Chapter - 1 : Section-A 1- Introduction:- (A) Arundhati Roy-A Luminous Star and The God of Small Things | as Her Magnum Opus.Itrduction- hd Ry - Alii SatIntroduction: Arundhati Roy-A Luminous Star ‘T had an unprotected childhood .. . Two things happen. You grow up quickly and when you become an adult there is a part of you that remains a child. So the communication between remains open.” (The Weak -p. 47) ‘Arundhati Roy, a legend, created a microcosm that encompasses life. Suzanna Arundhati Roy was born on the 24% November, 1961 in Shilong. She was the child of a marriage between a Christian woman from Kerala and a Bengali Hindu tea-planter. Her mother, Mary Roy was also a well known social activist and reformist. Her early childhood was spent at a village, Ayemenem (Aymanam), a few kilometers from Kottayam town in central Kerala. Just after a few years of her birth, her father, the tea-planter divorced his wife. Thus, ‘Arundhati Roy had suffered the pangs of broken home of separated parents. After the separation of her parents, the little child Arundhati had to come back to Ayemenem with her mother. Her mother, Mary Roy, not only broke the tradition by marrying a Bengali and then divorcing him, but also created a history by fighting the provisions of the Christian Succession Act and in this connection, she, even, went to the Supreme Court. The favourable ruling allowed Christian women an equal share with their male siblings in their father's property. During her childhood Arundhati spent most of her time in the pickle factory. She became a formidable curry powder packer and pickle label sticker. She was essentially an extra-ordinary genius who used to devote to the studies heart and soul:—Introduction: Arundhati Roy~A Luminous Star “Arundhati is a born talker and a born writer. While she was studying in our school it was a problem to find a teacher who could cope with her voracious appetite for reading and writing. Most of the time she educated herself I can remember our Vice ~ Principal Sneha Zakaria resorting to Shakespeare's Tempest as a text for this little fourth grader.” (Mary, p. 26.) Lalit Kumar Christopher Roy, the brother of Arundhati Roy, is also of the opinion that Arundhati was a very good student, an athlete and an orator. At the age of eighteen, she went New Delhi for higher education. She joined the Delhi School of Architecture. She had to spend her life in utter penury there too. In the second year, she was requested by her family (for perfectly understandable reasons) not to return home to Kerala. This gave a great shock to her young, gentle mind. She took a room, which was tin-shaded at Feroz Sha Kotla. She had to make a living by flogging empty beer bottles. In an interview, she gave a flash back to her past life: — ‘T used to live in Candolim on the beach. My boy friend was Goan, he’s a very well known architect now, we hired a little house on the beach. We used to bake cake and sell them. I did that for six to seven months, and then I got sick to the gills ofIntroduction: Arundhati Roy~A Luminous Star tourists and these kinds of hippies who pretended they were all stoned flower children and were actually completely ‘Kanjoos’ and money minded. After that I remember, a friend of mine had given me a gold ring some years ago and I went and sold it to a fruit juice wallah and got enough money to come back. So I left Gerard and came back to Delhi. It was Just about enough money to rent a barsati in West Nizamuddin, I never earned enough for the whole month- from the last week of the month I'd borrowed 100/- rupees from a friend and as soon as I got my pay I paid him back.” (City -p. 24) When she was still in the Delhi School of Architecture some of the circumstances moulded her life in effective way. She was never given a hostel. Next to the school of Architecture, there was a refugee colony, where the mess manager of the canteen had a shack, which he rented to Roy and her boy friend. In course of time, she topped the class in her thesis and took her degree, but she didn’t practice. In other words, from the age of about 17 to 25, she had absolutely no anchor. She had been even asked to leave home by her family again she recalls:— “So we were living in this sort of bubble of complete anarchy. There was nobody to tell me what to do and what not to do. At 3Introduction: Arundhati Roy~A Luminous Star that age what gives you courage is complete shortsightedness. -You' don't think about the next day. I think I must have been a bit insane, at least temporarily. Now if I think about another kid of my age doing that I would just be completely paranoid. I would think there was something very wrong with them because I had a very difficult time.” (City-p. 24) After the acquisition of the degree of Architecture, Arundhati worked as a Research Assistant at the National Institute of Urban Affairs. She devoted herself to it in such a manner that she won a scholarship to Florence to study the Restoration of Monuments and Historical Urban Centers. She returned from Italy grimly determined to restore neither Monuments nor Historical Urban Centers. Another drastic turn took place in her life when Pradeep Krishen, a filmmaker saw her riding a bicycle down the wrong side of the road. She played a village girl in his award winning movie Massey Sahib. The movie was screened at the Venice Film Festival. She used to write to Pradeep. The letter correspondence between Arundhati Roy and Pradeep Krishen later on, develops into an auspicious marriage. As she again recalls - “The stewardess on the flight got talking to me. And when she found out that I had no money, no place to go to, when I 4Introduction: Arundhati Roy-A Luminous Star Janded, she offered that I could come and share the crew's hotel room.” (Sunday-p. 41) She got a chance to escort a group of five rhinos by road from Delhi to Dudhwa (Uttar Pradesh) where they were being re ~ introduced in the hope of starting a new gene pool. She wrote the Commentary for Ashish Chandola’s documentary film “How the Rhinoceros Returned.” She also wrote screenplays for television. She wrote the screenplay for The Banyan Tree, a television serial. It is based on last tumultuous decades of the British Raj. But as we all knew it was not a successful serial. The breaking of the serial in the middle was a very traumatic and painful experience for Arundhati. She faced many financial problems. She herself recalls those days:— ‘T didn't know what was going to happen whether I was going to finish it to my satisfaction or whether I would just go on and on, There were bad moments — when you are running out of money : you don't know what's going to happen in terms of your career ... writing is not something that you naturally associate with earning a living.” (City—p. 22) The book that gave her place to stand and a high pedestal was her debut novel THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS. The seed of the book was planted in the mind of Roy some six years as she observes:—Introduction: Arundhati Roy-A Luminous Star “The real reason was also that I had just got a Computer and I liked the idea of writing on it. So I just started putting down what was going on in my head. It was a very private thing I wouldn't show what I had written to anybody. It would