Pigeons at Daybreak

Explore the ways in which Anita Desai manages to write a beautiful and humorous story from an experience of sickness and lack of communication. Support your ideas with details from Desai’s writing.

Mr. Basu is a sickly old man living with his wife, Otima Basu. He suffers from chronic asthma that makes him look much older as suggested by the phrase, ‘…for the asthma that afflicted her husband and made him seem almost decrepit.’ Apart from appearance-wise, his illness also make him become dependent, referring to the line, ‘…was not to be able to read the newspaper himself. To have them read to him by his wife.’ Unlike her husband, Mrs. Basu in the age of 56 is still strong and healthy as implied by the line, “had not a wrinkle on her oiled face, scarcely a grey hair on her head.” She seems to be a typical housewife that is really opinionated to the point where it annoys Mr. Basu, however she is very devoted to him.

The lack of communication between Mr. and Mrs. Basu is clearly portrayed in this story due to their different point of view. In the newspaper reading scene Desai presents the reader the different side of the couple; Mr. Basu who thinks the news is important and his wife who thinks it’s ridiculous and prefers to throw cynical comments such as, ‘”Rice smugglers caught,” she read out, but immediately ran along a train of thought of her own. “What can they expect?”’ Mrs. Basu’s lack of seriousness cause Mr. Basu to doubt her, however she backfires him with a threat as suggested in line, ‘All right, I’ll stop reading, if you’d rather. I have enough to do in the kitchen…’ Mrs. Basu prefers reading entertainment section because she thinks content of the news is repetitive as revealed in line, “Floods in Assam… See? How often does this happen?” Mr. Basu is often disappointed by his wife’s behavior, however he stays silent.

Electricity shortcut seems to be a very important highlight in this story due to its impact on Mr. Basu’s wellbeing. As soon as he hears...