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Real Time
INTR
INTRODUCTION
ODUCTION
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF AMIT CHAUDHURI
Amit Chaudhuri was born in Kolkata, India, just 15 years after
the country gained independence from Great Britain. His
father was a CEO of an Indian food products company, and his
mother was a singer. He grew up in Bombay, attending a
prestigious English-language school, and traveled to England to
attend university and pursue a PhD in English literature. From
then on, he divided his time and intellectual efforts between
England and India, teaching at universities in both countries
and writing for English publications such as The London Review
of Books. He published his first novel, A Strange and Sublime
Address, in 1991 and went on to write seven more novels,
several works of nonfiction, and a collection of short stories in
which “Real Time” is included. His work has explored Indian
history, tensions between the country’s Hindu and Muslim
communities, and the experiences of Indians who live or travel
abroad. He currently teaches at India’s Ashoka University.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Great Britain ruled the Indian subcontinent directly from 1857
to 1947. (Before that, private British businesses like the British
East India Company exercised a great deal of control over the
region.) While anti-colonial movements and periodic rebellions
existed throughout the period of British control, independence
advocates gained steam in the 1920s under the leadership of
Mahatma Gandhi, ultimately compelling Britain to relinquish
control over the subcontinent after WWII. Independence was
accompanied by Partition, the division of the subcontinent into
two countries, Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority
Pakistan. Sectarian violence broke out as millions of people
migrated across the continent to the nation that matched their
religion; ultimately, over a million people were killed during
Partition. After independence, some middle- and upper-class
Indians were able to rise to positions of wealth and power
denied to them during the period of British rule. However,
“Real Time” also shows how Indian society maintained many
features introduced by the British, from the social clubs Mr.
Mitra frequents to the intense class hierarchies that defined
social interactions and personal relationships.
RELATED LITERARY WORKS
Amit Chaudhuri is one of many contemporary Indian authors
using scenes of daily life to address the rapid social, economic,
and political changes the country experienced after gaining
independence from Great Britain in 1947. In her short story
collection Interpr
Interpreter
eter of Maladies
Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri, a British-
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American author of Indian descent, writes about flawed,
prosaic characters who experience major emotional revelations
while going about their daily routines; her novel The Lowland
chronicles political strife in Kolkata, Chaudhuri’s birthplace and
a city that features in much of his work. Like Chaudhuri, writer
and activist Arundhati Roy is concerned with questions of class
in Indian society, exploring this issue most notably in her novel
The God of Small Things
Things, in which a young mother’s affair with a
man from a lower caste throws her entire family into disarray.
Chaudhuri shares some thematic concerns with writers from
other former British colonies such as V.S. Naipaul, whose novel
A House for Mr. Biswas details a Trinidadian man’s efforts to
navigate a colonial society that continually disadvantages him.
Chaudhuri has described himself as being influenced by works
of modernism, a literary movement that responded to the
upheavals of the early 20th century by breaking with
traditional literary styles and prioritizing the representation of
consciousness and thought over plot. Chaudhuri wrote his
dissertation on the British modernist writer D.H. Lawrence and
has cited his novel Sons and Lov
Lovers
ers as an influence on his
personal writing.
KEY FACTS
• Full Title: Real Time
• Where Written: India
• When Published: 2002
• Literary Period: Contemporary
• Genre: Short Story, Literary Fiction
• Setting: An unnamed city in late 20th-century India
• Climax: Mr. Mitra visits the balcony from which Anjali
jumped to her death.
• Point of View: Third Person Limited
EXTRA CREDIT
Extracurriculars. Like his mother, Chaudhuri is also a trained
singer, specializing in North Indian classical music. He has
recorded multiple albums and wrote a book about his
relationship to this musical tradition called Finding the Raga.
City Steward. Chaudhuri is a vocal proponent of building
conservation in his native Kolkata, and founded a group to
protect the city’s 20th-century homes from demolition or
redevelopment.
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PL
PLO
OT SUMMARY
In an unnamed Indian city in the late 20th century, Mr. Mitra
and his wife, Mrs. Mitra, are driving to a shraddh, or Hindu
mourning ceremony, when they get into an argument about
whether to bring flowers. At first, Mrs. Mitra seems annoyed
by her husband’s indecision, but eventually she tells him to “do
what you’d do in a normal case,” suggesting that there’s
something strange about this particular event. Mr. Mitra orders
their driver, Abdul, to stop at a market and buys some
tuberoses.
As they continue driving, Mr. Mitra reflects that he knows very
little about Anjali, his wife’s relative who has died, except for
her marriage to a wealthy and successful man named Gautam
several years ago. Abdul gets lost several times on the way to
the ceremony, and they have to stop and ask directions from
multiple onlookers. Mr. Mitra is anxious to get to the ceremony
quickly so that they can get home in time for lunch. Because of
the circumstances of Anjali’s death, he doesn’t think there will
be any food at the shraddh.
Eventually, the Mitras arrive at the cramped apartment building
where Anjali’s parents live. They go upstairs in the elevator and
find the apartment crowded with people. Anjali’s father, Mr.
Talukdar, welcomes them in and gestures to his wife, Nilima,
who is sitting on a mattress near the wall. Mr. Mitra recalls that
Mr. Talukdar once had an important manufacturing job, but he
doesn’t know what else to say to him. Indeed, everyone at the
gathering seems ill at ease, since they can’t acknowledge the
circumstances of Anjali’s death.
Mr. Mitra feels hungry, and is relieved when a servant offers
him some snacks and a soda. Then he runs into a professional
acquaintance from his social club, Mr. Sarbadhikari. The two
men talk about their children and the future of civil engineering
as a profession. When Mr. Sarbadhikari excuses himself to go to
the bathroom, Mr. Mitra quietly goes onto the balcony and
watches a young woman hang laundry. This is the balcony from
which Anjali jumped to her death. After leaving her husband,
she moved in with her parents, who disapproved of her for
ending the marriage.
Mr. Mitra returns inside and catches his wife’s eye to indicate
he wants to leave. He visits the bathroom, which is decorated
with a bunch of fussy accessories, and feels vaguely dissatisfied,
“as if the last half hour had lacked definition.” Once he and Mrs.
Mitra are back in the car, he remarks that he’s extremely
hungry.
CHARA
CHARACTERS
CTERS
MAJOR CHARACTERS
Mr
Mr.. Mitr
Mitraa – Mr. Mitra is the middle-aged protagonist and the
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husband of Mrs. Mitra. The story follows Mr. Mitra’s
perspective as the couple attends a mourning ceremony for
Mrs. Mitra’s cousin Anjali, who has committed suicide. Mr.
