up in the morning and drink two seers of fresh buffalo milk. Shrikant Singh's condition was completely opposite. He had sacrificed these eye-pleasing qualities for the two letters 'B.A.'. These two letters had made his body weak and his face lacklustre.
Despite being the master of this English degree, Shrikant was not particularly fond of Western social customs; rather, he often strongly condemned and despised them. During the days of Dussehra, he enthusiastically participated in Ramlila and himself acted as some character or another. Glorifying ancient civilization was a major part of his nature. He was the sole worshipper of the joint family. He considered the reluctance that women nowadays have to live together in a family harmful for both the community and the country. This was the reason why the ladies of the village were his critics. Some did not even hesitate to consider him their enemy. His own wife had a disagreement with him on this matter. This was not because she hated her in-laws, brother-in-law, etc., but rather her opinion was that if one cannot get along with the family even after enduring a lot, then the everyday conflictsIt is better to cook one's own meal separately than to destroy a life.
Anandi was a girl from a very high family; her father was a talukdar of a small estate. A large building, an elephant, three dogs, chandeliers, honorary magistracy, and debt, which are worthy substances of a reputable talukdar, were all present here. His name was Bhup Singh. He was a very generous and talented man. But unfortunately, he had no son. Anandi was the fourth daughter; she was more beautiful and virtuous than all her sisters. Because of this, Thakur Bhup Singh loved her very much. Perhaps even parents love a beautiful child more. Thakur Saheb was in a great dilemma as to where to marry Anandi? He neither wanted the burden of debt to increase, nor did he accept that she should consider herself unfortunate. One day Shrikant Singh came to him to ask for subscription money. Bhup Singh was pleased with his nature and Shrikant Singh was married to Anandi with great pomp.
When Anandi came to her new home, she saw a different atmosphere here. The style and splendor she was accustomed to since childhood were not even nominally present here. What to say about elephants and horses, there was not even a decorated, beautiful carriage. She had brought silk slippers with her, but where was the garden where she would walk? There were no windows in the house - no carpet on the floor, no pictures on the wall. It was a simple, rural householder's house, but Anandi adapted herself to this new situation within a few days, as if she had never seen the amenities of luxury.
*One day at noon, Lalbihari Singh came with two birds and said to his sister-in-law, "Cook them quickly, I am hungry." Anandi was waiting for him after preparing the meal. Now she sat down to prepare a new dish. She looked in the pot and found that there was no more than a quarter pound of ghee. What did the daughter of a rich household know about saving? She put all the ghee into the meat. When Lalbihari sat down to eat, there was no ghee in the dal (lentils). He said, "Why didn't you put ghee in the dal?"Anandi said, "The ghee has gone into all the meat." Lalbihari shouted loudly, "Ghee came just the day before yesterday, did it run out so quickly?"
Anandi replied, "Today there would have been about a quarter of a kilo. I put it all in the meat."
(Just as dry wood catches fire quickly, a person maddened by hunger gets irritated at small things. Lalbihari found his sister-in-law's impudence very bad. He snapped, 'As if a river of ghee flows in your maternal home.'
A woman tolerates abuses, she even tolerates beatings, but she cannot tolerate the slander of her maternal home. Anandi turned her face and said, "Even an elephant, when dead, is worth nine lakhs. There, the barbers and water-bearers eat that much ghee daily."
Lalbihari got angry. He picked up the plate and threw it down and said, "I feel like pulling out your tongue."
Anandi also got angry. Her face turned red. She said, 'If they were here today, they would have taught you a lesson.'
Now the uneducated, boorish Lalbihari could not control himself. He picked up his wooden sandals and threw them hard at Anandi and said, 'The one you are so proud of, I will deal with him too, and you too.'
Anandi stopped the wooden sandals with her hand, her head was saved, but her finger was badly hurt. Trembling like a leaf moving in the wind due to anger, she came into her room and stood there. A woman is proud of her husband's strength and masculinity. Anandi suppressed her anger.
(Shrikanth Singh used to come home on Saturdays. This incident happened on Thursday. For two days Anandi remained in the 'house of anger'. She neither ate nor drank anything, just waited for Shrikanth. Finally, on Saturday, he came home as usual in the evening, and sitting outside, talked about this and that, some news related to the country and time, and someThey started discussing new lawsuits, etc. This conversation continued until ten o'clock at night. The gentlemen of the village found such pleasure in these matters that they forgot about eating and drinking. Shrikant Singh found it difficult to get away. Anandhi spent these two or three hours in great distress. Somehow the time for food came. The panchayat adjourned. When they were alone, Lalbihari said, "Brother, please explain to the sister-in-law that she should talk carefully, otherwise something bad will happen one day."
Benimadhav Singh testified on his son's behalf, "Yes, it is not a good habit for daughters-in-law to get involved with men."
Lalbihari said, "She may be from a big house, but we are not some Kurmi-Kahar either." Shrikant asked in a worried tone, "What exactly happened?"
Lalbihari said, "Nothing, she just started arguing on her own. She doesn't consider us anything in front of her maternal home."
Shrikant ate and drank and went to Anandhi. She was very angry. He was also a bit sharp. Anandhi asked, "Are you happy?"
Shrikant Singh said, "Very happy, but what mischief have you been causing in the house lately?"
Anandhi frowned. Her body was burning with anger. She said, "If I find the person who instigated this, I will burn their face."
"Why are you getting so angry, tell me what happened."
"What can I say, it is my bad luck, otherwise a simple boy, who doesn't even know how to be a peon, would hit me with wooden sandals and act so arrogant."
"Tell me all the details clearly, so I know. I don't know anything."
"The day before yesterday, your darling brother asked me to cook meat. There was not more than a quarter of a pound of ghee in the pot. I put it all in the meat. When he sat down to eat, he said, 'Why is there no ghee in the dal?' That's all, on this he started badmouthing my maternal home as well."