Sharada: “Farewell” (Hindi)

Abstract

This short story, written by a young graduate of the Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Jalandhar, the first women’s college in Punjab, appeared in the May 1938 issue of the Jalvid-Sakha, the college magazine, which had a large readership among former students and supporters of the college throughout India. The Kanya Mahavidyalaya, still in existence today, was an unusual institution for its time. Founded under the aegis of the Arya Samaj social reform movement, it produced a number of remarkable women, many of whom became teachers and never married. The college, which had grown out of a girls’ school, had a hostel, widows’ home and a girls’ orphanage attached to it, and was supported by donations from well-wishers. Its journal regularly featured stories about outstanding women, both Indian and foreign, and initiated a number of interesting practices, such as prefixing women’s and men’s names with “Shri” instead of the gendered “Shriman” (Mr) and “Shrimati” (Mrs) or “Kumari” (Miss).