Shukumar 'Short Story A Temporary Matter'

In the short story A Temporary Matter, Shukumar and Shoba struggle to connect with each other after the loss of their baby, which eventually ends their relationship. Up until the death, their lives revolved around the arrival of their baby who was the next step in their life as a couple. Shukumar daydreamed about the day they “might need to buy a station wagon of their own, to cart their children back and forth from music lessons and dentist appointments” (3). The idea of having a picture perfect family was quickly and completely taken away from them when “the baby had been born dead” (3). This dramatic loss causes the couple to lose track of their relationship, focusing only on themselves and not on each other. It came to the point that the

The fact that this makes the two nervous shows how little contact they’ve had with each other in months. At their dinner, Shoba suggests that “[they] [tell] each other something [they’ve] never told before” (13). For a moment this strengthens their relationship. The two expose stories that surface emotions they have not felt for each other in a long time. Shukumar tells the story of their first dinner date when he was distracted and forgot to tip the waiter, because “by the end of the meal [he] had a funny feeling [he] might marry [her]” (14). Shoba tells of the time she “looked in [his] address book to see if [he] had written [her] in” (13). The telling of these cute stories and the darkness of the room brought the two together. When the house was dark “they were able to talk to each other again” (19). However, it was too late to rekindle their relationship because neither of them loved each other. When Shoba tells Shukumar she’s leaving him, he tries to cope with the news by telling her that “[their] baby was a boy” (22). Shukumar promised himself that he would never reveal that devastating surprise to her, but that was “because he still loved her then”