The Management of Grief

by

Bharati Mukherjee

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The Management of Grief Summary

After a tragic plane crash just off the coast of Ireland, members of Shaila Bhave’s community gather in her house in Toronto. Shaila’s husband and two sons were killed in the crash, as were the husband and youngest daughter of Shaila’s friend and neighbor, Kusum. The majority of the people on board the plane were of Indian descent. At first, no one knows who or what to blame for the crash, but they eventually find out that Sikh terrorists planted and detonated a bomb. Shaila is in shock and uses Valium prescribed by a doctor to assuage her emotions.

Judith Templeton, a well-meaning but culturally incompetent Canadian social worker, asks Shaila to help communicate with relatives of those killed by the attack. Judith explains that she has been unsuccessful in communicating with some relatives and thinks Shaila will be an asset because of her calmness and strength. Shaila views her own calmness with suspicion and says others will view her similarly. She tells Judith that everyone must grieve in their own way, but she also tells Judith that she will call her when she returns to Ireland.

Shaila—along with other relatives of those killed in the attack, including Dr. Ranganathan and Kusum—travel to Ireland to identify the bodies of their loved ones. Kusum identifies her husband and daughter quickly and then travels to India to prepare their funerals. Shaila feels buoyed by hope and optimism after Dr. Ranganathan, a renowned electrical engineer who lost his entire family in the attack, tells her that a strong swimmer might have been able to survive the crash and swim to shore. She leaves Ireland for India without having identified her husband and sons.

In India, Shaila stays with her parents for a few months and then travels throughout the country. Six months into her travels, she sees a vision of her husband in a temple in a small Himalayan village. In the vision, her husband, Vikram Bhave, tells her she must “finish alone what we started together.” Shaila returns to Canada, while Kusum sells her house to move to an ashram in the Indian city of Haridwar (referred to in the story as Hardwar) to pursue inner peace. Dr. Ranganathan turns his house into a shrine to the family he lost before eventually selling that house and moving to Texas, where no one will know his story.

When Shaila returns to Toronto, Judith Templeton asks her to help reach out to relatives of the attack with whom she has had trouble communicating. Together, they visit an elderly couple. Judith wants Shaila to help get the couple to sign a paper that will ensure they receive benefits from the Canadian government. The couple is reluctant to sign the paper, convinced that it would mean giving up hope that they would see their sons again, and Judith and Shaila leave without convincing them to sign. As they travel to their next appointment, Judith complains about the person they’re about to meet. Shaila, unable to bear Judith’s complaining, asks to stop the car and then leaves without explaining to Judith why.

Shaila sells her house and moves to an apartment in downtown Toronto. On a rare sunny day in winter, she walks in a park and sees a vision of her family for the last time. In the vision, her family tells her that her “time has come” and to “go, be brave.”