One of my favorite stories in “The Interpreter of Maladies” was the story This House is Blessed. It’s hilarious how ridiculous and gaudy all of Twinkle’s Christian “treasures” are and yet how much she cherishes them. I think most people in our class discussion sided with Twinkle, saying that the love for these objects is only a small whim and more of a joke for her than anything near a potential conversion, and that Sanjeev just isn’t in on the joke and needs to take things less seriously. I kind of see that and think the couple could have been happier if Sanjeev went along with Twinkle’s little wishes. When I was reading the story, however, I had different feelings about Twinkle and her obsession and felt myself siding much more with Sanjeev.
Throughout the story, Twinkle reminded me of a stubborn child who must always get her way and will find new arguments or excuses every time she is accused of something. She always gets hyper-excited whenever she finds a new Christian object in the house, yelling to Sanjeev “Guess what I found,” claiming that the huge Christ poster must be put up because it’s “so spectacular,” and bragging to her girlfriends that “each day is like a treasure hunt.” When Twinkle finds the Virgin Mary statue in the yard, Sanjeev runs up to find that she had "collapsed on the grass, dissolved in nearly silent laughter,” from joy, like the reaction of a toddler to something exciting.
Of course it’s not a bad thing to sometimes have the personality of a little child and to find little things in life that bring you happiness, but I kept getting a feeling that maybe the main reason that Twinkle is so staunch about keeping the Christian paraphernalia isn’t as much her being inspired and fascinated by it as knowing that it annoys Sanjeev. This is only a theory and maybe is wrong, but it seemed like Twinkle has many characteristics of a small child, such as forming a strong opinion about something just because someone else has another opinion, to be able to argue and win the fight. We see Twinkle pleading, making excuses and compromises, and ending up almost storming out of the house half-naked to get her way and have the things she found displayed where she wants them. Kids often go through everything they can think of to get their parent to buy them something or let them do something, until in the most extreme cases it gets to tears, and then the parents often concede. I felt like Twinkle felt exactly in that role.
I like Twinkle for being so open and honest and for being the heart of the party when Sanjeev’s friends come over, but I do think she’s pretty silly and childish. I have a feeling that, if Sanjeev gave let her always have her way with keeping the religious figures and displaying them on the mantelpiece, she would soon get bored of this new passion and find something else to nag him about. I hope that once they live together longer, they might learn to understand each other better and become happier. But for now, I’m probably more on Sanjeev’s side.
I don't know whether Twinkle is deliberately trying to provoke Sanjeev with her enthusiasm for the artifacts, although you're absolutely right that this would reflect a classic (and maddening!) tendency of children. I read her as more perplexed at his lack of a sense of humor or irony, how she thinks this stuff is self-evidently funny and strange and exciting, a kind of private "game" for them to play, and she honestly doesn't get why he's not keen to play along.
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