Summary
Chapter 3
Asghar feels much happier now that he has been married. Bilqeece, however, is very shy in her new household, and mostly communicates to her new servant Chanbeli, sent with her by her mother. She is more talkative with Asghar when they are alone at night, but, although he won’t admit it, she feels constrained when he wraps his arms around her waist. Asghar asks her if she loved him when she first saw him, and she tells him she was bewildered, hiding with shame. Asghar is disappointed to hear that she was not secretly as madly in love with him as he was with her. He is also disappointed that she is not so romantic or loving, and remembers how Mushtari Bai once was with him. He believes she is just shy, rather than cold, and continues to love her intensely, though he is likely more in love with an idea of her which represents his hopes and dreams.
Bilqeece’s cold manner is explained by her upbringing. She was not raised by her mother, who is more worldly, but by a very religious aunt, who taught Bilqeece how to always behave as a proper woman. Any romantic feelings were strongly discouraged, and marriage was discussed purely as a matter of being given away to another family and serving the husband.
Though she adores and looks up to Asghar, she does not how to interact with him in the ways he would like. With his family, she is respectful but does not feel free to be herself fully; she feels, as her aunt once taught her, that she is a stranger in their home, and yearns to live in a place of her own with Asghar. She is more comfortable with Begam Jamal, since she is related to her cousin Ashfaq, and with Dilchain. Begam Nihal grows to like her as Bilqeece becomes more involved in the household. Preparations are being made for Mehro’s wedding to Meraj, so Begam Waheed is still there.
Bilqeece confides in Dilchain that she does not think Mir Nihal likes her. He does not speak to her, and she knows he was against the marriage. Dilchain reassures her he will grow to like her in time. Bilqeece decides to cook him a meal, and he greatly enjoys it. Later, he brings her some green fabric, and she is pleased to know he has taken a liking to her.
One Spring night, Asghar and Bilqeece are lying in bed together. Asghar asks her why she seems sad, and she says she feels he is sad since he does not have a job, and reassures him that he will find something soon. The tenderness of her comment moves Asghar, and he embraces her. He thinks about how nice it would be if they lived together in their own place.
Chapter 4
Bilqeece is pregnant, and feeling ill often, is mostly confined to bed. Though she is physically weak, she is excited by the thought of a new life forming inside her. Asghar is excited too, and dreams of having a son, and of being a better father than his own. The couple discuss their son together, planning his future and giving him a name. Bilqeece becomes more loving with Asghar, and nearly worships him like a God, which brings him great satisfaction. He gives her a pair of English shoes to wear at Mehro’s wedding.
Mehro’s wedding arrives, and there is a big to-do, similar to Asghar’s. Masroor, after going to see the groom, tells Mehro that he is ugly, and she tells him to stop teasing her, though secretly she is worried and begins to cry.
Mir Nihal, when he first sees Meraj after his party arrives, is indeed struck by his ugliness. He had accidentally shot himself in the face when he was younger, and now half his face is disfigured, and he is described as having the eyes of madman. Though a member of the bride’s party had been sent to see him before the match was finalized, the groom’s family had hidden Meraj from view. Mir Nihal is disgusted and angry, and refuses to give his consent for the marriage. They try to persuade him to change his mind, but he is adamant. Finally Habibuddin, who is also disgusted by Meraj, convinces him to consent by reminding how it would their family’s reputation; their family will claim the issue was with the bride, and Mehro will have no chance to marry anyone else. He reluctantly agrees to go through with the marriage.
At the wedding, the women guests make fun of Bilqeece’s English shoes, and say it is to be expected of Mirza Shahbaz Beg’s daughter. She is ashamed and offended, especially since they slighted not only her but also her father. Later she tells Asghar about the comments they made, and he reassures her that one day they will leave and live in their own home.
Analysis
These chapters begin to develop Bilqeece's character. For the first time, the reader is given a view into her inner life, separate from Asghar's feelings about her. It becomes clear the extent to which Asghar has created an idealized version of Bilqeece, projecting onto her his desire for a grand romance like those he read about in poems. However, he is able to maintain the fantasy at first, as Bilqeece's shyness continues to keep her at a distance from him, despite the fact that they are married and live together.
Paradoxically, Bilqeece is not able to fulfill Asghar's expectations of a wife because of how she was taught, from a very young age, to be a good wife. The strict, religious, traditional conception of a good wife, as passed down to Bilqeece by the aunt who raised her, differs from Asghar's more modern conception. Again, the conflict between Mir Nihal and Asghar, which is more broadly the conflict between the old and the new, is expressed through the difficulties facing this relationship. Traditionalism once kept Asghar and Bilqeece from getting married at all, and now it keeps them having a happy, fulfilling marriage. However, in this case, Asghar's more modern perspective is equally as harmful to their relationship as Bilqeece's traditionalism; the former distorts Asghar's view of Bilqeece, positioning her as an unattainable object of desire who, once attained, is no longer as desirable, while the latter distorts Bilqeece's view of Asghar, turning him into a God whom she must serve dutifully.
Bilqeece is also held back from fully assimilating into Asghar's family by her religious upbringing. Her aunt who raised her reinforced the idea that one day she would be sent to live with strangers and be a stranger in their home, and that she should act accordingly. Again, class seems to be a factor in her ability to become comfortable with her new family, as she warms up to Dilchain, a servant, and Begam Jamal, a relative of her cousin Ashfaq, before the other family members. Still, though it takes a while for them to appreciate their new daughter-in-law, Begam Nihal and Mir Nihal show a similar flexibility and tendency to adapt that was on display when they accepted the match between Asghar and Bilqeece.
That flexibility is seen again, in a less positive fashion, in the next chapter when Mir Nihal meets Meraj. Though he initially refuses to allow the marriage to occur, he is eventually convinced to change his mind when he is reminded of the social consequences of calling the marriage off, both for his family and for his daughter. It is another example of how one's personal feelings always follow, or are influenced by, social customs and the changing tides of society. It is also another example of how women get the short end of the stick in this process, as Mehro is forced to marry a man she has never met and has no interest in because refusing to do would ruin her reputation.
The wedding soon returns to the conflict of Asghar and Bilqeece's marriage, as Bilqeece is made fun of for the English-style shoes which Asghar bought for her. Here, issues regarding both class and colonization come into play, with Bilqeece's lower class status exposing her to ridicule, and the English shoes acting as a sore subject for older Delhiites.