Just stay in the computer. It was all just coming out of me like smoke I suppose and I kept putting it down.” (Sunday-p. 24) The Booker Committee has described her as:— “An architect in literary circle moulding Janguage in all shapes and sizes as was never done before at least in the Indian. Jiterary context.” Roy herself comments:~ “It tells a different story from the story the book is telling you. The book is not about what happened but about how what happened affected _people". (Surendran-p.vii) The production of the book had not assured her for its wide popularity. She thought that it was a very fragile, personal book. Even she wasn't sure about finding a foreign publisher for her debut novel. She could not imagine any reason that why would anyone abroad be interested in the book or an author like her? In the mean time, she met Pankaj Mishra,Introduction: Arundhati Roy-A Luminous Star who was at that time an editor with Harper Collins in India. She turned to him for an opinion about her book. After going through the book, he was astonished at the management of the book. He agreed to publish the book. Pankaj Mishra sent the copies of the manuscript to three British publishers-Harper Collins, John Sadler and David Godwin, while she was thinking which publisher to select, she was surprised by David Godwin. He caught a plane to India to get the signature of Roy. He wanted to auction the rights of book. He was sure that it was a novel that everybody would want to publish. Roy Recalls: — “I had got over the excitement of the book being so much in demand. I decided that this time I would not go with the highest bidder. I would go with the publisher I felt best about. I am very proud of the fact that I went with Random House because I respected them even though another large publishing house offered me 1, 50,000 more than the Random House bid”. (Sunday-p. 39) Arundhati Roy has written another short but revolutionary book, The End of Imagination. This book is based upon author's view against nuclearization in India and abroad. She has written this book in satiric tone. She has ridiculed the dominance of politics. She has focused the attention on the drawbacks of nuclear arms and ammunition. In tone and temper, the book reminds us of a recently published book.Introduction: Arundhati Roy-A Luminous Star Countdown by Amitav Ghosh, which deals with the author’s inteaview with wo many pecgle living in ead sround the nuclear explosion site at Pokharan. The opening section of the book provides the apocalyptic vision of the nuclear explosion tested at the Pokharan site on 11 May 1998. It suggests to ridicule the great outpouring of joy on the part of the BJP members and sympathizers who organized festivities and handed out celebratory sweetmeats on the streets after the successful nuclear tests. But on the other hand the people living around the nuclear test site were not jolly and jocund, rather they were sad and gloom. As the author observes:— ‘If there is a nuclear war, our foes will not be China or America or even each other. Our foe will be the earth herself The very elements-the sky, the air, the land, the wind and water will all turn against us. The wrath will be terrible. Our cities and forests, our fields and villages will burn for days. Rivers will turn to poison. The earth will be enveloped in darkness. There will be no day. Only interminable night... Only rats and cockroaches will breed and multiply and compete with foraging, relict humans for what little there in”. (Roy-pp. 12-13) Her views and these thought provoking observations clearly exhibit that she is not in favour of war and killing. She seems to believe in the theory of truth and non-violence. Nobody wants a repetition of the tragedy of two &Introduction: Arundhati Roy-A Luminous Star Japanese cities. Truly speaking, the production of atomic weapons is a colossal waste of human energy and national wealth. Each country is mad to get more and more destructive weapons. It is the greatest obstacle in the way of international harmony and peace. Many countries are busy to increase their military strength of every kind. It is the symbol of aggrandizement and savagery; it whips up people into war hysteria. In this respect Arundhati Roy’s attitude is very near to A. Gopal Krishan, who observes in his scholarly article in the Frontline:— “There was a realization that the country’s real security didn't lie in possessing few crude nuclear weapons, but it being able to feed, clothe and shelter its large population and provide the people with basic amenities such as drinking and basic health care. Those governments also gave some weightage to the fact that having —_ attained independence through a prolonged, non~ violent struggle based on the principle of ‘ahinsa’, India shouldn't stray into the race for developing and deploying weapons of mass destruction with a clearly expounded abhorrence to weapons of mass destruction and an abiding conviction in total nuclear disarmament and elimination of nuclear weapons everywhere. India had champion this 9.Introduction: Arundhati Roy-A Luminous Star cause among the _ international community inspite of Pokharan Test.” (Krishnan-p. 114) The book is a testimony that Arundhati Roy is a great champion for the cause of peace and prosperity, harmony and integration. She has given a message in this book: “All I can say to everyman woman and sentient child here in India and over there, just a little way away in Pakistan, is; Take it personally. Whoever you are- Hindu, Muslim, Urban, Agrarian-it does not matter. The only good thing about nuclear war is that it is the single most egalitarian idea that man has ever had. On the day of reckoning, you will not be asked to present your credentials. The devastation will be indiscriminate. The bomb is not in your backyard. It is in your body, and mind. Nobody, no nation, no government, no man, no god has the right to put it there. We are radioactive already, and the war has not even begun. ‘So, stand up and say something. Never mind if it’s been and said before. Speak up on your own behalf’ Take it very personally.” (Roy-pp. 20-21) So, this havoc created by the nuclear armaments has been unprecedented, in the annals of humanity. During “0.Introduction: Arundhati Roy-A Luminous Star Second World War, the civilian population of every country suffered as much as the fighting soldiers did. Destruction of building, property, means of communication took place on an immeasurable scale. The entire structure of economic, industrial and social life was shattered. In this aspect she is very near to Pearl §. Buck:— “War and Killing achieve nothing but Joss, and that a noble end is assured only if the means to attain it are of a place with it and also noble.” (Buck-p.16) Actually this book is about the author's realistic portrayal of the problems arising out of nuclearization of India and abroad. She seems to be against the nuclear race of armaments. She thinks that nuclear matter is a very important matter for any country. Unfortunately the Nuclear Test on 11 May 1998 was a hasty step. It was conducted without consulting the army experts without even a debate in the Parliament. Lt. Gen, (Retd.) Eric A. Vas said— “This momentous decision was taken solidly on the advice of clever