The Silver Anklets

Bhima is the kind of woman people notice. She is full of life, her eyes bright and her cheeks flushed, and when she walks with an easy sway in her step, men within sight of her stop what they are doing and look. Her husband Madhu is envied for having won her, and the envy is not only about her looks.

The village women have their own grudge. None of their husbands is as loving or as open-handed as Madhu, and they have not forgotten the day he brought Bhima a pair of silver anklets and she proudly showed them around. Every step she takes now sets off their soft chime, a small reminder of that day.

But Nergis Dalal is not telling a simple tale of a happy marriage. Things in this story are not quite what they seem, and Bhima is about to learn that even an apparently harmless act can carry consequences. The story looks at how people behave, what they feel about each other's good fortune, and how fragile relationships can be.