Mitra’s upper-middle-class status is clear from the fact that he
employs a driver, Abdul, belongs to a social club, and feels mild
disdain for the cramped apartment complex in which Anjali’s
parents live. Mr. Mitra’s anxiety about whether to bring flowers
and whom to talk to at the ceremony shows that he is highly
attuned to issues of social propriety. The one thing Mr. Mitra
shares about his emotional life is his sense of dissatisfaction
with his wife, who never provides him with help and comfort
when he needs it; he believes that Mrs. Mitra is disappointed in
him as well. Mr. Mitra’s anxiety to behave properly and
telegraph his class status to the other guests prevents him from
truly grappling with the psychological crisis Anjali must have
faced, and the grief her parents are experiencing now. Instead,
Mr. Mitra takes refuge in mundane concerns, focusing on
finding snacks to assuage his hunger and leaving the gathering
as soon as he can do so politely.
Mrs. Mitr
Mitraa – Mrs. Mitra is a middle-aged woman and Mr.
Mitra’s wife. Since the story provides no access to her inner life,
and she and Mr. Mitra only talk about logistical matters, it’s
difficult to discern her thoughts or feelings. To Mr. Mitra, she
seems intimidatingly poised and unafraid of social situations
that cause him anxiety, like Anjali’s mourning ceremony. And
while Mr. Mitra engages only minimally with Anjali’s parents,
preferring to make small talk with his professional
acquaintances, Mrs. Mitra spends time talking to Anjali’s
mother Nilima, a gesture that makes her seem more
emotionally adept than her husband. While Mrs. Mitra is
emotionally distant from her husband, her tactful behavior
shows that she’s committed to maintaining the façade of a
successful and secure upper-middle-class couple, making her a
contrast to Anjali, who chose to leave her husband and
ultimately commit suicide.
Anjali – Anjali is a distant relative of Mrs. Mitra. The story
unfolds as Mr. Mitra and Mrs. Mitra attend a shraddha, or
Hindu mourning ceremony, for her death, and the story
gradually reveals that she committed suicide. Anjali studied
history as a young woman and, 16 years before the story takes
place, married a man named Gautam from a wealthy and
distinguished family. She left her husband several times during
their marriage; one month before committing suicide, she
ended the relationship for good and moved in with her parents,
who were unsympathetic to her plight.
Gautam P Poddar
oddar – Gautam is Anjali’s husband. Mr. Mitra tells
the reader that he’s a member of a distinguished and wealthy
family, with successful ancestors in his lineage and a beautiful
mansion near a lake. However, he and Anjali didn’t have a happy
marriage, as her multiple attempts to leave him and eventual
suicide show. Gautam doesn’t actually appear in the story and
is only mentioned in passing by Mr. Mitra.
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Mr
Mr.. T
Taluk
alukdar
dar – Mr. Talukdar is Anjali’s father and Nilima’s
husband. Mr. Mitra tells the reader that he once had an
important manufacturing job, but he currently lives in a
cramped apartment building, showing his low socioeconomic
status relative to the Mitras. Mr. Talukdar welcomes Mr. Mitra
and Mrs. Mitra into the apartment but doesn’t show any
warmth toward him.
Nilima – Nilima is Anjali’s mother and Mr. Talukdar’s wife. At
the shraddh, she sits on a mattress at the corner of the room
while Mr. Talukdar receives guests, suggesting that she is
overwhelmed by grief in a way her husband is not. Mr. Mitra
doesn’t greet her, but instead watches Mrs. Mitra talk to her.
Mr
Mr.. Amiya Sarbadhikari – Mr. Sarbadhikari is an acquaintance
of Mr. Mitra who also attends the shraddh. Unsure how to
behave at the event, Mr. Mitra is relieved to encounter Mr.
Sarbadhikari, and the two men make small talk about their
social club and various business matters. Eventually Mr.
Sarbadhikari excuses himself to go to the bathroom, leaving Mr.
Mitra to wander outside to the balcony where Anjali killed
herself.
MINOR CHARACTERS
Abdul — Abdul is Mr. Mitra’s driver.
TERMS
Brahmo sangeet – A Hindu devotional song. When Mr. Mitra
Brahmo
and Mrs. Mitra arrive at the shraddh ceremony for Anjali, a
guest is singing a Brahmo sangeet.
Chowkidar – In Hindi, a watchman. Mr. Mitra asks directions
from a chowkidar on the way to Anjali’s parents’ apartment.
Sandesh – A sweet cake. At the shraddh ceremony for Anjali’s
death, a servant offers these cakes to the guests.
Shr
Shraddh
addh – Sometimes known as a “shraddha,” a shraddh
ceremony is a Hindu mourning ritual. The ritual is usually
carried out in honor of a dead ancestor; but in “Real Time,”
Anjali’s parents are holding a shraddh ceremony for their
daughter. The unusual nature of the gathering makes Mr. Mitra
and other characters nervous.
THEMES
In LitCharts literature guides, each theme gets its own color-
coded icon. These icons make it easy to track where the themes
occur most prominently throughout the work. If you don't have
a color printer, you can still use the icons to track themes in
black and white.
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DEATH, GRIEF, AND CEREMONY
Amit Chaudhuri’s “Real Time” takes place over the
course of one morning, as Mr. Mitra and Mrs. Mitra,
an upper middle class Indian couple, attend a
shraddh (Hindu mourning ceremony) for Anjali, a relative who
has recently committed suicide. Like mourning ceremonies in
many cultures, a shraddh ceremony normally provides
structure and routine to a bereaved family, and gives visitors
like the Mitras a social script to comfort the mourning. But
because Anjali died by suicide, Mr. Mitra doesn’t know how the
gathering will unfold or how he should behave. In the story’s
opening, he and Mrs. Mitra debate whether or not they should
buy flowers; later, Mr. Mitra reflects that some of the usual
rituals, such as placing a small piece of dough outside for a
crow, will probably not be observed due to the nature of
Anjali’s death. At the shraddh, Mr. Mitra feels an “uneasiness” in
his conversations and struggles to avoid mentioning Anjali,
even though he usually finds it easy to talk to others at such
gatherings. Instead, he finds himself reflecting on gossip about
Anjali’s final days, such as his knowledge that she had recently
left her husband and that her parents “had not been altogether
sympathetic” when she came to live with them. Mr. Mitra’s
sense of profound social awkwardness at the shraddh, and his
fascination with the circumstances of Anjali’s death, show how
shameful her suicide is considered within her upper middle
class Indian context. And although mourning ceremonies often
can provide genuine meaning and comfort to grieving families,
the strained nature of this gathering suggests that tradition
alone cannot suffice when someone dies by suicide, as Anjali
does. Ultimately, the mourners’ collective determination to
complete conventional rituals, yet without confronting what’s
happened, prevents them from finding comfort or genuinely
reckoning with Anjali’s death.
