Food
Food, particularly Bangla dishes, plays an important part in creating the rich image of Bengali culture. Knowing to cook or proficiency with kitchen tasks are considere important qualities of a woman. Most women in the stories are mentioned to prepare elaborate meals for their husbands, as if it's a task meant for the woman only. a resentment is also observed in women in doing these things for men who take them for granted or are not thankful. By the end of the book, women treat cooking with less reverence to the point when in the last story, the narrator stops cooking after her divorce as it was something she used to do for husband and not for herself as a task for sustainence.
Clothes
Clothes are used as a perfect mode for creating distinction between the east and west. Society expects the women to be timid like an ideal Indian girl and not westernize herself by wearing western clothes. Clothes are meant to represent one's character which is quite ironic since one's attire hardly represents one's thoughts in the book. Details like gold threadwork on saris, white clothing for widows, length of skirts, backlessness of a blouse, are used to hint at the judgement the society imposes on the people for wearing what they want.
Houses and their architecture
The variety of houses mentioned in the story are not only used to give a general idea of the person's immediate surroundings but also hint at the mental condition of the person. Large mansions in Bengal hint at the life of comfort and boundations. The wife in The Maid Servant's Story doesn't crosses the threshold of the house gates without anyone's company. Sarala, the maid is bound to stay silent at her abuse in the house. The house in Meeting Mrinal becomes a burden for the narrator due to its sheer size. Doors represent Preeti's privacy issues.
Villages
Villages are shown to be most affected by patriarchal systems. The women are less educated and eager to get married to a man they have never heard of. Sumita avoids going back to the village to avoid living the life of a recluse after her husband is killed.
