|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
|
by Manas Publications |
|
The Lackadaisical Sweeper, published in 1997, is the first collection of short stories in English by Gauri Deshpande. Deshpande is a well-known Marathi writer and translator. She has published poems, essays, short stories in both Marathi and English. A Maharashtrian friend told me yesterday that when Gauri Deshpande's writings started appearing her bold and untraditional themes took the Marathi literary scene by storm. This collection contains a few stories written originally in English and a couple of stories translated from Marathi. There is an afterword by R. Raja Rao. The stories deal with various and widely differing themes - but the main theme is the trails Indians living abroad face. This is the background of the title story,"The Lackadaisical Sweeper", of "Hello, Stranger!", "Whatever Happened to", "Rose Jam", "Dmitri in the Afternoon", etc. The travails faced by foreigners - Americans coming to India is important too as in the story, "The Debt". "Insy Winsy Spider" is a delightful story set in India. A couple of stories - "Map" and "Brand New Pink Nikes" deal with the inner feelings of women. "Map" is a ground breaking story in its honesty and openness. The stories in the collection are of uneven standard. A couple of them are extremely good, but quiet of few of them leave little impression. The story I loved most is "Insy Winsy Spider". It has a simple plot, yet asks a profound question. Deshpande's protagonist asks "What are 'we', when we are 'we'?". She comes to the conclusion that though such a question can be answered negatively by saying what 'we' are not, it is really almost impossible to find out what 'we' are. Vishalakshi is a woman who knows her mind. When her father thinks of finding her a husband now that she has got her B.A. degree, she opts to do an M.A. in philosophy - Buddhist philosophy, even though at that time she does not know whether in Hinayana or Mahayana. Vishalakshi goes on to do M. Phil, on "Some Problems About the Concept of Self in Hinayana Philosophy", begins to teach, falls in love with another teacher of philosophy and marries him. A daughter, Maitreyi, is also born. As house keeping has never been the first thing on her agenda, she decides that she does not 'have time to pick over finicky, dainty vegetables', and serves potatoes and doodhi alternatively. Intellectual activities are much more important to her than mopping and washing up. Everything is under control till Maitreyi, who is not yet eighteen, and has not even finished her B.A. degree announces one evening at the dining table that she plans to get married. What a disaster to strike such an academic family! When the mother confronts the daughter as to what she wants to do with her life, which she can fashion in any way she wants to, she answers, "I don't want to do 'anything else', Aai. I just want to get married and look after my home and family." What a slap in the face for the mother who has devoted all her life to 'higher' thinking! The mother has assumed till now that it that the daughter would naturally follow her example of how life should be lived, of what things are of genuine value in life. And the daughter has quietly decided that she is quite different from her mother. She knows that 'she' is 'she and is certain that she is not her mother. A profound knowledge that seems to evade mothers, rather parents, in general! |