MARRIAGE
There are no happy marriages in “Real Time.” Mr.
Mitra, the story’s middle-aged Indian narrator,
remarks to himself in the first paragraphs that his
wife, Mrs. Mitra, “never satisfied him when he needed her
most,” and acknowledges that he likely disappoints her as well.
The couple only talk to each other about logistical matters, and
can’t bring themselves to discuss the tragedy at the heart of the
story: the suicide of Anjali, one of Mrs. Mitra’s relatives. As Mr.
and Mrs. Mitra attend a shraddh, or Hindu mourning ceremony,
at Anjali’s parents’ house, the story slowly reveals that Anjali’s
suicide was catalyzed by the failure of her own marriage, while
also withholding important details: Mr. Mitra has heard
through the grapevine that Anjali left her husband, Gautam,
several times, and was living with her family when she died. The
inscrutability of Anjali’s relationship with her husband and its
failure mirrors Mr. Mitra’s lack of insight about his own stale
marriage. In that sense, her decision to end her life is
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profoundly destabilizing to Mr. Mitra, showing him that there is
an alternative—however taboo and tragic—to passively
accepting an unhappy marriage. While Mr. Mitra feels a
disturbing fascination with Anjali’s act of suicide, lingering on
the balcony from which she jumped, he ultimately shies away
from analyzing her motives. Instead, he finds refuge in the
predictability of his relationship with Mrs. Mitra, telling her that
he’s “ravenous” and taking comfort in their unspoken
agreement to buy cookies on the way home. Through the
Mitras’ flawed but stable relationship and Anjali’s mysterious
suicide, Chaudhuri expresses a profoundly pessimistic view of
marriage, suggesting that spouses can never truly know each
other and that even seemingly successful marriages are upheld
not by love or emotional connection, but by routine and mutual
convenience.
CLASS AND SOCIAL MOBILITY
In “Real Time,” which takes place in the late 20th
century, characters are acutely conscious of class
and the social status it confers. Chaudhuri
communicates to the reader early on that Mr. Mitra and Mrs.
Mitra are members of the upper middle class. They have a
servant at home and a driver, Abdul, who takes them to Anjali’s
shraddh; but Mr. Mitra is also thrifty enough to bargain over
the tuberoses he buys for Anjali’s parents. The only things Mr.
Mitra knows about Anjali are that she graduated from college
(a sign of wealth and class status) and married a man from a
distinguished family with a “white four-storeyed mansion.”
Dwelling on these facts as he mulls Anjali’s death, Mr. Mitra
hints at his disbelief that a woman in possession of such class
advantages was unhappy enough to commit suicide. By
contrast, Anjali’s parents, Mr. Talukdar and Nilima, live in
comparatively reduced circumstances. Although Mr. Talukdar
had “some sort of important position” in manufacturing during
the period of British rule over India, he and his wife now live in
a “cramped” apartment building hastily constructed by
property developers. When he stands on the balcony, Mr. Mitra
sees a young woman who is “clearly not a maidservant” hanging
laundry in a nearby apartment; in other words, Anjali’s parents
live among people who can’t afford to employ servants like Mr.
Mitra does, testifying to their comparatively low class status.
Having to interact with these poorer relatives is almost as
upsetting to Mr. Mitra as Anjali’s actual death. He’s uneasy at
the shraddh until he runs into Mr. Sarbadhikari, an
acquaintance from his club with whom he can talk about
business, thereby affirming his own importance and
professional success. Showing how this kind of petty snobbery
dictates Mr. Mitra’s behavior and perceptions, Chaudhuri
gestures to the way rigid social hierarchies defined Indian
society long after the country achieved independence from
Britain. Moreover, the story suggests that an obsessive focus
on class prevents characters from comforting each other or
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even genuinely connecting at all.
SMALL TALK AND SUPERFICIALITY
Amit Chaudhuri’s “Real Time” follows an upper
middle class Indian couple, Mr. Mitra and Mrs.
Mitra, to a shraddh, or Hindu mourning ceremony,
for a relative named Anjali who has committed suicide. Driving
to the shraddh, Mr. and Mrs. Mitra only talk about logistical
matters, such as whether to buy flowers or which road to take
to Anjali’s parents’ apartment. Likewise, the mourners at the
shraddh diligently make small talk about events unrelated to
Anjali’s death: when Mr. Mitra runs into a professional
acquaintance, Mr. Sarbadhikari, they talk about “whether civil
engineering had a future as a career today.” Mr. Mitra only
makes one attempt to discuss Anjali’s death — asking his wife,
“Why did she do it?” — and his question goes unanswered.
The dominance of small talk during the drive and at the shraddh
mirrors Mr. Mitra’s internal monologue. Throughout the story,
he is consumed with issues of physical discomfort, noting that
his feet are “perspiring” because he’s wearing the wrong shoes,
searching for a warm bottle of soda that won’t aggravate his
sore throat, and finally complaining to Mrs. Mitra on their way
out that he’s “quite ravenous.” He reflects on Anjali’s death only
intermittently, and can only focus on her for a few minutes
before his mind skitters to a trivial issue like his hunger.
However, this inability to grapple with Anjali’s suicide isn’t an
indictment of Mr. Mitra alone: everyone at the shraddh is
equally committed to avoiding the topic of death and focusing
on the banal. Depicting the collective commitment to pointless
small talk, the story points at the emotional emptiness of
gatherings like this one. And by showing how Mr. Mitra’s
thoughts mirrors the gathering’s social tenor, Chaudhuri
suggests that an inability to speak frankly with others corrupts
characters’ inner lives and prevents them from truly knowing
themselves.
SYMBOLS
Symbols appear in teal text throughout the Summary and
Analysis sections of this LitChart.