scientists and bureaucrats, who lacked constitutional responsibility or accountability. The military chief had not been consulted about a matter, which had far reaching security consequences.” (Vas —p. 7) “leArundhati Roy-A Luminous Star The book The End of Imagination also depicts author's boldness as a free and frank writer. She declares that writers must be the voice of the nation. They should not hesitate to expose the corruptions and aberrations of the society in which they live. She protests against nuclearization and points out: — “If protesting against having a nuclear bomb implanted in my brain is anti- Hindu and anti-national, then I secede. I, hereby, declare myself an independent, mobile republic. I am a citizen of the earth. I own no territory. I have no flag. I am female, but have nothing against eunuchs. My policies are simple. I am willing to sing any nuclear non- proliferation treaty or nuclear test ban treaty that is going. Immigrants are welcome, You can help me design our flag.” (Roy=p. 30) The boldness of Arundhati Roy reminds us of Taslima Nasrin who, in the Preface of the book, ‘Lazza’ expresses her opinion:— “The disease of religious fundamentalism is not restricted to Bangladesh alone and it must be fought at every turn. For myself, I am not afraid of any challenge or threat to my life. I will continue to write and protest persecution and “12Introduction: Arundhati Roy-A Luminous Star discrimination. I am convinced that the only way the fundamentalist forces can be stopped is if all of us who are secular and humanistic join and fight their malignant influence. I, for one, will not be silenced.” (Nasrin:-p. ix—x) Arundhati Roy is of the view that war is not the permanent solution of a problem. One war leads to another. So, the statement of Prime Minister after the nuclear tests was due to a “deterioration security environment” and has little significance in this regard. She thinks that only pointing nuclear missiles at Pakistan is not enough to face so many problems like population, poverty, casteism, unemployment. She observes:— “The problems can't be solved by pointing nuclear missiles at Pakistan. Though we are separate countries, we share skies, we share winds, and we share water. Where radioactive fallout will land on any given day depends on the direction of the wind and rain. Lahore and Amritsar are thirty miles apart. If we bomb Lahore, Punjab will burn. If we bomb Karachi-then Gujarat and Rajasthan, perhaps even Bombay, will burn. Any nuclear war with Pakistan will be a war against ourselves.” (Roy — p. 34) This statement throws a clear light on her sentiments related to universal brotherhood. Indeed, modern “13.Introduction: Arundhati Roy-A Luminous Star wars are mostly artificial in nature. Soldiers of any country do not want to fight only for the sake of fight. In the phraseology of G. B. Shaw they preferred chocolates to bullets. After all they have feelings, emotions. Shaw wrote in Arms And The Man:— “The Man: I’ve no ammunition. What use are cartridges in battle? I always carry chocolate instead, and I finished the last cake of that hours ago,” (Shaw-p. 83) And further: ‘All that adventure which was life or death to me, was only a schoolgirls’ game to her — chocolate creams and hide and seek. Here's the proof! (He takes the photograph from the table). Now, I ask you, would a woman who took the affair seriously have sent me this and written on it. “Raina, to her Chocolate Cream Soldier. a Souvenir?” (Shaw, p. 131) Above reference justifies that soldiers are also made of blood and flesh. It is only the whims of politicians and so called national honour or prestige that leads an acrimonious atmosphere between India and Pakistan. In the similar context, her attitude is also very similar to that of Aldous Huxley. Aldous Huxley in his famous essay Nature and Causes of War aptly deals with all manufactured things that lead us to atrocious warfare. This book supplies a sarcastic remark on the snobbery and 4Introduction: Arundhati Roy-A Luminous Star hypocrisy of politics in India. As usual politicians never care for the peace and prosperity of the common public. They only know how to grease their own palm. ‘According to Roy, the fault does not directly goes to the politician but it goes to the nature of our system of centralized government. She mentioned:— “The greater the numbers of illiterate people, the poorer the country and the more morally bankrupt the politicians. In a situation like this, illiteracy is not just sad. it is downright dangerous. However, to be fair cobbling together a viable pre- digested National identity for India would be a formidable challenge even for the wise and the visionary.” (Roy — pp. 39-40) The author has also shown a great love and sympathy to the tribal people, who are ill-treated, oppressed, cheated, robbed of their lands and shunted around like surplus good by the state and its minions. The tribal are those people who may be known as the real Hindus of the country. There were human beings on earth before there was Hinduism. Humayun Kabir in his famous lecture, The Unity of Indian Culture rightly observes: — “Till recently the Aryans were regarded as the earliest invaders of the land. It was thought that they came to a country, which was uncivilized and barbarian, but - modern research has proved that there “15.Introduction: Arundhati Roy-A Luminous Star were invaders even before the Aryans poured into this land: They had evolved a civilization higher than that of the Aryans hordes that came in their wake. Today whatever is Indian, whether, it be an idea a word, a form of art, a political institution or social custom, is a blend of many different strains and elements.” (abir-p. 51) So, Arundhati Roy is one of the glittering stars in the firmament of Indian Fiction in English. Her ‘extraordinary linguistic inventiveness’, (Week-p. 47) her ‘satirical portrayal of the contemporary society ; her psychological study of the isolated and deviated characters; her new and original style containing many new devices as opposed to the traditional renderings of things, etc. have exercised a great influence on the readers of literary flavour. Before Arundhati Roy, there were three great writers of Indian origin who bagged the Booker Prize. V. S. Naipaul got this prize in 1972 for In a Free State; Ruth Prawer Jhabvala received it in 1975 for Heat and Dust; Salman Rushdie bagged it in 1981 for Midnight's Children. All these Booker Prize winner writers have some connections with India; but Arundhati Roy has to her credit of being the first, who is entirely home-grown Indian to have the Booker Prize. Arundhati Rey was neither educated abroad nor lived abroad. She was born, brought up and educated in India The style she invented smells the Indian soil. Her victory as a first time novelist, and that too, a universal one, is really surprising:— “16Introduction: Arundhati Roy-A Luminous Star “Arundhati Roy ° triumphed because unlike the others, she had the guts and the overwhelming talent to invent a new idiom and vocabulary to tell the story of a seemingly remote people, Mammachi, Sophie Mol, Estha, Rahel, Ammu and Velutha will stay with us popping up once in a while to remind us of some eternal truth.” (Prasad & Sarkar —p.vi) When a reader goes