The returns and escapes of the wife (The Bats)
The mother leaves the husband after suffering from an episode of violence, but is unable to bear disapproval from society and her loneliness and returns to her husband. He behaves for sometime, but soon the violence returns. She leaves him again just to return back. She trusts him each time and every time she suffers. Her trust is broken everytime by her husband and yet she yearns to return to him.
Asha and Mrinal's mutual jealousy in Meeting Mrinal
Asha has always projected her life as perfect for Mrinal, she is more worried about Mrinal knowing about her divorce than her loneliness. She lies to Mrinal about being happy and having a perfect life, all the while being jealous of Mrinal for having a successful career and getting to travel around the world, living her life as a free person. But, Mrinal confesses to be jealous of her for having a loving family and company of loved ones instead of being lonely like her.
Anju's identity crisis in The Ultrasound
Anju is worried that she is losing her individuality because of her pregnancy. That the love of his husbnd is meant more for the mother of his child than for her as an individual. When she learns of Runu's baby being a girl and her family's decision to get the child aborted, the feeling of being a vessel for reproduction intensifies. However, by the end of the story, Anju realizes that the only way she can convince Sunil, who agrees with the abortion as the best option for Runu, to help Runu is by using the baby as leverage, as he will not refuse her in this condition.
Meers's maternal instincts in A Perfect Life
Meera narrates how she hates kids. She feels that they demand too much of their mother's life. She just visualizes kids as messy beings who make the mother forget herself. She is also apprehensive of the obsessive anxiety that is a part of motherhood. After she takes in Krishna, a wandering homeless boy, she develops maternal instincts so strong, that she feels broken when he runs away. It takes her a year to return to her normal life. After this experience she is more respectful of motherhood.
Lack of anxiety in The Disapperance
When the narrator's wife disappears, he feels little anxiety, his life runs smoothly albeit not as efficiently for which he calls his mother who joins him happily. The wife is soon forgotten and traces of of her are removed. The narrator is called lucky for having a comfortable life even when his wife has disappeared, which is ironical.