FLOWERS
In “Real Time,” flowers symbolize the importance of
traditional mourning rituals in Indian society, and
the limitations of those rituals in helping people process
complex emotions like grief. In the story’s opening, as Mr. Mitra
and Mrs. Mitra drive to a mourning ceremony for Anjali, a
relative who has recently committed suicide, they discuss
whether or not it’s appropriate to bring flowers given the
nature of the woman’s death. Uncertainty over this question
causes Mr. Mitra to feel like “a distraught child,” but Mrs. Mitra
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eventually directs him to “do what you’d do in a normal case of
bereavement.” This early encounter shows how unmoored Mr. Related Characters: Mr. Mitra, Mrs. Mitra (speaker), Anjali
Mitra feels when he's unsure what rituals are appropriate, and
establishes that flowers are a socially accepted gift for grieving Related Themes:
families.
Related Symbols:
Mr. Mitra takes some comfort in the familiar process of
purchasing flowers and haggling with the vendor over their
Page Number: 398
price, but as soon as he brings them back to the car, they seem
unwieldy and useless, leaving a damp smear on the seat when Explanation and Analysis
he puts them down. When Mr. and Mrs. Mitra arrive at the
This passage occurs at the beginning of “Real Time,” when
mourning ceremony, Anjali’s father, Mr. Talukdar, accepts the
Mr. and Mrs. Mitra are deciding whether to stop for flowers
flowers without thanking the couple or even remarking on
on the way to Anjali’s shraddha ceremony. Their clipped
them. As soon as he presents the gift, Mr. Mitra again feels
exchange establishes the strained dynamic of their
anxious and unsure how to behave at the gathering. Even
marriage: throughout the story, just as they do here, they
though Mr. Mitra has done the socially appropriate thing, he
will only discuss logistical matters out loud, refusing to
doesn’t feel any closer to Mr. Talukdar, nor does the other man
touch on any deeper emotional issues—in this case, the fact
appear comforted at all. In other words, the flowers aren’t
that they don’t know whether to bring flowers because of
actually serving their intended purpose of helping people
the shocking nature of Anjali’s death by suicide.
grieve.
Mr. Mitra’s admission that his wife “never satisfied him” is a
In the story’s final paragraphs, Mr. Mitra uses the bathroom and
rare disclosure of his inner state and shows how upset he is
observes a box printed with flowers among the room’s many
by this state of affairs; at the same time, he never does
fussy accessories. The purpose of this box is to obscure the
anything to change his marriage, preferring to take comfort
bathroom’s function, and looking at it makes Mr. Mitra shiver
in the familiarity of shared routines. The story provides no
“involuntarily,” even though he doesn’t know what exactly is
insight into Mrs. Mitra’s perspective in this passage, only
disturbing him. While Mr. Mitra can’t quite make this
supposing that she might feel the same way as her husband;
connection in his mind, the decorative flowers gesture at the
throughout the rest of the story, she will remain an enigma,
limitation of the real ones: like other traditional rituals, the real
existing at an emotional remove that Mr. Mitra
flowers don’t provide comfort to the bereaved family but rather
simultaneously admires and feels intimidated by.
allow Mr. Mitra to avoid grappling, even internally, with the
tragedy of Anjali’s death and the reality of her family’s grief. This passage also establishes the novel’s focus on ceremony
Ultimately, the flowers’ symbolism suggests that a society as a flawed coping mechanism for dealing with complex
which prioritizes social propriety and its preservation above all emotions like grief. Mr. Mitra is intent upon bringing the
else will stunt the interior lives of individuals like Mr. Mitra. proper gifts to Anjali’s grieving family; his anxiety about
whether or not to buy flowers demonstrates his faith in
traditional rituals, with which he is likely familiar from years
QUO
QUOTES
TES of family events, and implies a belief that his decision will
truly affect the way Anjali’s parents process the loss of their
Note: all page numbers for the quotes below refer to the daughter. However, the fact that there’s no prescribed ritual
Cambridge University Press edition of Stories of Ourselves: to mark a suicide shows that traditions don’t suffice when
Volume 1 published in 2018. people violate social taboos, as Anjali does by leaving her
marriage and ending her life. Moreover, Anjali’s parents
Real Time Quotes don’t even care about the flowers; her father puts them
aside without even looking at them. Ultimately, Mr. Mitra’s
“Well, what should we do?” Mr. Mitra’s face, as he turned determination to uphold tradition prevents him from
to look at his wife, was pained, as if he was annoyed she hadn’t grappling with the emotional reality of Anjali’s death.
immediately come up with the answer.
“Do what you want to do quickly,” she said, dabbing her cheek
with her sari. “We’re already late.” She looked at the small dial of
her watch. He sighed; his wife never satisfied him when he
needed her most; and quite probably it was the same story the
other way around.

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He was wearing a white cotton shirt and terrycotton
trousers because of the heat, and shoes; he now regretted Related Characters: Mr. Mitra, Anjali, Gautam Poddar
the shoes. He remembered he hadn’t been able to find his
sandals in the cupboard. His feet, swathed in socks, were Related Themes:
perspiring.
Page Number: 399

Related Characters: Mr. Mitra, Mrs. Mitra, Anjali Explanation and Analysis
While riding in the car to the mourning ceremony, Mr. Mitra
Related Themes: gives the reader a first glimpse into Anjali’s backstory and
marriage. (At this point, the story has alluded to her suicide
Related Symbols: but not explicitly confirmed that she has ended her own
life.) Even though Anjali is his relative by marriage, he only
Page Number: 398 knows basic biographic details about her life, like where she
went to college and how long ago she got married. In this
Explanation and Analysis
sense the passage shows the emotional distance he feels
In this passage, Mr. Mitra starts to feel physically from the tragic family event.
uncomfortable as soon as he gets out of the car to buy some
It's also notable that Mr. Mitra knows a lot about Anjali’s
flowers for Anjali’s parents. At this point, the novel has only
husband, Gautam, and that he’s very interested in the
hinted that someone has died, and the nature of the
socioeconomic details of his life. In his reflection, Mr. Mitra
gathering Mr. and Mrs. Mitra are going to attend remains
stresses that Gautam has successful lawyers and politicians
unspecified. But Mr. Mitra’s choices of formal clothes and
among his ancestors; his reflection also emphasizes that the
uncomfortable footwear he clearly doesn’t wear regularly
Poddars, with their mansion and garden parties, are
show the reader that he’s on his way to a serious event.
