Heart Lamp: Selected Stories

The narrator, Safiya, is awoken in the middle of the night by a telephone call from her mother, who informs her that Abid, the mujawar of the local Sufi shrine, is seeking someone to represent their family for the upcoming Urs festival at their ancestral village of Malenahalli. Safiya has been nominated for this purpose, so she reluctantly agrees to see Abid in an hour. 

Through an extended flashback, Safiya recalls how her father used to force their family to attend the Urs festival when she was growing up. Their family would stay with Safiya’s grandmother, who, because of her role as boobamma (traditional healer), was considered an affluent and influential member of her community. Safiya remembers how she and her cousins used to play with whatever items they could pull from her pockets. Safiya was favored by her grandmother because she was the daughter of her only son, who lived away from the village. 

In the flashback, the day before Safiya’s eighth birthday, Safiya’s mother laments that her husband won’t be around to celebrate since he works in a government role that makes his commute to Malenahalli very long. When Safiya’s mother expresses her disappointment that her husband did not send Safiya a new frock for her birthday, Safiya’s grandmother reassures her by commissioning one from a tailor. She retrieves a piece of white Achkan cloth from her trunk. On their way to the tailor, Safiya and her grandmother bump into Safiya’s father, who reveals that he did buy Safiya a new frock after all. Safiya’s grandmother sends him home, so that she and Safiya can proceed to the tailor.

The tailor, Jaffar Baba, muses philosophically about the meaning of the world and departure from it. Safiya’s grandmother replies that everyone is destined to leave the world. Jaffar Baba accuses Safiya’s grandmother of “[hiding] the bird in the cage” (134), to which Safiya’s grandmother answers that some are too weak for flight while others require a pure heart to navigate the shadows of ignorance. On their way home, Safiya asks what her exchange with Jaffar Baba meant. Safiya’s grandmother merely reiterates what she said earlier: “Our hearts should always be pure” (135), which frustrates Safiya.

Safiya’s grandmother urges Safiya to eat Malli fish curry that night. Safiya hates being forced to eat food, especially since her mother often takes away the food she likes eating and threatens her over food she doesn’t like. This prompts Safiya’s father to lament that his wife was too immature when they married. She is often unsympathetic to Safiya, showing little concern when Safiya experienced measles some years earlier. 

While feeding Safiya, Safiya’s grandmother recalls how she had once given curry made from Malli fish to the pregnant daughter of the village headman. Sometime later, the girl experienced labor pains, though she did not give birth. When the doctors asked her what she wanted to eat, the girl said she wanted more Malli fish curry. The narrator’s grandmother prepared her some and she immediately gave birth to a healthy girl. The story enchants Safiya, allowing her to eat and eventually fall asleep.

The next morning, Safiya’s mother wakes her up to give her a bath, so that Safiya can try on the new frock that her father brought. Safiya refuses, preferring the frock her grandmother commissioned. When her mother forces her to go to the bathroom, Safiya runs off and hides with her grandmother. They proceed to the tailor, where they learn that Jaffar Baba has yet to stitch the cloth together. The frock is hastily assembled, making it too big for Safiya’s body. When she gets home, her mother is frustrated while her father is amused.

That afternoon, Safiya goes to play with the other children in the backyard of a neighbor’s house. The children are led by Abid, who is older. He orders Safiya to climb up a guava tree with some other children. When Safiya fails to climb, Abid assists in lifting her. Abid draws some sparrows to him using a winnow and millet seeds. He then flips the winnow upside down, trapping the sparrows inside. He tries to catch one, but they escape. He prepares the trap one more time, then succeeds in catching a fat sparrow. Safiya falls out of the tree and starts bleeding. Abid mends the wound with soft clay. He offers to give Safiya the eggs inside the sparrow’s stomach so she can watch them hatch. Abid kills the sparrow with a knife, then dissects it, revealing the sparrow’s still-beating heart. Abid takes the sparrow’s intestine and squeezes out tiny eggs, placing them in Safiya’s hand. Safiya is both enchanted and terrified. The other children swarm her to look at the eggs, forcing her to squeeze her hand into a fist. This crushes the eggs, which makes Safiya scream. Abid then leads the children to the pond.

Safiya wades into the pond with the swimming children, knowing how much it will upset her mother. After a while, her thoughts shift, and she becomes afraid of what her mother will say when she sees her with her injuries and her dirtied frock. Abid swims past Safiya and teases her by tugging at her legs. He grapples Safiya, places her ashore, and kisses her on the cheek before returning to the water. This embarrasses Safiya, who starts to cry. She is found by her grandmother, who holds her and consoles her. Safiya tells her grandmother everything that happened to upset her. To lift her mood, Safiya’s grandmother digs groundnuts out from underneath a tree. Safiya is filled with joy and wonder, erasing her shame. Although she soon falls sick, Safiya remembers that birthday for the rest of her life.

In the present, Safiya cannot believe that the boy who embarrassed her now supervises the shrine. She wonders if he is still as mischievous as he was when he was a boy. When Abid arrives, Safiya asks him if he remembers her. Abid does not address her question. They treat each other civilly as Safiya receives him and Abid invites her to the festival. Though Abid is very well-behaved, Safiya cannot tell if there is still some mischief in his face, as he avoids her gaze. This causes Safiya to muse that some people tend to flip things around.