In Response to "This Blessed House" by Jhumpa Lahiri

In this story, a young Indian couple move into a new house.  As they go about unpacking, cleaning, and fixing small things, the wife, Twinkle, discovers many Christian "menageries" throughout the house.  She finds it very interesting and wishes to display them on the mantle.  The husband, Sanjeev, despises all of the things that his wife finds and strongly and persistently claims that they are not Christian.  As the story progresses, they have a house warming party and the guests are intrigued by the story and join the hunt for more items.  They all search the attic where they find one last thing, a silver bust of Jesus.

What's interesting to me about this story is the obvious relationship between Sanjeev and Twinkle.  Twinkle is very carefree and happy all of the time where Sanjeev seems like a very organized and well put together person.  To me, Sanjeev does not respect his wife like he should.  Sure he shrugs of the items that Twinkle finds and loves, but more than that he's short with her, shows no interest in what she does, gets easily aggravated with her habits, and at one time in the story even regrets being with her.  When they have the party, all of the guys are impressed by Twinkle and seemed to indicate that Sanjeev is a lucky man, but that's just not what he thinks. To me that is another problem.  Sanjeev keeps these thoughts bottled up (other than saying they're not Christian) and constantly chews on them throughout the story.  He never tries talking with his wife.  They fail epically at communication.

Spoiler Alert!!!.....the end of the story is like crossing the finish line and not being overcome with the feeling of victory, or maybe it's better explained as already having crossed the finish line and not realizing it.  Either way, Sanjeev's and Twinkle's lives just carry on as is.  Lahiri seems to indicate that Sanjeev continues to keep these feelings bottled up and their relationship never changes.  Who knows though?  Another question I would like to raise is, “What is the meaning of all the Christian menageries placed throughout the house?”  Were they unintentionally left by previous owners?  Or were they intentionally left?  What role are these items supposed to play in the couple's lives?  These questions are meant to be chewed on, and possibly even meant for you to write your own ending to the story.