wealthy, likely more so than the Mitras or Anjali’s family. A
This passage is also the first in the story to demonstrate Mr. member of India’s professional bourgeoisie, Mr. Mitra is
Mitra’s intense focus on his physical discomfort. In this case, intensely class-conscious. He takes pains to demonstrate his
the story implies that Mr. Mitra is going to damage his relative wealth to others by actions like hiring a driver, and
clothes by sweating in the heat, and tells us that his feet are he notices markers of other people’s lower class status, like
“perspiring” in his socks. Notably, Mr. Mitra starts thinking the shabbiness of Anjali’s parents’ apartment building.
about his discomfort just after his wife brings up the fact
By Mr. Mitra’s metrics of success, Anjali made an extremely
that there’s been an unusual death in the family, telling him
successful marriage. His emphasis on the Poddars’ wealth
to buy flowers as he would “in a normal case of
implies a belief that Anjali should have been happy as a
bereavement.” Immediately diverting his attention to these
member of their family. The fact that Anjali was apparently
trivial physical problems, Mr. Mitra is able to avoid
extremely unhappy, and chose to leave Gautam before
reckoning with the emotional impact of Anjali’s death.
dying by suicide, isn’t just shocking on a personal level but
Throughout the story, Mr. Mitra and other characters,
disrupts Mr. Mitra’s sense of social norms and what makes a
especially Mr. Sarbadhikari, focus on small talk and bodily
good life.
issues such as being hungry, feeling overheated, or needing
to find a bathroom, in order to forestall any complicated or
upsetting emotions.
As they passed a petrol pump, Mr. Mitra wondered what
view traditional theology took of this matter, and how the
rites accommodated events such as this — she had jumped
Her marriage, sixteen years ago, had been seen to be
from a third-floor balcony — which couldn’t, after all, be entirely
appropriate. Usually, it’s said, Lakshmi, the goddess of
uncommon. Perhaps there was no ceremony. In his mind’s eye,
wealth, and Saraswati, of learning, two sisters, don’t bless the
when he tried to imagine the priest, or the long rows of tables
same house; but certainly that wasn’t true of the Poddars, who
at which people were fed, he saw a blank.
had two bars-at-law in the generation preceding this one, and a
social reformer in the lineage, and also a white four-storied
mansion on a property near Salt Lake where they used to have Related Characters: Mr. Mitra, Anjali
garden parties. Anjali had married Gautam Poddar very soon
after taking her M.A. in history from Calcutta University. Related Themes:

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Page Number: 399
Explanation and Analysis
In this passage, which occurs as Mr. and Mrs. Mitra are
driving to Anjali’s shraddh ceremony, Mr. Mitra says for the
first time that Anjali has committed suicide. This is the only
moment in “Real Time” that Mr. Mitra directly references
the shocking nature of Anjali’s death. Notably, this
revelation doesn’t even get a sentence to itself; instead, it’s
rendered as a side note in Mr. Mitra’s musings about what
the mourning ceremony will look like. This almost
nonchalant mention of the suicide contrasts with the way
Anjali’s death looms over the story, creating an ominous
mood for Mr. Mitra and the other mourners. Mr. Mitra later
notices that the shraddha ceremony attendees seem
uneasy, even though they’ve likely attended many such
events in the past; and he himself is drawn inexorably to the
balcony from which Anjali “jumped” to her death. To cope
with these complicated emotions, Mr. Mitra buries the facts
of Anjali’s death beneath logistical considerations, like how
the priest will behave and what food will be served at the
shraddh ceremony. But he’s never able to fully banish her
suicide from his mind.
It's also notable that Mr. Mitra doesn’t know what Anjali’s
shraddh ceremony will look like. Describing the “priest” and
the “long tables” that usually characterize such gatherings,
the story implies that he has been to many shraddh
ceremonies in the past, and that there are certain customs
these events usually follow. Because they are so
predictable, these rituals provide a framework within which
people can process the cruelties of death and loss, which
can often seem random or unpredictable; in this sense, they
serve an important social purpose. However, shraddh
ceremonies seemingly aren’t equipped to handle situations
in which someone violates social taboos—as Anjali does
both by leaving her marriage and committing suicide.
Because of the shame and stigma surrounding Anjali’s
death, the ceremony ultimately loses much of its power to
soothe mourners. Ultimately, this quote is part of
Chaudhuri’s attempt to point out that while filling a very
real emotional need, rituals like the shraddh ceremony also
serve to enforce traditional social norms.
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They didn’t expect it would be a proper shraddh ceremony;
they didn’t think people would be fed. So Mrs. Mitra had
told the boy at home, firmly so as to impress her words upon
him, “We’ll be back by one o’clock! Cook the rice and keep the
daal and fish ready!” Without mentioning it clearly, they’d
decided they must go to the club afterward and get some
cookies for tea.
Related Characters: Mrs. Mitra (speaker), Mr. Mitra
Related Themes:
Page Number: 400
Explanation and Analysis
This brief flashback, in which Mr. Mitra recalls an exchange
with his wife earlier in the morning, is one of the few
moments in which “Real Time” deviates from its methodical
depiction of the couple’s journey to Anjali’s shraddh
ceremony. The passage contains several key details about
their socioeconomic status. Chaudhuri reveals here that Mr.
and Mrs. Mitra are wealthy enough to employ a servant to
cook for them in addition to their driver, Abdul, whom the
story has already introduced. They are also members of
some sort of private social club; many such institutions were
founded during the period of British control over India, and
they would have initially denied Indians like Mr. Mitra
membership. Their participation in the club now is another
marker not only of their wealth but of a social status that
provides access to exclusive spaces.
This passage also provides a quick glimpse into Mr. and Mrs.
Mitra’s marriage, which is often inscrutable. Mr. Mitra often
feels alienated from his wife and unsure what she’s thinking;
for her part, Mrs. Mitra rarely speaks, and the story
provides no access to her inner life, rendering her a remote
and enigmatic character. Already, when discussing whether
to buy flowers, Mr. Mitra has remarked that “his wife never
satisfied him,” suggesting a stark lack of emotional
connection. By contrast, in this passage, they’re able to
communicate and form agreement wordlessly—if only
about banal logistical matters, like getting cookies for tea.
Likewise, Mrs. Mitra’s sharp directions to the servant
constitute a form of care for her husband, who voices his
hunger repeatedly during the story; but she can only satisfy
his bodily needs, and never provides the kind of
companionship he seems to crave. Seemingly successful
marriages, Chaudhuri argues through this passage, are
often based on convenience and shared routine rather than
a strong emotional bond between two people.
