In reading "The Treatment of Bibi Haldar," I couldn't help but think that it reminded me a lot of the fairytale "Cinderella." Many aspects of the two stories line up, but "The Treatment of Bibi Haldar," seemed to apply to real life much more than the fairytale.
There are characters in each story that somewhat correspond with one another. Bibi and Cinderella of course play similar roles in their respective stories. Meanwhile, Haldar, Bibi's cousin, and his wife take on similar characters to Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters: they are somewhat forced to take care of Bibi once her father dies and they pretty much confine her to a storage room where they make her do boring work for them. Aside from these more obvious connections, I saw the other women in the apartment building as similar to the fairy godmother, as they try to help Bibi find a husband. Last but not least, though this may be a bit far-fetched, I saw the baby boy that Bibi has at the end of the story as the handsome prince, as this is what "cures" her.
The plots of the stories also seem to follow the same sort of path: like Cinderella, Bibi's kind father dies and is left with evil relatives who mistreat her and force her to work for them. One day, Bibi finds out that there is an option for her to be cured from her disease (which I thought was like Cinderella going to the ball), but her evil relatives refuse to help her to get a husband. Despite this, Bibi becomes cured and lives happily ever after.
The stories were not perfectly symmetric though. I found that the differences between the two stories were mainly things that simply made Bibi Haldar's story seem like it takes place in real life. After all, "Cinderella" is a fairy tale for a reason: it's not entirely realistic. For example, one difference between the two stories was that Bibi Haldar was described as "not pretty. Her upper lip was thin, her teeth too small. Her gums protruded when she spoke." (p. 160) Meanwhile, much of the story of Cinderella hinges on her being extremely pretty. A second difference is between the "fairy godmothers" of the stories. Cinderella's fairy godmother is definitely too good to be true, and she can magically transform Cinderella into a maiden fit for the ball. In Bibi Haldar's case, the women of her building, though they do sort of play a role as the fairy godmother, give a more half-hearted attempt at transforming Bibi and helping her find a husband. Furthermore, they definitely aren't eager to be responsible for her. This makes the "fairy godmother" character in Bibi Haldar's story seem much more human than Cinderella's fairy godmother.
The biggest difference between these stories though, is that the resolution in Cinderella's story is that she is basically swept off of her feet by a handsome prince and they live happily ever after. Bibi never gets married, but she is saved, like Cinderella, from her life of (somewhat) loneliness, mistreatment, and in Bibi's case, seizures. However, Bibi's "happily ever after" seems to be much more empowering and realistic: she becomes a successful single mother, basically starts her own business, and stops having seizures. We don't know who the father is, but he doesn't seem to have much impact on the rest of Bibi's life.
From these things, I felt like Lahiri took the classic Cinderella story and bent it to fit a more modern day scenario in a foreign setting. I'm not sure if this was actually Lahiri's goal, but I think it makes sense to look at it this way. What do you all think? Were these Lahiri's intentions? Do you see any other connections?