through this book, he is bound to be baffled by some ungrammatical constructions, new coinages, unconventional rhythm and bizarre phrases. The reader is charmed and impressed to see some new expressions which give a jerk and jolt to the mind. The grammatical distortion of words and sentences has been deliberately done in order to conform to the sentiments of the childhood and the abnormal situations of the mind of some neurotic characters. For this new conception of form and style, she may be placed next to the line of great innovators like D. H. Lawrence, Henry James, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf and Salman Rushdie.Introduction: Arundhati Roy-A Luminous Star References > Buck, Pearl S; “India Through a Traveller's Eyes” Intermediate Prose Poetry Selection, Sunrise Pub. Patna 1994, p. 16. » First City: Delhi City Magazine, June 1997, p. 24. » First City: Delhi City Magazine, June 1997, p. 24. > First City: Delhi City Magazine, June 1997, p. 22. > Kabir, Humanyun: “The Unity of Indian Culture” Intermediate Prose Poetry Selection. p. 51. > Krishnan, A Gopal: The Frontline: Magazine, Chennai, May- 22 June — 4, 1999, p. 114. > Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Eric A Vas: The Times of India, Delhi, 25 Oct. 1999, p. 7. > Nasrin, Taslima: Lazza. Penguin Books (Nehru Place, New Delhi, 1993 Preface, p. ix—x) > Prasad, Amar Nath & Sarkar, B. Das: Arundhati Roy: A Critical Elucidation, Sarup Book Publishers PVT. LTD., New Delhi. 2010: Preface, p. Vi. > Roy, Mary : India Today, Connaught place, New Delhi, Editor Aroon Purie, Cover Story, p. 26. > Roy, Arundhati: The End of Imagination, D. C. Books, Kottayam, Kerala, 1998, pp. 12-13. > Roy, Arundhati: The End of Imagination, D. C. Books, Kottayam, Kerala, 1998, pp. 20-21. » Roy, Arundhati: The End of Imagination, D. C. Books, Kottayam, Kerala, 1998, p. 30. » Roy, Arundhati: The End of Imagination, D. C. Books, Kottayam, Kerala, 1998, p. 34.Introduction: Arundhati Roy-A Luminous Star > Roy, Arundhati: The End of Imagination, D. C. Books, Kottayam, Kerala, 1998, pp. 39-40. > Shaw, G. B.: Arms And The Man: Notes by T. K. Dutt, Students, Friends, Allahabad Act. I— p. 83. » Shaw, G. B. : Arms And The Man : Notes by T. K. Dutt, Students, Friends, Allahabad Act III-p. 131. > Sunday: Magazine, 30 March —5 April 1997, Calcutta p. 41. > Sunday : Magazine, 30 March — 5 April 1997, Calcutta p.41. > Sunday: Magazine, 30 March — 5 April 1997, Calcutta (Kolkata) p. 39. > Surendran, K. V.: 2007 THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS, A Saga of Lost Dreams, Atlantic Publishers, New Delhi, Preface p. vii. » The Weak, Oct. 26, 1997: 47.) Chapter - 1 Part-II The God of Small Things as Magnum OpusIntroduction: The God of Small Things as her Magnum Opus Arundhati Roy ventured into the realm of art with her debut novel, “The God of Small Things’. Shé brought laurels to the country by winning the coveted Booker Prize in 1997, when India celebrated the 50t anniversary of Indian Independence. She is the first non-expatriate Indian author and the first Indian woman to have won this prestigious prize. She established her indelible mark as an artist in the international arena, when she bagged the 29 Booker Prize for the Common Wealth Nation’s best novel. Mr. K. R. Narayanan, the then President of India, congratulated Roy for having brought laurels to the country at the momentous time of the Golden Jubilee Celebration of Indian Independence. President commented as:— “I was delighted to learn that you have been awarded the Booker Prize for this year. Please accept my hereby congratulations. All of us in India are proud of your achievement. (@athak, p. 10) ‘The novel was translated into more than thirty eight languages across the globe. The novel remained in the best seller lists of both the New York Times and the London ‘Times for many weeks. In the epigraph to The God of Small ‘Things, John Berger writes, “Never again will a single story be told as though it’s the only one.” Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things is a unique blend of fiction and reality. She has located Ayemenem -20-Introdu The God of Small Things as her Magnum Opus as the epicenter of her fictional world. She has knitted the saga of the Ayemenem House with four generations, commencing from Reverend E. John Ipe and Aleyooty Ammachi and culminating with the children Rahel, Estha and Sophie Mol. The Meenachal River has taken the lead role of a character in the novel The God of Small Things. It is an abode of solace and comfort for most of the characters in the novel. The Meenachal River has become the part and parcel of Ayemenem House as it witnesses two major events: the death of Sophie Mol and the fervent union of Velutha and Ammu. Arundhati’s Ayemenem reminds us R. K. Narayan’s ‘Malgudi’ and Thomas Hardy's Wessex novel. “The fictional Ayemenem is a place of social, political and moral corruption. It is a society where untouchability has acceptance: where the body odour of a paravan can be offensive. It is also a place characterized by _political degeneration and opportunism.” (Barnabas- p. 296) Ayemenem becomes the finest specimen of the post-colonial India. She has universalized Ayemenem with its good and bad aspects alike. The fast developing hybrid culture has been vividly portrayed in the novel. She declares that the so-called traditional values have now become consumer products to attract the foreigners. When Rahel returns to Ayemenem, she finds a changed environment and a different Meenachal River: —Introduction: The God of Small Things as her Magnum Opus “it greeted her with a ghastly skull’s smile, with holes where teeth has been, and a limp hand raised from a hospital bed ... Once it had the power to evoke fear. To change lives. But now its teeth were drawn. Its spirit spent. It was just a slow, sludging green ribbon lawn that ferried fetid garbage to the sea. Bright plastic bags blew across its viscous, weedy surface like subtropical flying — flowers.” (TGOST — p. 124) ‘The Meenachal River is the heart and soul of Roy's fictional world. She can't stop blaming the people responsible for the contamination of the Meenachal River. The river has got a lot of significance in the lives of its people. It is an index of the people living in that particular locality. She has severely criticized the attitude of the people and their negligence to keep the river clean and tidy. The pathetic condition of the river has been witnessed by Estha as he walked :— “..along the banks of the river that smelled of shit and pesticides brought with World Bank loans. Most of fish had died. The one that survived suffered from fin-rot and has broken out in boils.” (TGOST — p. 13) Roy informs the readers across the globe that the actual ‘God’s Own Country’ is different from the ‘God’s Own Country’ of imagination. Kerala occupies a central stage in the -22-Introduction: The God of Small Things as her Magnum Opus international tourist map mainly due to its art and culture and also due to its lush green surroundings. The ‘History House’ in The God of Small Things becomes the ‘Heritage Hotel’ for the rich European tourists. The European tourists are lured in such a way that they see only the brighter aspect of ‘God's Own Country; Roy portrays the scene:— “On