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It was clear from the size of the cramped compound, with
the ceiling overhanging the porch only a few feet away
from the adjoining wall, that Nishant had been erected where
some older house once was, and which had been sold off to
property developers and contractors.
Related Characters: Mr. Mitra, Anjali, Gautam Poddar, Mr.
Talukdar, Nilima
Related Themes:
Page Number: 400
Explanation and Analysis
When Mr. Mitra arrives at Nishant, the apartment complex
where Anjali’s parents live, he looks around and registers
the relatively humble circumstances. The fact that the
building has been converted from a presumably gracious
single-family home to a “cramped” apartment block gives
the setting a sense of faded grandeur, and sets the stage for
the introduction of Anjali’s parents, a once-proud couple
(Mr. Mitra tells the reader that her father, Mr. Talukdar, once
held an important manufacturing job) who have now lost
their daughter to suicide and have to face the scrutiny and
judgment of their neighbors. It’s important that this passage
occurs shortly after Mr. Mitra recalls his wife instructing
their servant to have lunch waiting for them at home; these
two moments set up a subtle socioeconomic contrast
between the two families.
This passage is also important in light of Anjali’s decision to
leave her marriage and move back in with her parents
shortly before committing suicide. Previously, Mr. Mitra has
informed the reader that Anjali made an “appropriate”
marriage to Gautam Poddar, a man from a wealthy and
socially successful family. Now, with the Poddars’ “four-
storyed mansion” contrasted with Anjali’s parents’ small
home, that marriage seems even more advantageous. To
someone like Mr. Mitra, for whom upward mobility and
socioeconomic advancement are guiding principles, the
decision to leave that privileged lifestyle behind is irrational
and even destabilizing, since it calls his own values into
question. Anjali’s implicit challenge to Mr. Mitra’s way of life
helps explain why he feels so disturbed by her death,
despite not knowing her well during her life.
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He'd held some sort of important position in an old British
industrial company that had turned into a large public-
sector concern a decade after independence: British Steel,
renamed National Steel. He was now standing next to a
television set, whose convex screen was dusty, and talking to
someone.
Mr. Mitra seemed to remember that Mr. Talukdar had two sons
in America, and that the sons had children. But Anjali had no
children, and that might have made things worse for her.
Related Characters: Mr. Mitra, Anjali, Mr. Talukdar
Related Themes:
Page Number: 401
Explanation and Analysis
When Mr. Mitra finally arrives at the shraddh ceremony, he
doesn’t immediately find anyone to talk to; instead, he
stands on the sidelines studying Anjali’s father, Mr. Talukdar.
Mr. Mitra evidently doesn’t know Mr. Talukdar very well,
and the details he fixates upon have to do with the other
man’s class status: his job at National Steel makes him seem
professionally important, and his ability to send his two sons
abroad also testifies to his class and social status. Just as
before, when Mr. Mitra recited to himself the details of
Anjali’s advantageous marriage to Gautam Poddar, an
outsized focus on these biographical details prevents him
from having to confront deeper subjects (like the loss Mr.
Talukdar is experiencing right now). This aspect of Mr.
Mitra’s behavior also shows how much considerations of
class color his perception of others and his decisions about
how to relate to them.
Though “Real Time” doesn’t discuss politics explicitly
(Chaudhuri doesn’t even reveal exactly where and when this
story takes place), this passage also gestures at the
complicated reality of the postcolonial era in India.
Independence from Britain afforded new opportunities to
some educated middle-class Indians: Mr. Talukdar had a
career in an industry previously controlled by the British,
and Mr. Mitra has likewise enjoyed professional success and
access to institutions like private social clubs once closed to
Indians. Yet the era of independence is not a utopian one.
The presence of servants barely acknowledged by the main
characters is a constant reminder of stark wealth inequality
in the country; and while Anjali’s motivations for ending her
life are never revealed, the fact that she chose to end her
life rather than remain married to Gautam is a tacit
indictment of traditional gender norms still prevalent in
Indian culture. The dusty TV—an implement of modernity
now sitting unused and neglected—underscores the sense
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of stalled progress towards change in this story.
He felt bored; and he noticed a few others, too, some of
whom he knew, looking out of place. Shraddh ceremonies
weren’t right without their mixture of convivial pleasure and
grief; and he couldn’t feel anything as complete as grief. He’d
known Anjali slightly; how well do you know your wife’s distant
relations, after all? He’d known more about her academic
record, one or two charming anecdotes to do with her success
at school, her decent first-class degree, and about her husband,
Gautam Poddar, diversifying into new areas of business, than
about her.
Related Characters: Mr. Mitra, Mrs. Mitra, Anjali, Gautam
Poddar
Related Themes:
Page Number: 401
Explanation and Analysis
In this passage, Mr. Mitra is standing alone at the shraddh
ceremony, looking for someone to talk to, when he reflects
that he doesn’t really know about Anjali to talk about her
with the other mourners. It’s notable that Mr. Mitra points
out his own over-reliance on impersonal biographical
details—like Anjali’s “success at school” or Gautam’s “new
areas of business”—in forming his attitudes towards other
people. This is an unusual moment of self-awareness, but
Mr. Mitra doesn’t seem to realize that this outlook is
preventing him from forming emotional connections with
others; he just sees that it makes attending the ceremony
socially uncomfortable.
It’s also important that Mr. Mitra describes this shraddh
ceremony as being different from most such gatherings.
Even though the attendees are trying to behave like it’s “a
normal case of bereavement,” as Mrs. Mitra puts it earlier in
the story, they are markedly ill at ease. Just like Mr. Mitra,
everyone else seems to think that the gathering doesn’t
quite suffice to mark a death as upsetting as this one. In
passages like this, Chaudhuri points out the ways that
traditional rituals like this one both provide a “convivial
pleasure” that mediates the experience of grief, and prevent
people from grappling with events that violate social taboos,
like suicide.
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Below him was a porch to the left, and the driveway, which
seemed quite close. A young woman, clearly not a
maidservant, was hanging towels from the railing in one of the
balconies opposite.
Did it happen here? He looked at the woman attach clips to
another towel. Apparently those who always threaten to, don’t.
Related Characters: Mr. Mitra, Anjali
Related Themes:
Page Number: 402
Explanation and Analysis
The climax of “Real Time” occurs when Mr. Mitra finally
steps onto the balcony from which Anjali presumably
jumped to her death. In this passage, he stands at the railing,
looking out at the driveway and the balconies of
neighboring apartment buildings. The fact that Mr. Mitra
feels inexorably drawn to this balcony shows that he feels
deeply unsettled by Anjali’s death, even though he’s not
close to her and says that he has trouble accessing emotions
like grief; this passage’s location near the end of “Real Time”
suggests that this moment is the story’s emotional heart.
