Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter (Plot Summary)

Plot Summary

"Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter" follows two days in the life of Mrs. Dutta, an old, widowed Indian woman who had moved into her son's American home two months earlier. On the first morning, she gets up too early, prompting her son, Sagar, to tell her that she is waking up his wife, Shyamoli, and that Mrs. Dutta should get up later. In this way, Mrs. Dutta's habits, which she learned as an arranged wife in India, conflict with the American customs of her son's family. The next morning, Mrs. Dutta gets up later as ordered, but now she ends up being in the bathroom when her grandchildren need it, and they complain. Mrs. Dutta is surprised when Shyamoli does not punish the children for being disrespectful to Mrs. Dutta, their elder. As she does throughout the story, she compares this American behavior with the Indian customs that she has followed her whole life. She also thinks about the letter she received from her Calcutta friend, Mrs. Basu, who has asked if Mrs. Dutta is happy in America. Mrs. Dutta is struggling to be loyal to her son's family, although she feels uncomfortable about life in America, and so she has not sent a reply to her friend yet. She starts making alu dum, a traditional Indian meal. In her mind, she writes a response to Mrs. Basu, saying that she misses India and then rebukes herself for being nostalgic. She continues making her meal, noting that Shyamoli is worried that Mrs. Dutta's food has too much cholesterol and is making them gain weight.

Later in the day, Mrs. Dutta washes her clothes. She has insisted on doing her own laundry so that nobody else will have to touch her underclothes. However, she is terrified of the modern washing machine, so she secretly washes the clothes by hand. She hangs the clothes on the fence to dry, while crafting another mental response to Mrs. Basu — this time saying that she is fitting in very well in America. She remembers her departure from India, when she got rid of her house and gave away most of her possessions. When she is pulling the dry clothes off the fence, she notices the next-door neighbor and waves to her, but the neighbor ignores her. Sagar comes home early from work that day, and Mrs. Dutta is happy when he enjoys the story she tells him about his childhood. However, when Shyamoli arrives home, upset, Mrs. Dutta goes to her room to give them some privacy. She realizes that she left her unfinished response to Mrs. Basu on the kitchen table and goes to retrieve it. She overhears Shyamoli arguing with Sagar, saying that the next-door neighbor complained about Mrs. Dutta hanging her clothes over the fence. Although her sense of duty says that she should stay with her son's family, Mrs. Dutta realizes that she is an outsider and that she would be much happier back in India. She writes a response to Mrs. Basu, saying that she is coming back to India and asking Mrs. Basu to rent out her downstairs flat to Mrs. Dutta.