Rukmani is an old woman who has come on foot to Amritsar after covering a distance of more than sixty kilometers from Lahore, which was her native place before the Partition. Being a Hindu, she was forced by the rioters to leave Lahore and come to India at the time of Partition. She could carry nothing with her except her pet parrot in the cage. When the story begins, she has already reached Amritsar and is sitting on the roadside, close to the district courts. Her only hope is to get some financial aid from the Government through the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar.

The parrot, as it is habitual with parrots, has crammed a few short sentences that he used to hear at Lahore. One was a call from some close female friend of Rukmani, who would come looking for her and say, "Rukmania ni Rukmaniai, tun kithe hai?" (Rukmani, 0 Rukmani, where are you?) and the other "tun ki karni hain?" (What are you doing?"). As Rukmani is sitting along the road, watching the traffic and waiting for the Deputy Commissioner, she remains careless about the parrot's repeated cries.

The parrot goes on repeating the same words in a shriller tone, so that Rukmani has finally to respond and say "Han, my son, haan...." She has a dull headache behind the knot of hair on the back of her head. As it is the month of September, the heat of the sun is increasing Drops of perspiration are trickling through the wrinkles on her old face. She is sitting lost in her thoughts. Flies come close to her toothless mouth and she has to remove them with the back of her hand. She cannot see clearly and has to strain her eyes to look in the distance.

The parrot again repeats the words "ni tun kithe hai?" This time Rukmani answers him. "I don't know where I am." Hungry as she is, her mind wavers between the present and the past when one of her friends, Fato, had come to her and told her that she would be murdered if she did not leave Lahore. When the parrot repeats the question as to where she is, Rukmani replic as if to herself, that she is waiting for the Sahib so that he can give her some money to buy read with. She has also heard that the Congress Government will give back what she has lost.

When she says so, the gram-stall keeper, who hears her words, tells her to go to Durbar Sahib in the town and get some free food there. He is quite sceptical about any aid coming from the Deputy Commissioner. But Rukmani persists and curses the stall-keeper for saying negative things. Meanwhile, she asks God why she had to leave her home in her old age and wander like this. She also blames herself for not tying the few rupees she had with her at Lahore.

As Rukmani keeps waiting for the Deputy Commissioner, the heat of the sun increases and she begins to perspire more and more. The stall keeper advises her to go in the shade of the nearby kikar tree. She takes the cage with her and moves to the spot suggested by the stall- keeper. Just then a motor car whirrs past her with a motor cyclist and few policemen. Evidently, the deputy commissioner has come and gone past her. She tries to rush to the Sahib. She tells the policemen that she is a refugee and has come from Lahore. But the crowd brushes past her. She falls down but still clings to the handle of the cage. The parrot flutters furiously inside the cage and repeats all the short sentences that he has crammed. But the old woman does not listen.

After the crowd has cleared away and the dust settled, the stall-keeper comes towards Rukmani. He fears that she has died. But finding her still alive, he asks her to come to the shade. She does so, still holding the cage. The stall-keeper promises to give some grams to the parrot. The parrot, less clamorous now, repeats the old questions. Rukmani says that she does not know where she is.

Shyamnath and his wife had been busy all day making preparations for the dinner to which Shyamnath's American boss had been invited. Both husband and wife were extremely nervous. The wife was in her dressing gown, without any make-up, hurrying to and fro, setting things right. Shyamnath was smoking cigarette after cigarette. He had a list in his hand with which he moved from room to room. Finally, as the clock struck five, the preparations reached their completion. Everything was now well-arranged, all unnecessary articles were hidden behind cupboards and under beds.

Suddenly, Shyamnath became aware of a great obstacle. It was his mother. The problem was where to hide her. His wife suggested that she could be sent to her friend with whom she could stay all night and come back the following morning. Shyamnath, however, did not approve of the idea, as that woman would then start coming to their house. He suggested that his mother should eat early and retire to her bed, as the guests would not come before eight. But that led to another question: what if she fell asleep and started snoring? So this idea too was rejected.

Shyamnath then went to his mother's room. There, an idea flashed across his mind. Shyamnath told her to eat early. She said that she would not eat anything because meat was being cooked in the house. Shyamnath then told her that when the guests would be in the drawing room, she could sit in the veranda but when they all came out, she should go to the sitting room through the bathroom. The old lady was speechless for a moment. Then she expressed her agreement. He cautioned her not to sleep and start snoring. She said that she could not help it because she could not breathe through the nose. He put a chair on the veranda and told his mother to sit there. Then he told her to put on white shirt and shalwar.

She went into her room to do so. When he asked her to put on some bangles she said that she had sold them all for his education. This hurt him and he did not want to hear such a thing! He advised her to answer the Sahib properly if he came to that side by chance.

The guests arrived punctually. The party began and reached its summit as drinks went on until half past ten. Sahib liked the whisky. His wife liked the curtains, the design of the sofa covers, and the decoration of the sitting room. Sahib was quite friendly, very different from what he was in his office. His wife was the centre of adoration for all the Indian women present in the party. After ten thirty, the drinks were over. Everyone rose for dinner and left the sitting room. Suddenly Shyamnath saw his mother in the veranda. She was snoring and her head was lolling from side to side. Shyamnath was very angry. But he could do nothing. The boss and the guests were standing nearby.