At the same time, Mr. Mitra remains distracted by trivial
details that prevent him from accessing any emotional
insight. In this case, he describes the view from the balcony
and the architecture of the nearby apartments before
admitting to himself that he came out here to see where
Anjali committed suicide. Likewise, he’s transfixed by the
young woman hanging out her laundry; his remark that
she’s “clearly not a maidservant” suggests that she’s a
housewife who can’t afford to hire her own servant. This
observation heightens the socioeconomic contrast between
the prosperous Mr. Mitra and the residents of this
neighborhood, including Anjali’s parents. Mr. Mitra’s
inability to put aside his class awareness for even a moment
of contemplation is one of the story’s most tragic elements.
He had a vaguely unsatisfying feeling, as if the last half
hour had lacked definition.
Once inside the car, he said to his wife, “I don’t know about you,
but I’m quite ravenous.”
Related Characters: Mr. Mitra (speaker), Mrs. Mitra, Anjali
Related Themes:
Page Number: 402
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Explanation and Analysis definition,” he acknowledges that traditional mourning

This final passage of “Real Time” occurs when Mr. Mitra and
Mrs. Mitra are finally leaving the shraddh ceremony to
return home. Notably, the story starts and ends with similar
descriptions of Mr. Mitra’s discontent; at the beginning he
remarks that his wife “never satisfied him when he needed
her most,” and here he references a “vaguely unsatisfying
feeling.” These similar phrases connect Mr. Mitra’s
emotional distance from his wife to his broader sense of
loneliness in society, and suggest that the problem lies not
with his particular marriage, but with enforced social norms
that prevent people from accessing their deepest emotions.
In this passage, Mr. Mitra finally has to face the fact that the
shraddh ceremony isn’t helping anyone process grief over
Anjali’s death. Admitting that “the last half hour had lacked
rituals aren’t adequate in situations like this one, in which
Anjali has violated social norms by committing suicide. In
owning up to his dissatisfaction here, Mr. Mitra comes
closer to real emotional insight than at any other moment in
the story.
However, he immediately chooses to banish that unsettling
insight by focusing on trivial bodily issues like hunger, just as
he has throughout the story. Resuming a banal conversation
with Mrs. Mitra on the drive home and focusing on their
next meal, Mr. Mitra signals that he’s not going let the
experience of the shraddh ceremony change him in any way.
Rather, the story suggests, he will continue to rely on the
shared routines of his marriage, tedious though they may
be, for comfort and security.

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SUMMARY AND ANAL
ANALYSIS
YSIS
The color-coded icons under each analysis entry make it easy to track where the themes occur most prominently throughout the
work. Each icon corresponds to one of the themes explained in the Themes section of this LitChart.
REAL TIME
Mr. Mitra and Mrs. Mitra, an upper middle class Indian couple,
are driving to an event. Mr. Mitra tells the driver, Abdul, to stop
near a market, and asks his wife if they should buy flowers.
Mrs. Mitra initially tells him to do whatever he wants; but when
Mr. Mitra presses her for an answer, she tells him to do
whatever is appropriate for “a normal case of bereavement.”
Mr. Mitra buys a bouquet of tuberoses, bargaining with the
florist over the price and ignoring a street child on his way back
to the car. He feels hot and wishes he hadn’t worn shoes with
socks.
Back in the car, Mr. Mitra asks Mrs. Mitra, “Why did she do it?”
His wife doesn’t answer. Silently, Mr. Mitra reflects on the few
facts he knows about his wife’s relative Anjali, the subject of his
earlier question: She studied history at Calcutta University and
then married Gautam Poddar, a wealthy man with a
distinguished family and large mansion. Recently, Anjali has
committed suicide by jumping from a third-floor balcony. Mr.
Mitra wonders how Anjali’s family will handle the shraddh
ceremony, or mourning gathering, given that the circumstances
of her death are so shocking.
Abdul stops to ask a man on the street for directions. Looking
curiously at Mr. Mitra and Mrs. Mitra, the man points them to
the right, and they drive down a lane of single-family houses for
five minutes before stopping to ask for directions again. A
teenager points them in the other direction. Frustrated, Mr.
Mitra asks his wife why she doesn’t know where her relatives
live. Mrs. Mitra says that she has only visited them a few times,
most recently a couple years ago.
In a brief flashback, Mr. Mitra remembers seeing the
announcement of Anjali’s death in the newspaper 10 days ago.
The announcement was followed by a longer obituary and then
an advertisement for the shraddh ceremony. Because Anjali
committed suicide, the Mitras assume that her family won’t
offer food, and before leaving home they tell their servant to
have daal and fish ready when they get back. Without
discussing it out loud, the Mitras agree that they’re going to
stop at their club and the market to get cookies on the way
back.
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From the fact that Mr. Mitra and Mrs. Mitra employ a driver, the
reader can infer that the couple belong to the upper middle class.
Yet by bargaining with the vendor over the flowers, Mr. Mitra shows
he’s highly attuned to money and how much things cost. Mrs.
Mitra’s instructions on buying flowers hint that the couple are on
the way to some kind of mourning gathering, and that there’s
something unusual about the death in question, without fully
clueing the reader in to what that is.
Mr. Mitra’s unanswered question to his wife establishes a pattern in
their relationship. The couple can only speak freely to each other
about logistical issues (like the purchase of the flowers). When it
comes to emotional matters, like Anjali’s disturbing death, they
completely fail to connect. Unable to find companionship with his
wife, Mr. Mitra displaces feelings of confusion or disturbance over
Anjali’s shocking death by focusing on if and how her family will
observe traditional mourning rituals.
The fact that Mr. Mitra and Mrs. Mitra can’t easily find their way
suggests that Anjali and her family are distant relatives; they’re
attending this mourning ceremony out of a desire to be polite and
maintain social norms, not because of a close emotional connection
to the bereaved.
Mr. Mitra has already stated that he’s hungry, and will continue to
dwell on his hunger and physical discomfort throughout the story.
Much like the trivial small talk that defines all conversations in this
story (including those between Mr. and Mrs. Mitra), this focus on
mundane bodily concerns allows characters to distract themselves
from the social rupture caused by Anjali’s death.
