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When Marriage Ends in Murder
In India, the vow is ’til a “stove burst” do us part
“Be careful with hobs that you need to light up manually,” my Indian father says over the phone. I roll my eyes. I’ve been raised on induction stoves in state-of-the-art Dubaiese kitchens, and he worries that my Italian gas hobs might kill me. “Our neighbor in Dilli died recently of a stove burst, remember? I can’t lose my daughter like that.”
I remember what he means, and feel the color drain from my face.
The story he’s talking about is the story of many women in India, and they follow the same pattern: neighbors hear screaming, smell the smoke, and break in only to find a woman, still in her matrimonial bracelets — the mark of a new bride — burning to death.
These stories are frequently written off as a technical error or just bad luck in India; a But there are sinister underlying reasons for every stove that burst, and every bride that died.
“I’m so angry right now, I could kill you!”
That’s what a neighbor heard Narendra, 40, say to his wife, Banita, 32, in the New Delhi this year: I’m so angry right now, I could kill you!
