Sudha waits for Ramesh on her wedding night, full of apprehension and despair. Ramesh asks her if she finds him ugly and says that he is happy for them to get to know each other before embarking on a sexual relationship. Sudha is hugely relieved and warms to her husband, feeling that although she will never love him, they might be friends. They agree they will say nothing about their agreement to Ramesh’s mother, who is already eagerly anticipating the birth of her grandchildren.

Anju is blissful in her new marriage, although she experiences occasional pangs of foreboding. She eagerly anticipates moving to the United States, which Sunil has painted as a fairy-tale land of opportunity.

Anju also instantly warms to her mother-in-law, though she is shocked at how cowed and submissive she becomes before Sunil’s bullying father. At dinner, after serving a selection of dishes prepared on her husband’s orders, Sunil’s mother tries to slip a small dish of tamarind chutney to her son. Enraged, Sunil’s father throws the dish at her and shouts at Anju when she rises to assist her mother-in-law. Sunil rises in turn and enters into a shouting match with his father, declaring that he intends to pay back all the money that has been spent on him so that he has no further debts to his father.