After Eight Years of Marriage

 Introduction:

Mamta Kalia is a modern Indian poet known for her bold, direct, and realistic portrayal of women’s lives. Her poem “After Eight Years of Marriage” explores the everyday frustrations, emotional fatigue, and silent struggles of a married woman. The tone is honest, conversational, and reflective.

The poem:

The speaker in the poem visits her parents’ home for the first time after eight years of her marriage. The parents expect that she must be happy in her married life and so they enquire about it. According to the speaker, it’s an absurd question. She recalls how sometimes she is happy and how sometimes she is sad. According to her:

1. She is happy on Tuesday, but unhappy on Wednesday.
2. She is happy at 08 O’clock, but unhappy at 08.15.
3. One day she ate watermelon with her family members, and she was happy.  But once she wept for whole night.
4. It was a family of the twelve members. She has two sons. The sons are weak with ‘beaten faces and grey eyelashes.’ It clearly indicates that she did not have the happy married life.
5. But the speaker did not want to hurt the feelings of her parents. So, she swallows her sorrow, and just smiles.

The poem describes a woman’s honest feelings after spending eight years in marriage. In the beginning, she had many dreams and expectations, but over the years, these hopes have faded. Marriage has become a routine for her, without excitement or emotional warmth. She feels tired of the constant responsibilities and adjustments she has to make every day.

The woman realizes that her husband does not notice her efforts or understand her feelings. The communication between them has reduced, and she feels emotionally distant from him. She performs all her duties, yet she feels unappreciated and lonely. Gradually, she senses that she is losing her individuality and becoming only a “wife” in the eyes of society, not a person with her own desires.

Through this poem, the poet shows how marriage, which begins with love and enthusiasm, can slowly turn into monotony and emotional emptiness if there is no understanding. The poem highlights the woman’s inner struggle, her frustration, and her quiet acceptance of life as it is.