“Forty-five rupees a month” is a short story that comes from India. I found this story in a book called Malgudi Days by R.K Narayan. “Malgudi” is an imaginary town in South India. The stories are made up to some extent, but they are very realistic so that you believe that the problems introduced in the stories are problems which you face in your typical lives. This particular story gives a very realistic insight about a middle class family in India. The summary of this story is, a little girl named Shanta excitedly leaves school early so that she can go to the movies for the first time with her father. She gets ready and waits for her father to arrive at five o'clock. When he doesn’t come on time, she wanders into town and gets lost in the small streets. Luckily, a servant of her neighbor finds her and takes her back home. Meanwhile, at her father’s office, her father, VenkatRao, reflects on the mistakes he has committed by ignoring his daughter for work and money. He makes up his mind that he will definitely resign from his position if his boss won’t let him go by five o’clock from the office. But work keeps him till eight o’clock and then he decides to go to his boss to resign. His boss though, tells him that in a recent meeting, the officials have decided to increase the salary to forty-five rupees a month from forty rupees a month. Upon hearing this, VenkatRao quickly decides to hide the resignation letter and goes back home without another word. When he reaches home at nine o’clock, he goes straight to check on his daughter. His heart deeply aches when he sees his daughter sleeping without removing her pretty frock and makeup she put on for going to the movies. But when VenkatRao tries to wake his daughter up, she gets irritated and kicks her father. So her father just sighs and retires to sleep. The overall message of this story is that people these days need to pay more attention to their own family and people around them rather than just run after money by stressing work. Spending time with families are just as important as supporting families by working long hours for work. The most pathetic thing in this story is that VenkatRao quotes in his reflection, “If the manager couldn’t, it would be more honourable to die of starvation.” Still, VenkatRao backs down when he finds out that his salary will be increased. If he was so passionate about quitting his job for his one and only daughter, then he would have done so even if his boss agreed to give him even more than forty-five rupees. And on the other hand, from Shanta’s side of the story, her father had promised and threatened to scold Shanta if she didn’t get ready on time for going to the movies. Instead of Shanta being late, her father never showed up and abandoned his daughter for money. So in this perspective, her father must have lost some of her respect for him by breaking a promise. The part of the story where Shanta doesn’t remove her dress while sleeping signifies that Shanta, innocently, waits for her father to keep his promise. So, in conclusion, people won’t have time for their family till they give up some of their precious money.