Nimi Character Analysis

The judge’s wife and Sai’s maternal grandmother. She is fourteen when she marries the judge. The two do not consummate their marriage before the judge leaves for university because Nimi is so terrified, but they share one affectionate bicycle ride before he leaves. However, when the judge returns, he begins to expect her to relinquish her culture, as he has done. He becomes angry when Nimi steals his powder puff, and he rapes her as punishment. He then begins a cycle of abuse, trying to get her to conform to English culture. Eventually, after Nimi is accidentally a part of the Nehru welcoming committee for the Indian National Congress, the judge sends her away because she has humiliated him and he fears he will kill her in anger. Nimi then has a daughter, Sai’s mother, and spends the rest of her life living with her sister before she catches on fire from the stove (it is implied that her sister’s husband may have caused this accident). Nimi becomes an embodiment of the Indian culture from which the judge is attempting to separate himself.