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by Shashi Deshpande
Published in the USA in June 1999 by Feminist Press, ISBN: 1558612149 First edition: Penguin Books India, 1996, ISBN 0-14-026390-X |
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In her latest book, A Matter of Time, Shashi Deshpande, one of the foremost writers of today's India, scales new heights. Very Indian in its foundation, the core of the book is built around the question of what a man does when he is disenchanted with the material world. One of the paths such people could take was paved ages ago - nobody knows when actually - when sage Yajnavalkya told his wife, "Maitreyi, verily I am about to go forth from this state (of householder)" - as told in the Brihadarnyaka Upanishad. Such going forth has nothing to do with the wife, her beauty, her youth, or any similar quality of her wifeliness. It also has nothing to do with Vishwas, trust (or the lack of it) a husband/wife has in the other. The need springs from the inside, from recognising the effervescence of the world around oneself. According to the Brihadarnyaka Upanishad, Maitriyi on hearing that declaration of her husband, discussed with him the reasons for his going away, and argued with him whether that path was also not hers to take. The Maitreyi of Brihadarnyaka Upanishad was free to renounce the world, and to go on a spiritual quest of her own. That special moment of Maitreyi's life forms the ground on which Shashi Deshpande builds her book. The novel starts with the description of the house, called Vishwas. Unfortunately there is no Vishwas (Trust) between Shripati and Kalyani, the couple who live in that big house. In that house silent reigns. The husband has not talked to the wife for nearly two decades, the reason behind which is revealed only towards the end of the novel. In a beautiful manner Deshpande brings to life the structure of the house and the various trees and bushes that grow in its garden. The schizophrenic character of the house and its garden underline the schizophrenic nature of its inhabitants. The bougainvillaea has become a monster parasite clinging passionately to its neighbour, the akash mallige, cutting deep groves in its trunk, as if intent on strangulating it. But high above, the two flower together amicably ... This image mirrors what happens in many marriages, the husband and wife depending on each other, merging their personalities into each other's, not realizing that each is strangulating the other. Under those circumstances it takes a lot of insight, and courage to break out of this vice like grip called marriage. One of the most important thoughts expressed by Deshpande in "A Matter of Time" is, that destiny is just us, and therefore inescapable , because we can never escape ourselves... Gopal tries in a sense to escape his destiny, not to follow the path he himself had chalked out when he married Sumi. To him it was not fate that had ordained his marrying Sumi. He married Sumi because he met her. At that time it was the right decision, the only possible decision. But it did not have to be right permanently. This breaking himself free from the bondage of marriage and family is what Gopal attempts. The entire book revolves around the questions why Gopal walked out of his marriage, and how the rest - Sumi , his beautiful wife, Aru, Charu and Seema, his three daughters, and Kalyani, his mother-in-law cope with his decision. Sumi accepts Gopal's decision stoically. That she really does not understand Gopal or the desperation which drove him to take that step is shown in her thinking, "If I meet Gopal I will ask him one question ... What is it, Gopal, I will ask him, that makes a man in this age of acquisition and possession walk out on his family and all that he owns?" Still Sumi wants to get on with the business of living. It is as if her love for the young man whom she had come to know as a tenant of their outhouse had died during their marriage a natural death. It is as if in life love is not so important compared to the task of living. On Gopal's desertion, Sumi returns with her daughters to her parents' house, tries to find another place to live, gives up the idea, finds a job, finding thereby a new purpose in living. The seventeen year old Aru, the eldest of the three daughters, wants to fight, wants to prove to her father the injustice of depriving them all of a coherent family life. Naively Aru believes that she only has to fight and that justice will be granted to her. She argues with him, she goads her mother into fighting, she even consults a lawyer. None of these steps bring her any success. Charu, the middle one of the three daughters immerses herself in her studies. Her sole aim now in life is to get admission to the medical college. Becoming self centred she succeeds to a certain extent in shielding herself from the painful darts which hurt Aru. Kalyani is at first heart broken at the fate which befalls her daughter, Sumi. Kalyani whose husband has not spoken to her for decades, but lives alone in a room in the top floor of the big house, does not understand how a husband can physically desert her young wife, and family. When she visits Gopal she tries to find out what Sumi did which drove Gopal to that decision? Has anyone poisoned his mind against Sumi? Has she done something wrong? Can't he forgive her? Is it money? "If it is," she tells him, "you know that Sumi and you will have everything of mine ..." This desperation of Kalyani in searching for reasons is pathetic and shows that even after the bitter experience she has had with her husband, she is no where near understanding how a human mind works. Pages: 1 - 2 |