"A Temporary Matter"

Questions

1. What weather event have the husband and wife just experienced?
2. Where has Shoba just returned from?
3. Why doesn't the husband mind that his wife isn't looking all that hot?
4. When are the blackouts beginning?
5. Why did Shukumar miss Shoba's labor six months ago?
6. What image does Shukumar remember?
7. Who dies while Shukumar is away?
8. What did Shoba used to do for her husband when she was pregnant?
9. Who blames Shukumar for not being there for Shoba?
10. What did the baby do at the rice ceremony that Shoba remembers?
11. What does Shoba talk about a lot during dinner?
12. Why does Shoba talk about India a lot?
13. What does Shoba suggest as a conversation starter?
14. What did Shoba do when she was alone in Shukumar's apartment for the first time?
15. Why did Shukumar forget to tip the waiter at the restaurant?
16. What did Shoba lie about when Shukumar's mom was visiting?
17. What exam did Shukumar cheat on?
18. What happens as Shoba and Shukumar continue confessing something to each other?
19. What does Shoba reveal on the fifth day?
20. What does Shukumar realize about the game when Shoba reveals she's moving out?
21. What did Shoba not know about Shukumar and their baby?
22. Why had Shukumar vowed never to tell Shoba about holding their dead baby boy?
23. What does Shukumar reveal to Shoba about their baby?
24. How does Shoba react when Shukumar reveals what their baby looked like?
25. What are Shukumar and Shoba doing at the end of the story?

Answers

1. A snowstorm
2. Work and the gym
3. It reminds him of how she looked when they were young, bar-hopping partiers.
4. March 19th
5. He went to an academic conference Shoba pushed him to attend.
6. Shoba waving at him as his cab pulls away from the house
7. His baby
8. Romantic things, like throwing him a surprise birthday party and walking hand-in-hand with him
9. Shoba's mom
10. Cry the whole time
11. India
12. She spent a lot of time in India as a child.
13. Each person shares one thing about him or herself that the other person doesn't know.
14. She looked in his address book to see if he'd written about her.
15. It was the first time he thought he might marry Shoba, so he got distracted.
16. She stayed out late with her girlfriend for a drink.
17. His Oriental Civilization exam in college
18. They become more intimate.
19. She's moving out.
20. Shoba's been trying to tell him she's leaving all along, and the game was her way of doing that.
21. Shukumar had actually arrived at the hospital in time to hold their dead baby boy before he was cremated.
22. He loved her back then.
23. What it looked like
24. She turns the lights off and starts crying.
25. Sitting next to each other and crying