Jasmine

Jasmine recounts her family’s turmoil in attempting to secure a husband for her when she was 12 and living in Hasnapur. She recalls the slow advent of technologies that the village received—electricity and indoor lighting, hand pumps for water—and contrasts those signs of progress with the staid, traditional ways of the Indian family.

As she grows up, Jasmine continues to enjoy and excel at her studies, prompting her teacher, Masterji, to want her to strive for more than a life as a farmer’s wife. Her family, and even to some degree her mother, are proud of Jasmine’s academic prowess. Her older brothers joke that they want to sneak her into their college exams so she could take the exams in their place. Jasmine learns to balance her chores and her education, enjoying both immensely.

Her paternal grandmother Dida steps in to end this. Dida finds a potential husband for Jasmine, prompting a silent battle between Dida and Jasmine’s mother, Mataji. Dida remarks that her son should beat Mataji for her disobedience. Jasmine’s teacher also desperately tries to convince Jasmine’s father not to waste Jasmine’s education.

When her father asks if she wants to stay in school or marry, Jasmine declares that she wants neither fate.