warm days the smell of shit lifted off the river and hovered over Ayemenem like a hat... The hotel guests were ferried across the backwaters, straight from Cochin. They arrived by speed boat... They had built a tall wall to screen off the slum and prevent it from encroaching on Kari Saipu’s estate. There wasn’t much they could do about the smell.” (TGOST-p. 125) The ‘History House’ is now well furnished with “artificial canals and connecting bridges”. (TGOST — p. 126) In the name of tourism development, the Keralites commercialize their tradition and culture. In the ‘Heritage Hotel’, the so- called traditional things are displayed purely from the point of view of business:— ‘A reed umbrella, a wicker couch. A wooden dowry box. They were labeled with edifying placards which said Traditional Kerala Umbrella and Traditional Bridal Dowry Box.” (TGOST =p. 126) 2Introduction: The God of Small Things as her Magnum Opus Kathakali, the traditional temple art, is now performed near the swimming pool for the convenience of the European tourists. They enjoy the traditional temple art of Kerala when they play with their children in the water. The traditional value of the temple art is completely lost:— “So ancient stories were collapsed and amputated, six- hour classics were slashed to. twenty-minute cameos.” (TGOST — p. 127). The significance of The God of Small Things lies in its double purpose of ‘Art for Art’s Sake’ and ‘Art for Life’s Sake’. Fiction and reality meet in the right ratio and this harmony enhances the charm of The God of Small Things “Fiction for me has been a way of trying to make sense of the world as I know it. It is located very close to me-this book. It is Jocated in the village that I grew-up. If I had to put it very simply it is about trying to make the connections between the smallest of things and biggest ones and to see how they fit together.” (Prasad-p. 136) ‘The God of Small Things is unrivalled in fictional writings because of its non-conformist and artistic elements. Arundhati Roy took the liberties of an artist by burying the so-called conventions and approached the novel from a different dimension. Dodiya justifies the Booker Prize, that has been awarded to Arundhati Roy, in the following words:— 2hIntroduction: The God of Small Things as her Magnum Opus well as common reading public. “The reason why the judges chose Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, for the Booker Prize, is very clear. What the judges most admired was not its Indian setting, its slightly hackneyed reworking of the old duchess and the gamekeeper plot in the story of cross-caste erotic love between a Paravan and a Syrian Christian, It was, rather, her verbal exuberance. Almost alone among the 106 entries. Roy has her own voice, her own signature... Twisting the language to suit her own story telling, she managed to make the whole world a stage for Ayemenem and its people .... Roy triumphed because unlike others, she had the guts and the overwhelming talent to invent a new idiom and vocabulary to tell the story ofa seemingly remote people. (Dodiya —p. 3) Arundhati Roy has broken the shackles of the conventional style of the novel. The uniqueness of this novel rests on her innovative use of language. For it she has surpassed the limit of elementary grammar. This novel is an eye-opener for the literary world, Arundhati displayed a parade of her genuine capabilities in black and white. The novel attracted thousands of people both in India and abroad. Its authentic style and artistic perfection lured the masses as 25+ Roy- deviated from theIntroducti The God of Small Things as her Magnum Opus conventional path of story-telling and created a one-book genius without much parallel in the world of fiction. James Joyce commented once:— “The East shall shake the West awake, and you shall have night for morn,” (Quoted in Dodiya - p. 181) His prophecy proved to be true with the publication of this novel. The novel also enacted a thrilling revenge on Macaulay who remarked in the famous “Minutes” in 1835 “A single shelf of a good European library is worth the whole native literature.” (Quoted in Dodiya-p.181) Roy employs a blend of all the modern narrative techniques, such as stream of consciousness and magic realism. The unification of these narrative techniques adds to the vitality and exuberance of the novel. This novel is an experimental work of art in its complete sense of the term. Her experimental work began to show the early signs of success when Pankaj Mishra, who was then an editor with Harper Collins in India, wanted to publish the book. Mishra took the initiative and sent the copies of the manuscript to three British publishers — Harper Collins, John Sadler and David Godwin. After having seen the bright prospect of this book, David Godwin came to India for getting Roy's signature to publish the novel. Roy appreciates the historic venture of David Godwin in the acknowledgement of The God of Small Things: -26-Introduction: The God of Small Things as her Magnum Opus “For taking that impulsive trip to India. For making the waters part.” (Roy — p.vii) The book is an instantaneous success and it surprised the literary world. She herself spoke in an interview:— “Writing The God of Small Things was a fictional way of making sense of the world I lived in, and the novel was the technical key with which I did it. I didn’t have any drafts, because I didn't write the novel from beginning to the end in a linear way. I would write something here, something there until the whole book emerged. That's one of the reasons why I didn't show anybody the book before it was finished. There wasn't anything to show.” (Frontline-p.106) Arundhati Roy surprises her readers with her new style by playing with words and sounds. Her deviation from the normal style results in the spontaneous overflow of language with a lot of fun and frolic. The book conquers the mind of the readers as it is an amalgam of different artistic techniques. Her extensive use of mother tongue in the novel is an immediate way of identifying herself with the milieu of the novel. This novel gets international attention for its artistic iconoclasm. In this novel she tries to experiment with the English language and explores the various innovations that shall be possible within the language, she pays little attention to traditional grammar and sentence structure in her novel 21Introductié The God of Small Things as her Magnum Opus and at the same time her language communicates the intended meaning. Arundhati Roy is quoted as:— “Language is a very reflective thing for me. I don't know the rules, so I don’t know if I have broken them... My language is mine. It's the way I think and the way I write.” (Dhawan-p. 21) The book is a description of how the small things in life build up, translate into people's behavior and affect their lives. The novel also receives some criticism for its verbosity and controversial subject matter. The novel is based on different themes, such as, Indian History and Politics, Class Relations and Cultural Tensions, Love and Forbidden Love, Social Discrimination, Betrayal ete Roy depicts political realities in India through jokes and snippets of wisdom. Roy also reveals a complex and longstanding class conflict in the