Summary of Thirty Days in
September by Mahesh Dattani
Mahesh
Dattani’s Thirty Days in September is a powerful psychological drama
that exposes the long-term trauma of child sexual abuse and consequence.
The play revolves around Mala Khatri, her mother Shanta, and her uncle
(Shanta’s brother). Through a series of therapy sessions, flashbacks, and
confrontations, Dattani portrays how silence, guilt, and denial destroy lives,
and how confronting truth becomes the only way to healing.
Act I
The
play opens with Mala’s conversation with her counsellor. She introduces
herself hesitantly, unsure of her identity and burdened with guilt. She blames
herself for everything that happened to her as a child, repeatedly saying “It
must be my fault.” This recorded conversation sets the tone of her fractured
psyche and self-blame.
The
action shifts to Mala’s relationship with Deepak, a sincere young man
who loves her but cannot understand her emotional instability. Mala often
engages in short-term affairs—each lasting about thirty days—before feeling
disgusted and leaving. Deepak urges her to seek professional help, suggesting
she might need psychiatric support.
Meanwhile,
Shanta, her deeply religious mother, lives in denial, taking refuge in
prayers to Krishna instead of addressing the past. She avoids any confrontation
with painful realities.
A
key scene introduces Deepak visiting Shanta when Mala is away. He wants
to understand Mala’s behavior and help her heal. Shanta initially hesitates to
talk, fearing her daughter’s anger, but gradually opens up. She reveals Mala’s
pattern of lies and restlessness but defends her fiercely, claiming she only
prays for her daughter’s happiness.
As
their conversation progresses, Shanta receives a terrifying phone call from
Mala, realizing that Mala has discovered Deepak’s visit. The moment is
filled with panic—indicating Mala’s fragile emotional state and the tension
between mother and daughter.
Act
I ends with Mala’s haunting recorded confession: she believes she was “born
that way,” destined for suffering and abuse. Her voice fades into guilt and
silence, while her mother continues her prayers—symbolizing the unspoken trauma
between them.
Act II
Act
II begins in the counsellor’s office again. Mala is now calmer and more
self-aware, indicating progress in her therapy. She speaks confidently, using
her full name—Mala Khatri—and declares that she has nothing to hide
anymore. The turning point comes when she says, “It wasn’t my fault,” showing
her movement toward healing and empowerment.
Her
taped voice from earlier sessions interweaves with the live dialogue, revealing
the root of her trauma: sexual abuse by her uncle when she was a child.
She had internalized guilt for years, that she was “born bad.” The therapist’s
sessions help her recognize that she was a victim, not the cause.
Mala
describes her new sense of freedom—how she can finally feel sensations, enjoy
life, and love Deepak genuinely. However, her peace is disturbed when she
learns that her uncle is returning to Delhi to stay with them.
The Return of the Uncle
In
a tense domestic scene, Shanta and Mala sit nervously as they await the uncle’s
arrival. Shanta, unaware of the depth of Mala’s trauma, insists that he is a
good man who has helped them financially after Mala’s father left. It is
revealed that the money they had received for years was from the uncle,
not from Mala’s estranged father. Shanta had lied to protect her daughter from
more pain, never realizing that the very man who supported them was her
daughter’s abuser.
The
uncle enters, bringing an envelope—the title deed of their flat—as a
“gift” to his sister. He claims he wants to ensure their security and proposes
that after Mala’s marriage to Deepak, he will use her room whenever he visits
Delhi. Mala interprets this gesture as an attempt to “buy silence” from both
women.
The
situation erupts into confrontation. Mala accuses her mother of knowing
about the abuse all along but choosing to remain silent. She recounts the
horrifying memories: the uncle locking her in the bedroom every day for
“fifteen minutes” during summer holidays—fifteen minutes that ruined her entire
life. Shanta breaks down but continues to deny complete awareness, insisting
she “forgot” or “did not understand.”
The Mother’s Silence
In
a shattering monologue, Mala recalls how every time she tried to speak, her
mother would feed her alu parathas to silence her pain. Food became a
substitute for comfort and a symbol of avoidance. She screams at her mother for
praying to God while ignoring her suffering, yelling, “You were never there for
me! You were too busy praying!”
The
confrontation escalates as Mala demands her mother to remember. Shanta,
cornered and trembling, finally confesses the truth of her own childhood
trauma. She reveals that she too had been abused by the same brother
when she was only six years old. For ten years, she endured the same pain and
silence. Her way of coping had been through suppression—by becoming numb,
prayerful, and mute.
In
a moment of emotional collapse, Shanta says that her “tongue was cut off years
ago” — she had lost the ability to speak out against injustice. Overwhelmed
with guilt, she grabs a shard of glass from the broken picture of Krishna and injures
herself. Mala rushes to her side, crying and holding her mother as Deepak
calls for help.
The
play circles back to the opening scene in the counsellor’s office. Mala now speaks
with calm dignity. It is February 29th, 2004—a symbolic “extra day” that
she calls her Freedom Day. Her abuser is dead. She declares she will
celebrate the day with her husband Deepak. Her tone is one of triumph and
emotional release.
In
a deeply moving closing monologue, Mala speaks directly to her mother in the
temple:
“It
just isn’t easy to forget. But it doesn’t matter. He as a person is not
important anymore. While I accused you of not recognizing my pain, I never
recognized yours.”
The
play ends with Mala kneeling beside Shanta in prayer, saying, “It’s not your
fault, mother. Just as it wasn’t my fault.” Shanta continues her prayers
silently, but Mala rests her head in her lap, symbolizing reconciliation and
the first step toward generational healing.
I. Answer the following in two or three sentences
1. What social taboo does Dattani confront in the
play?