The boss saw Shyamnath's mother and said quietly: "Poor dear!" Shyamnath asked her to go and sleep. The boss looked at her and said "Namste " Mother joined both her hands but could not say "namaste" satisfactorily. The boss then stretched his hand for Mother to shake.. Shyamnath asked her to shake hands. But she had beads in her hand. So in her confusion, she stretched her left hand and put it in the sahib's. The wives of the Indians tittered. Shyamnath explained that his mother was from a village and that was why she was so shy. The boss said that Shyamnath's mother then must be knowing folk songs. Shyamnath asked her to sing. At last she had to sing. The Indian wives began to laugh. The sahib went on clapping.

The boss then wanted to know about the village handicrafts. Shyamnath said that girls made dolls while women did phulkari work. Shyamnath then asked his mother to show her phulkari work to his boss. She brought one out. The sahib felt interested in the work. Shyamnath told him that his mother would make a new one for him. After all the guests had gone, Shyamnath went into his mother's room. He embraced her and said that she had done wonders by pleasing the sahib. She started weeping. When she calmed down, she asked him to send her to Haridwar. Shymanath was angry. If she went away, the people would say that he could not keep his old mother with him! Moreover, who would do the phulkari work that he had promised to his sahib? She asked him whether that would lead to his promotion. She said that if that was the case, she would do that for him. As Shyamnath went away, she longed for a bright future for her son.

SUMMARY OF THE STORY

The Reddening Tree 

Munni is the daughter of Mathru, a poor farmer. She is young and of marriageable age. Like her mother, whom she addresses as Amma, she is hardworking. She gets up early in the morning, freshens herself, and then comes into the courtyard to greet the Sun God. Then she washes the bell-metal lota, washes it, fills it with water and goes to offer it to Peepal Bhagwan in their land. The peepal tree is now grown up. Munni's father, Mathru, has raised it like a son. A peepal inside the boundary of one's land is supposed to bring fortune. Mathru believes in this saying and it is endorsed by the village elders. The village elders also praise Mathru for having arranged the wedding of tulsi on a very grand scale. The priest of the temple, pajari Kaka, also tells Munni that Mathru made the whole village proud by organizing the wedding of tulsi. This of course happened before Munni was born.

Mathru realizes that he has to arrange the wedding of the peepal tree as he had arranged the wedding of the tulsi plant. Also, he knows that his second daughter, Munni, is also of a marriageable age. So he has to arrange two marriages. But there is no money. In fact, he has not been able to repay the loan that he took for the marriage of his elder daughter and that of tulsi long ago. There was a time when he could eam his living by performing rituals and ceremonies that required the services of a pandit. He had many jajmaans in the village and around. But gradually, his own relatives took away his clientele from him. Mathru quarrelled with them on this issue many a time but no one listened to him. His wife also advised him to keep away from such scoundrels and leave things in the hands of God.

One day Mathru goes to the temple to see his tulsi which he had married to the devata. He sees the pujari Kaka and touches his feet. The pujari tells him that the previous day his daughter, Munni, was there. He feels that Mathru must arrange her marriage now. He goes to the extent of saying that he knows one or two places where the match for Munni may be found. Mathru, aware of his poverty, does not utter a word. Nevertheless, he only nods his assent. As he returns home, Mathru remains lost in his thoughts and does not realize that he has reached home.

Back home, Mathru tells his wife what the pujari Kaka was saying. She agrees and says that Munni is old enough to be married. She says that a day ago there was a proposal from Diva's wife. Mathru says that the peepal has also grown up and he has to arrange the ritualistic marriage of the peepal as well. But his wife insists that Munni's marriage must come first. She says that he should not overly worry about the marriage of the peepal. They lost their land by arranging the marriage of tulsi but nobody has come to their help so far. Mathru does not like her advice and refers to the scriptures. He says that he is fortunate in having a peepal born in his land.

Munni arrives at this moment and the discussion between Mathru and his wife comes to an end. Munni's mother holds different views about tulsi and peepal. She feels that they have not really brought them good luck. Mathru does not say anything but remains disturbed in his sleep. He is worried about his daughter's marriage, At the same time, he is also worried about his standing in the village society. A daughter, he feels, is a responsibility but the peepal is a religious duty. He thinks that he will lose face in the society if he does not arrange the marriage of the peepal.

Meanwhile, Pujari Kaka fixes Munni's marriage. Many constraints are now imposed on Munni. Many do's and don'ts are imposed on her. Munni also feels quite disturbed because of the anxiety of her parents. At night she pretends to be asleep when her father and mothe discuss the problem of finding funds for the marriage. Mathru tells his wife that he had gone to the money-lender Gardhari's house. He says that Gardhari has agreed to give him a loan but he will have to mortgage the remaining piece of land with him. His wife agrees and says that they have no alternative. Though Mathru does not like his wife's remark, what she says is a truism. When he calms down he admits that he does not want to give the field away. He has the best land in the whole village. As he says so, his voice becomes pitiful. Tears come to his eyes. His wife's eyes were also filled with tears. At Last Mathru says that with Munni' marriage the burden on their heads will be removed and the peepal will also be taken care of.

Munni overhears all this and realizes how great a burden she is on her parents. She realizes that the field is being sold for her. She wishes that she had never been born. Shc thinks that she is inauspicious and so is the peepal which she has been watering every day. She makes up her mind. She decides to solve the problem of her parents. She will marry the peepal and that way her parents will not have to arrange the marriage of either. Next morning she goes to the peepal. She puts on the dress of a bride. She pulls a small twig of the peepal and puts sindoor in the parting of her hair at the forehead. She looks at the peepal as her bridegroom. Then she returns home. As she reaches the courtyard, she sees her father moving out, carrying the papers for mortgaging his land. He looks at her and is amazed. She falls or his feet and says, "Bapu, I am married." The bundle of paper falls from Mathru's hands.