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Mr. Mitra wonders to himself if one of the usual rituals
observed at a shraddh—leaving a ball of dough outside for a
crow to eat—will take place today. Traditionally, the crow
symbolizes the soul of the dead person, but since Anjali’s soul
has “made its own exit,” Mr. Mitra believes it would be strange
to carry out the ritual. Abdul stops again to ask a watchman for
directions, and they finally arrive at the apartment building
where Anjali’s parents live.
The apartment building stands in a “cramped” courtyard. Mr.
Mitra surmises that it was hastily built by “property developers
and contractors” on the site of an older and more spacious
house. Mr. and Mrs. Mitra take the elevator in silence and take
off their shoes before entering the apartment. They are
greeted tersely by Mr. Talukdar, Anjali’s father, who accepts the
flowers and points out his wife, Nilima, who is sitting on a
mattress in the corner. Mr. Mitra notices the time on the clock
on a shelf. He recalls that Mr. Talukdar once held “some sort of
important position” in a British industrial company that was
nationalized after Indian independence. He has two sons and
grandchildren in America, while Anjali had no children.
Looking around at the gathering, Mr. Mitra recognizes a man he
knows professionally. Normally, shraddh ceremonies are
bustling and noisy, but this one carries a sense of
“pointlessness,” since no one is willing to acknowledge the
circumstances of Anjali’s death. Mr. Mitra watches his wife
talking quietly to Nilima, and sees Mr. Talukdar answer the
phone while talking to another group of people. He feels
hungry and bored, especially since he knows much more about
Anjali’s husband Gautam and his success at business than
about her.
A servant offers Mr. Mitra a sandesh, or sweet cake. Mr. Mitra
accepts the cake and also takes a bottle of soda, looking for one
that is warm and won’t aggravate his incipient sore throat.
Suddenly he runs into an acquaintance from his club, Mr.
Sarbadhikari. They talk about the latest news in their
companies, and debate whether civil engineering has a viable
future as a profession. In their reluctance to acknowledge the
reason for the gathering, they move hastily “from subject to
subject.” Finally, Mr. Sarbadhikari says that “all this coke has
swollen my bladder” and departs for the bathroom.
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Mr. Mitra’s inability to imagine what the shraddh ceremony will look
like when the cause of death is suicide shows how traditional rituals
are limited in their ability to help people navigate complicated
events like suicide. Abdul’s conversation with the watchman
illustrates the presence of servants throughout this landscape, even
though Mr. and Mrs. Mitra aren’t really paying attention to them,
which also underscores the couple’s comparatively elevated class
status.
Mr. Mitra’s negative observation about the apartment building
suggests that his own house is nicer, and thus that he is wealthier
than Anjali’s parents; these class distinctions are always present for
Mr. Mitra and shape his outlook, even if he doesn’t state them
explicitly. The cramped apartment building also contrasts with the
wealthy Gautam’s family mansion. Abandoning her advantageous
marriage to live with her parents in comparatively humble
circumstances, Anjali has violated social norms and disregarded the
social imperative to strive for upward mobility even before she
commits suicide.
The “pointlessness” of the gathering emphasizes that this traditional
ceremony seemingly cannot help people mourn or process their grief
when the circumstances of death are abnormal and taboo. Mr.
Mitra’s distant vantage point as he watches Mrs. Mitra talk to
Nilima emphasizes his emotional remove from his wife, and hints
that she might have feelings about Anjali, or a perspective on her
death, that she isn’t sharing with her husband.
While the sight of his wife having a conversation that excludes him
may be somewhat destabilizing to Mr. Mitra, he’s able to displace
those feelings almost immediately by a renewed focus on satisfying
his hunger and thirst. It’s no coincidence that Mr. Sarbadhikari
appears just as Mr. Mitra is thinking about physical discomfort; the
banal small talk in which the two men engage is linked to the trivial
nature of Mr. Mitra’s inner monologue, both phenomena fueling
each other and preventing him from grappling with deeper
emotions.
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Mr. Mitra goes onto the balcony, where two women are
discussing shopping. He sees a young woman, “clearly not a
maidservant,” hanging laundry on the balcony of a nearby
apartment. He wonders if this is the balcony from which Anjali
jumped to her death. He has heard on the grapevine that
before her death Anjali, who had previously left Gautam
several times, decided to do so for good and moved in with her
parents. Reportedly, Mr. Talukdar and Nilima had been
unsympathetic to her situation.
Mr. Mitra returns inside and goes to use the bathroom,
signaling to Mrs. Mitra that they should leave soon. He studies
the decorative objects in the bathroom, like an air freshener
and storage box printed with flowers. He feels gripped by a
feeling of dissatisfaction, “as if the last half hour had lacked
definition.” Once he and Mrs. Mitra are back in the car, he
remarks to her that he is “quite ravenous.”
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In this moment, Mr. Mitra comes close to feeling real grief about
Anjali’s death and the difficult circumstances of her marriage that
might have influenced her decision to end her life. But even at this
crucial moment, he’s distracted by a class consideration: noting that
the woman hanging laundry is “clearly not a maidservant,” Mr. Mitra
implies that Anjali’s parents live among people who can’t afford to
hire servants, and perhaps do not employ any themselves. Mr.
Mitra’s acute attention to class distinctions contrasts with his
inability to focus on emotional concerns for any sustained period of
time.
The fake flowers in the bathroom recall the real flowers Mr. Mitra
brought to the shraddh ceremony. In both cases, the flowers serve to
uphold social norms and propriety, without actually helping people
process complex emotions like grief. While his experience in the
bathroom unnerves him, Mr. Mitra takes comfort in the quotidian
rituals he shares with his wife and the lunch they will soon enjoy at
home; their final exchange suggests that their marriage is upheld not
through emotional connection, but through shared routine and
convenience.
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To cite any of the quotes from Real Time covered in the Quotes
HOW T
TO
O CITE section of this LitChart:
To cite this LitChart: MLA
MLA Chaudhuri, Amit. Real Time. Cambridge University Press. 2018.
Connelly, Irene. "Real Time." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 7 Mar 2024. CHICA
CHICAGO
GO MANU
MANUAL
AL
Web. 7 Mar 2024.
Chaudhuri, Amit. Real Time. Cambridge: Cambridge University
CHICA
CHICAGO
GO MANU
MANUAL
AL Press. 2018.
Connelly, Irene. "Real Time." LitCharts LLC, March 7, 2024.
Retrieved March 7, 2024. https://www.litcharts.com/lit/real-time.

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