The Shaheb Character Analysis

The Shaheb is Mayadebi's wealthy husband. He's elegant, dignified, and the most important relative in the narrator's family, which earns him the admiration of everyone in the family but Tha'mma. Tha'mma resents him because she believes he's an alcoholic (though it's never made entirely clear if the Shaheb ever actually stinks of alcohol) and weak—she instinctively knows that Mayadebi does most of the heavy lifting. Tha'mma also takes offense to his extensive and varied wardrobe: as a diplomat, the Shaheb needs different styles of dress for different locales. He's a kind man who makes a point to engage women in conversation about things that matter to them, something that endears him especially to the narrator's mother. He moves his family to London in 1939 so that he can have an operation in England.