The story of Malini, an educated upper-middle-class woman from a Kolkata family, could be the story of any other Indian woman of similar background. But what set Malini apart was her overpowering desire to get married and bear children. For this she was not only ready to compromise on all other pleasures of life, she was, uncharacteristically, willing even to adopt devious means treading the narrow gray path between legality and morality. What is significant in this tale, being a woman of mediocre intellect, Malini, nevertheless surpassed herself with the help of her intelligence and skillful...

This book is a compilation of 2 separate stories. Both are based on real life incidents, as seen by the author, with two different flavors of life. In the first, a young girl falls in love with a next-door boy, soon to be separated by a quirk of fate. The path of life takes them in different directions, not always being to them. Fate, however, does smile upon them at the end. The second story is about a mother's struggle to bring up her daughter the right way, singlehandedly. She sacrifices every aspiration of her life to support this all-consuming passion of her's. But, in the end, does all...