“Umr Quid/उम्र कैद”

The story “Umr Quid” written by social activist, lecturer and Urdu writer Hajira Shakoor was first published in journal Subeh Adab in 1977.  Interestingly, the story is written from the vision of a male character describing a female character (his wife) and her life in a Hindu family context.The story moved in a typical Indian, large joint family, Hindu socio-cultural setting. It started with a situation of dowry, a major concern of nineteenth- century social reform but as it proceed, it unfolds several human emotions, situations and realizations, social and cultural boundations and majorly, scenario of a marriage which become duty and punishment for a woman who has never given significance by her partner nor by the members of the in-law family (at least most of them). 

This story is a reflection, an after married life journey in flashback by the husband who is interpreting the character of his wife-(Janaki), her sacrifices, and her suppression in their marriage and family relationship that he never question nor realized during a period of 20 years of marriage.  Now, when she is dead for 7 year, the married life of their newly wedded son and daughter- in- law brought back memories of his own married life. The husband then started a chain of realization on his role as a husband and Janaki’s life as his wife. Those 20 years of their marriage has been viewed as life imprisonment for Janaki. 

The story moved to circumstances in which a marriage that took place, raising a social issue of dowry system. It connects dowry system with the prestige issues of a family and respect of a girl in circumstances of breaking marriage at the time of ceremony in nineteen’s. The extreme turn come in the situation when the boy (husband) acting as a well- educated, social activist person took a heroic step. He married the girl and the prestige of bride and her family is saved. But the story moved beyond it. In the coming parts of the story, that marriage becomes a life bound duty for the woman. She served herself to fulfill this relation and the duty of the joint family that come along with it, for the rest of her life. It became the journey of a wife’s struggle, sacrifices, subordination and suppressed emotions and desires as a result of an unusual circumstance based marriage.

The marriage part of the story also hinted some of the obligation of typical Hindu Indian marriages such as cast, class and ‘love’. After the marriage the husband characters compares the class, cast and social status of his family saying- 
“but Masterji was from a very respectable family and was a Brahmin of high status. No one could accuse us of having married for love…So the event passed by without causing much of a problem.”

Moving to the core of human life- emotions and situations, the story through the vision of husband shared the duties and obligation posed on the bride in a typical Indian Hindu, joint family marriage (again in the time frame of nineteen’s). First by her husband-
“I expect you will never cause my mother any displeasure and will never make my brother and sister feel as if this house is not their own. I have faith in your tranquil personality and trust you will always remember to act thoughtfully”
and later by the family member for whom Janaki remain in the role of a housekeeper and not as the member of the family. In the very beginning it posed limitations on Janaki’s behavior and emotional connect with husband and family and last till her death.  The story amazingly waived events one after another to raise theme of freedom, expression, and communication, and strongly on the emotion of love and desire in a marital relation and family associated.

The story is entirely written from husband point of view, so the character of Janaki is not fully revealed. Though the husband is the narrator, I believe Janaki is the central character of the story. However, her character is based on the events described and the interpreted by husband. As I think more on its central characters I find my emotions moving from sadness of a situation to depression of a woman’s circumstances of life. How can someone spend 20 years serving to a role, paying debt of a favor which was not even intended, being away from wishes and desires of life! How is that possible without any emotional involvement, and who is responsible-whether it is situation or Janaki’s husband or the cultural-social setting? The reflection of husband (again from his point of view) however posed certain reasons for that-
“Where there is no wish for privilege, there can be no conflict.” 
I find it hard to imagine though- a lady, so much subordinated, inferior as described, living in a family without any emotional involvement. This thought could be just my lack of experience on life situations or just gap of a century between plot of this story and its relevance in my time and context. 

I’m also amazed on husband’s character and the way he realized his lived life with Janaki. Isn't 20 years too long to notice presence and significance of a person in one’s life? After Janaki’s death, making assumptions of her emotions, realizing the failures of their married relationship and specifically his role as a husband, gives me a strong feeling of surprise on this character. It seems unrealistic that why it occur to him only after the death of her. I may be sympathizing more with Janaki and being biased for husband character but to me it unbelievable that for 20 years two people living under same roof, having a family, can have such a vast gap of communication.

At the very end the story also brought ‘Death’ and its wisdom for living beings. It is somewhat for me culminate most of the sense of the story and is the part which move me the most. The death of Janaki’s father (masterji) exposed the wave of her real emotions. It revealed her depression and remorse from her marriage life. The narration of death of loved one and its deep impact on another loved one has been visualized beautifully in the story. What I appreciate the most is that the illness and death event revealed most of the hidden features of Janaki’s characters-her wishes, desires, fears, worries and also the love or just respect for husband-
“but she didn't turn me away…She clutched the hem of my garment so passionately that I forgot myself. I felt as if we had been newly married.”, “she asked again and again for a pink sari and earrings that dangle like bells…Janaki, this simple, artless girl- how many desires had she silently buried within her.”

To summarize- the story address a social issues like dowry and its consequences on a person’s life. It is a comment on fundamental settings and beliefs of marriage institution. It is a beautiful description of uncertainties of life and unusual circumstances in which a person can be bound to live the entire life. At the end, the story, leave me with a roll of emotions on human life.