Mahesh
Dattani confronts the taboo of child sexual
abuse within the family—a subject often silenced and ignored in Indian
society. He exposes how victims are forced into guilt and secrecy, while
society avoids acknowledging such crimes to maintain family honour.
2. Why did Shanta
neglect Mala's complaint?
Shanta
neglected Mala’s complaint because she herself had been a victim of her brother’s abuse in childhood
and had chosen silence as a means of survival. Her deep psychological
repression and dependence on religious faith prevented her from accepting the
truth about her daughter’s suffering.
3. Where did Mala meet
Deepak for the first time?
Mala
met Deepak for the first time at a friend’s
party. They were immediately drawn to each other and soon began a
relationship, which later revealed Mala’s emotional conflicts and her inability
to sustain love due to her past trauma.
4. Why is Mala ready to
reveal her name?
Mala
is ready to reveal her real name because she has overcome her guilt and shame. After years of therapy,
she realizes that the abuse was not her fault and that her abuser should be the
one to hide in shame, not her.
5. How did Mala react
to the questions posed by Deepak?
Mala
reacts with anger, fear, and confusion
to Deepak’s questions. She finds it difficult to trust him or express her true
feelings. Her emotional instability reflects her inner trauma and her fear of
intimacy caused by years of abuse and betrayal.
II. Answer the following in about 100 words each
1. What is the central theme of the play?
The
central theme of Thirty Days in September
is child sexual abuse and its lifelong
psychological effects on victims. Mahesh Dattani explores the deep
emotional scars left by incest, guilt, and societal silence. The play also
highlights the cycle of denial
that passes from one generation to another, as seen in Mala and her mother,
Shanta. Through the process of confession and therapy, the play emphasizes that
healing begins only when silence is
broken and the truth is confronted with courage and compassion.
2. Discuss the
significance of the title "Thirty Days in September".
The
title Thirty Days in September
symbolizes Mala’s recurring pattern of
short-lived relationships, each lasting for thirty days before she
ends them. It reflects her inability to form lasting emotional bonds due to her
traumatic past. The number also signifies the cyclic nature of her pain and guilt, which repeats every
month like the days of September. At a deeper level, the title suggests the limited period of her control over
relationships and the temporary escape she finds before the memories of abuse
return to haunt her.
3. Comment on the
importance of the mother–daughter relationship in the play.
The
relationship between Shanta and Mala lies at the heart of the play. Both women
are victims of the same man—Shanta’s brother—but are bound by silence, guilt, and misunderstanding.
Shanta’s denial of Mala’s suffering deepens her daughter’s trauma, while Mala’s
anger stems from her mother’s failure to protect her. In the end, when both
realize their shared pain, their mutual
understanding and forgiveness begin the healing process. The
relationship symbolizes generational
trauma and reconciliation through truth.
4. Analyze the
character of Mala Khatri.
Mala
Khatri is the protagonist of the play—a modern,
successful, yet emotionally broken woman. Outwardly confident, she
carries deep scars of childhood sexual abuse by her uncle. Her self-destructive
pattern of brief affairs shows her struggle for the control of personal life.
Through therapy and support from Deepak, she gradually learns to accept that
she was a victim, not the cause of her suffering. By the end of the play, Mala
emerges as a symbol of courage and
healing, reclaiming her identity and self-worth.
III.
Answer the following in about 300 words each
1. Thirty Days in September addresses the issue
of societal silence around sexual abuse. Comment.
Mahesh
Dattani’s Thirty Days in September boldly
confronts one of the most suppressed issues in Indian society,sexual
abuse within the family. The play exposes how victims are silenced by
guilt, fear, and the pressure to protect the honor of the family. Through the
story of Mala and her mother, Shanta, Dattani shows how silence becomes a
weapon of oppression, forcing generations to live with hidden trauma.
Mala’s
uncle abuses her when she was a child, but the real tragedy lies in her
mother’s refusal to acknowledge it. Shanta’s silence is not just ignorance but
a continuation of her own trauma; she too was abused by the same man when she
was a child. This cycle of silence and
denial becomes a central theme of the play.
Dattani’s
use of therapy sessions, recorded tapes,
and fragmented memories reveals the psychological depth of abuse and
the struggle to articulate it. The counsellor’s unseen presence symbolizes
society’s need to listen, while the tapes represent the process of speaking the
unspeakable.
Through
Mala’s journey—from shame and confusion to empowerment—Dattani urges society to
break the silence surrounding sexual
abuse. The play calls for empathy, awareness, and open dialogue
instead of denial. It insists that confronting truth, however painful, is the
first step toward freedom. In doing so, Dattani transforms a private trauma
into a public call for social awakening.
2. Elaborate on the
role of memory in the play. How does the play use dramatic devices to convey
its message?
Memory
plays a crucial role in Thirty Days in
September, functioning as both a source
of pain and a path to healing. The entire play revolves around Mala’s
fragmented recollections of childhood abuse and her gradual confrontation with
those buried memories. Each remembered moment brings her closer to
understanding herself and the root of her suffering.
Dattani
uses powerful dramatic devices
to represent the working of memory. The recorded counselling sessions,
flashbacks, and overlapping dialogues recreate the disjointed rhythm of trauma. The use of lighting and stage areas such as the
prayer room, the counsellor’s space, and the living room symbolizes different
layers of memory and repression.
The
recurring image of the broken portrait of
Krishna reflects shattered faith and the illusion of purity within the
family. The taped voice of Mala from the past contrasts sharply with her
confident present self, showing her emotional transformation.
Through
these devices, Dattani portrays memory not just as a recollection of events but
as a process of rediscovery and
liberation.