state of Kerala and comments on its various competing forces. The novel attacks upon the brutal, entrenched and systematic oppression at work in Kerala, exemplified by figures of power such as Inspector Thomas Mathew, and Comrade Pillai— “They were not friends, Comrade Pillai and Inspector Thomas Mathew, and they didn't trust each other. But they understood each other perfectly. They were both men whom childhood had abandoned without a trace. Men without -28-The God of Small Things as her Magnum Opus curiosity. Without doubt. Both in their own way truly, terrifyingly adult.” (TGOST = p. 262) The author has structured the novel in order to put more emphasis on the events that lead up to the story, the consequences and the characters. The book is divided into twenty-one chapters. The story is not told in a linear time frame. The author takes the reader back and forth from the present to the past. In the first chapter, Roy gives readers an outline of the story. The last chapter, depicting the love scene, is actually the middle of the story itself. It ends the telling of a very sad story in a beautiful way. Some critics have branded the book as Anti~ Communist. It is alleged that Arundhati Roy has deliberately portrayed Communists in bad light and that she has denigrated the renowned leader E.M.S. Namboodiripad. While as all other characters in the book are fictions, the novelist consciously targets EMS, perhaps to cater the prevailing Anti— Communist sentiment. In fact, Roy has a genuine sympathy with progressive forces. She attacks Communists because CPM and its government did not adhere to the true Marxist principles. The very title of the book The God of Small Things also invites diverse criticism. It creates storm in a cup. The hot debate was on the suitability of the title and its appropriateness. In fact, Arundhati Roy herself was not sure of the title till she finished writing the book:—Introduction: The God of Small Things as her Magnum Opus “The novel didn’t have a title until the very last minute. I didn't know what to call it, there were lots of ideas and suggestions but I remember printing out the manuscript and just printing out the title at the last minute.” (Dhawan-p. 19) She takes cue from one of the chapters in the novel. As she says:— “One of the chapters was called “The God of Small Things”. I don't know how it happened .... When I read the book now I can't believe the amount of references there are too small things, but it was absolutely not the case that I started with the tale and built the novel around it.” Dhawan pp. 19-20) The chapter “The God of Small Things” is highly symbolic. It deals with Ammu’s dream which can be interpreted as her vision of the God of Small Things who is an embodiment of Jove and sex.Introduction: The God of Small Things as her Magnum Opus References > Barnadas, Simon G. “Ayemenem and the Ayemenem House: A Study of the Setting of The God of Small Things.” Arundhati Roy: The Novelist Extraordinary. Ed. R. K. Dhawan, New Delhi: Prestige, 1999, p. 296-06. v Dhawan, R. K, ed. Arundhati Roy: The Novelist Extraordinary. New Delhi: Prestige, 1999, p. 21. > Dodiya, Jaydipsinh “Arundhati Roy: The Woman and the Writer.” The Critical Studies of Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. Ed. Jaydisinh Dodiya and Joya Chakarvarty. New Delhi Atlantic Publishers, 1999, p. 1-7. v Pathak. R.S., ed. “The Fictional World of Arundhati Roy” Creative New Literature series — 48 New Delhi: Creative Books, 2001. 9-28. v Prasad, Amar Nath, “Arundhati Roy: A Novelist of New Style,” The Critical Studies of Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. Ed. Jaydipsinh Dodiya and Joya Chakravarty New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers, 1999, p. 135— 141. v “When you have written a Book, you Lay your Weapons Down” Praveen Swami, Frontline 8 Aug. 1997, p.p. 106- 108. > The Page numbers of The God of Small Things (abbreviated as TGOST) are given from the edition published by Penguin books India 2002.| Chapter - 1 .Section-B Tradition and Scenario of [in Women NoelTradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists “Education is a liberating force and in our age, it is’ also a democratizing force, cutting across the barriers of caste and class, smoothing out the inequalities imposed upon us by birth and other circumstances.” (Indira-p.1) Indian women, the embodiment of unbounded love and affection, hope and patience, have been showing their worth in each and every discipline of knowledge from times immemorial. Sita in ancient perspective, Gargi and Anusuia in scriptures, Rani Durgawati in medieval perspective, Rajia Begum and Noorjahan in history and Toru Dutt, Cornelia Sorabji, Kamala Markandaya, Ruth Prawar Jhabvala, Nayantara Sahgal, Anita Desai, Vimla Raina, Shashi Deshpande, Shobha De, Mahasweta Devi, Manju Kapoor, Rama Mehta, Kamala Das, Gita Hariharan, Kiran Desai, Jhumpa Lahiri, Namita Gokhale, Rita Garg and Arundhati Roy in modern perspective and many others in fiction have left their indelible imprint on the pages of history, which is suffused with such a potential and variegated colour that cannot be erased or darkened by Time. As Ben Jonson quoted in reference of Shakespeare:— “They are not for an age but for all times.” A society without women has no zest of life. Their removal from the history is the removal of all adventure and aestheticism. It is also to bury deep all literature without mentioning their contribution to it. Place of women in society is mirrored as: “32.Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists —— “In this complex pantheon of diversities the Indian woman remains the point of unity, unveiling through each single experience a collective consciousness prized by a society that is locked in mortal combat with the power and weakness of age and time. She remains the still centre, like the centre in a potter's wheel, circling to create new forms, unfolding the continuity of a racial life, which in turn has encircled and helped her acquire a quality of concentration.” (Jung — p. 26) Indian women novelists are primarily concerned in their novels with the psychological crisis in the lives of Indian women who are subjected to physical and psychological torture in a male dominated society. These novelists have exploited their skill in projecting convincingly the agonized mind of the persecuted women. Their portrayal of women characters in the novels invariably bears authenticity to their feminist approach, outlook and perspective. Their minute observation of the life of Indian women and their curiosity in the study of their inner mind are evidenced by their vivid and panoramic portrayal of their plight. These women novelists have focused in their novels on the “existential predicament” and travails of the subdued women in a male dominated society governed by rigid traditions and restricts. These novelists being women made a deep dive into the inner mind of the repressed women by virtue of their feminine sensibility and psychological 233.Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists insight. They also tried to bring to light their issues which are the outcome of psychological and emotional imbalances. In the male dominated societal framework, a woman is bound to suffer insult and abuse, tyranny and injustice without any rhyme and reason. Suffering is abated in their fate. In fact she not only forms the pivot and nucleus of family but also gives birth to children and rear up the coming generation. The concept of a healthy home cannot be imagined without the contribution of woman. A solid structure of well organised society requires complimentary relation between man and woman. The concept may be understood by the analogy of flower and fragrance. If a man is a flower, the woman is its fragrance. The woman is the black part of the eye; man, the white part. Without the black there is no vision and without the white there is no protection. Plato also had observed:— “The only difference between men and women is one of physical function one begets, the other bears children. Apart from that, both can and both should follow the same range of occupation and perform the same functions (though men will on the whole, perform them better); they should receive the same education to enable them to do so. In this way society will get the best value trom both.” (Plato, p. 225) Indian women novelists in English and in other vernaculars try their best to deal with the pathetic plight of forsaken women. These women novelists portray tragic saga of faelife of an average Indian woman. In the historical perspective the lineage of Indian Women Novelist in Indian Writing in English begins with the contribution of Toru Dutt. She died at the early age of 21 (4% March, 1856-30 August, 1877). Her two novels Bianca and Le Journal de Mademoiselle d’ Arvers deal with the autobiographical projections of the novelist. Both works are the gathering of her sweet and sour experience of her very short life: “Beauty and Tragedy and fatality criss— crossed in the life of Toru Dutt.” (yengar p55) She is mainly interested in the telling of the ancient tales. In these deathless tales and stories she sought the right material for the expression of her own maturing creative powers. Toru was a good craftsman in verse, her feeling for words was impeccable. Her eye and ear were alike trained for poetic description or dialogue. Her unfinished English novel, Bianca or The Young Spanish Maiden appeared in the Bengal Magazine (January — April issue 1878) and her French novel, Le Journal de Mademoiselle d’ Arvers had been issued in Paris in 1879. It had been hailed as “an extraordinary feat, without precedent” and compared to the Vathek of Beckford. And all this by a sick girl, who had known pain and been shadowed by a sense of fatality in the course of 3 or 4 years! She lived a life insulated from the currents of the seething world outside. The memory of the death of her brother, and more especially of the death of her elder. sister Aru, seeped into her sensibility. It was natural that she would draw upon the limited fund of her own. experience. The story of 35.Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelis Bianca and her sister Inez and the story of Marguerite and Sister Veronique are two separate attempts to tell the same inner tragedy of sisterly love and bereavement. But super imposed on this theme, in both the novels there is the domination of romantic love motif. Marguerite in the French novel is Bianca a little grown up, a little less naive, but no less resigned to her fate. Although Bianca is supposedly a Spanish maiden and Marguerite a French girl, they are both in Toru’s delineation essentially Indian, ardent, sincere, and capable of love and equally capable of resignation. Cornelia Sorabji, (15 November 1866 — 6t July, 1954) a Parsi Christian, is another great figure in the realm of novels. She was the author of a number of stories, some of which appeared in the Macmillan’s Magazine. Her best work was collected in Love and Life Behind the Purdah (1901), Sun Babies; Studies in the Child Life of India (1904) and Between the Twilight (1908). Apart from being a Parsi-Christian background, she has tried to penetrate the silken curtain of the ‘purdah’. She revealed the nuances of feminity. She depicted the various moods and difficulties faced by the women under the ‘purdah’. Ecstasy, tragedy, comedy, all are possible, with a shade of difference behind the purdah. The situations which she portrayed are often touched with melancholy, sadness, despair and sometimes early widowhood. These situations make a woman's life a precarious affair. Which are mostly unnoticed by a feminist philosopher? Women were easily caught in the meshes of intrigue, and social taboos of all kinds and her subservience to man gave her very little freedom of action. The silent suffering is often more eloquent than -36-Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Nov ists Nathan's infidelity, her daughter's sacrificial going on the streets to save the family from starvation, the pre-mature death of the child Kuti and the ejection from the kiths and kins. Here, the plight of Rukmini reminds us of Elizabeth Jane in Thomas Hardy's famous novel, ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’. The novel focuses effectively on theme of hunger, industrialization and its impact on rural human life. There is also a beautiful portrayal of beggary, unemployment, prostitution, dowry system ete. Rukmini is an average ideal village woman. She worships her husband like a god. She puts her views:— ‘It was my husband who woke me-my husband, whom I will call her Nathan, for what was his name although in all the years of our marriage I never called him that, for it is not meet for a woman to address her husband except as husband.” (Nectar in a Sieve) Her relation with her husband is supreme because of her traditional Indian family which always subordinates to the man. While the sons are considered as assets and the daughters are considered as a burden on the family. When the first born child was a daughter, Rukmini was very disappointed, “for what woman wants a girl for her first born.” Nathan “wanted a son to continue his line and walk beside him on the land, not a pulling infant who would take with her a dowry and leave nothing but a memory behind.” The last portion of the novel reveals that Rukmini finds peace at last.Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists Calm after storm, spring after Winter— such is the unending * eycle:— “She, however, is not a theorist to dwell upon caste and class problems only. Her concerns being predominantly socio- economic, her novels offer us a savage tale of brutality, ignorance, mental and physical bludgeoning that the ordinary Indian, man and woman, is subjected to.” (Krishnaswamy — p. 162) In her second novel, Some Inner Fury (1955), she dramatizes the East-West encounter. One brother, Kit, upholds the authority of the British Raj, whereas, the other one, Govind seeks to overthrow the British Raj through violent activities. Their sister, Mira, falls in love with Richards, an Englishman. But their patriotic feelings separate them:— “Some Inner Fury” is a tragedy engineered by politics even as “Nectar in a Sieve” is a tragedy engineered by economies’ and in both novels the chief characters transcend the bludgeoning of economic or political mischance and assert the unconquerable spirit of humanity.” (yengar—p. 440) A Silence of Desire (1961), the third novel by . Kamala Markandaya, explores the realm of spiritual reality. It has neither to do with economics as in Nectar in a Sieve nor to do with politics as in Some Inner Fury. It unfolds the theme of 39.Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists violent action or speech that tears passion to tatters. She satirizes the hypocrisy and evil customs of society. To her, women are no longer object of pleasure but a reservoir of all the healthy values of life. As:— “We shall have to train the women also, then in both kinds of skill, and train them for war as well and treat them in the same way as the men.” (Plato-p. 229) After the Second World War Indian women novelists have begun enriching Indian fiction with a new vision, a new direction. During this period, Kamala Markandaya and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala are the most outstanding personalities. Kamala Markandaya (1924 May 16, 2004) occupies a prominent place among the Indian English novelists. She won international fame and recognition with the publication of her very first novel, Nectar in a Sieve (1954). This novel made her lovable writer of great fiction in both theme and technique, matter and manner. The novel has been compared with Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth and K. S. Venkataramani’s Murugan the Tiller. The novel deals with a realistic picture of the Indian villagers, their customs and traditions. In these villages, the life has not changed for a thousand years. Fear, hunger and despair are the constant companions of the peasant- “fear of the dark future, fear of the sharpness of hunger; fear of the blackness of death”. What ‘nectar’ was to be churned out of the muddied ocean of poverty and Misery? Rukmini, the narrator heroine, is a Mother of Sorrows. She has to face so many “ups and downs,” ‘fret and fever’ of life. She receives shock after shock, viz., her husband 31.Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists “as one of those European writers who have written about India”. (Agrawal — p. 36) She portrays urban middle class Indian life tinged with domestic problems of an average joint Hindu family. She also depicts the confrontation between occidental and oriental attitudes. ‘RP. Jhabvala writes about the furious social scuffing in the present day India. All her novels are full of local colour and clamour, dealing with the young who are inert, romantic and non-too-wise and, the old who are cool, calculating and rigid. She describes the head-on collision between the traditional and the modern, the east and west, and the confusion that follows in the wake of these collisions.” (Asnani p. 80) Her first novel, To Whom She Will (1955) is based on the double event of independence and partition. The ill- fated partition uprooted millions from their homesteads. The novel portrays the piteous conditions of a large number of refugees in New Delhi, who came to settle there after partition:— “They had lost almost everythings their houses, their business, many of their valuables, all had to be left behind. It was complete disaster, absolute ruin; if it had AD.Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists human relationship through a clash between traditionalism and modernism ie. East-West- Encounter. Dandekar, a government servant, tortures himself and nearly goes to pieces because his wife, Sarojini whose attitude is just the opposite of her husband. She is suffering from a tumour. She goes to seek a spiritual solace from the “Swamy”, Dandekar doubts the ‘faith-cure belief of a Swami. What sort of man is he, the Swamy? — a saint or merely a charlatan? Through this novel Kamala Markandaya has successfully delved deep into the sensitive relationship between a husband and a wife. The novelist seems to bridge the chasm between Matter and Spirit, doubt and faith. Markandaya’s fourth novel, Possession (1963), depicts the themes of the East — West Encounter again. It also explores human relationships along with the theme of Politics. Caroline Bell, an English lady, tries to possess a poor Indian village boy, Valmiki, but all in vain. Caroline is a representative of the rich westernized society, which thrives on the talents of the poor section of society. Val’s return to India and his refusal to go with Caroline Bell symbolizes the struggle of India’s independence and consequent freedom from the clutches of the British Raj. In her fifth novel, A Handful of Rice (1966), Kamala Markandaya avoids the extravagance of scene and situation. If the theme of Nectar in a Sieve is rural economies, the theme of A Handful of Rice is urban economics. It is a story of hunger and degradation in the metropolitan town of Madras. The novelist portrays the life in big cities where unemployment and frustration create havoc:— -40-Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists “The insensitiveness of the affluent, their hardness of heart the exploitation of small fish by the big, the worker by the capitalist, the Apus of the world by the Big shops in Mount Road: and the infernal success of the bootlegger, the black — marketeer, the drug — peddler at the cost of the poor, the down and out, the desperate — these are the images of the modern city,” (Iyengar. pp. 445-446) The Coffer Dams (1969) is a new leaf in the cap of Kamala Markandaya. In it the East — West theme is repeated but in a novel way. It is the story of the British engineers, who construct a river-dam in independent India. Original picture of Indo-British encounter is the crux of this novel. Her other important works are The Nowhere Man, Two Virgins, The Golden Honeycomb and Pleasure City. They all are milestone in the ladder of Indian English fiction. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, (1927) the contemporary of Kamala Markandaya, has a major impact in the history of Indian women novelists in English. Born in Germany of Polish parents, she came to England in 1939 and took an M. A. degree at the London University; and having married an Indian Architect in 1951, she has since settled down in Delhi. Though not of an Indian birth, in her novels, she deals with different shades of Indianness which is a matter of astonishment. Though she is not happy to bé called as an ‘Indian’, she claimed that she is not at all an Indian author but— “41.happened to one man alone it would have been unbearable. But there is consolation in numbers, and there were hundreds of thousands of them.” (To Whom She Will) In her second novel, The Nature of Passion (1956), she represents a young modern girl, Nimmi. She is against the age-old rites and customs, myths and traditions. She fights for the cause of women’s emancipation. The novel is saturated with the drab realities of day-to-day life. The novelist satirises the foolish activities of those youngsters who have false pretensions to modernism and western societies. It is the most enjoyable social documentation. In Esmond in India (1958) novelist represents East-West encounter. The novel is suffused with the strands of comedy, irony and satire. Rejecting the very eligible Amrit, Gulab married Esmond Stillwood, who is a rare combination of a prig and a pig in one. But the marriage fails due to the different nature in both the characters. Esmond is selfish and mean and Gulab is rough and unsophisticated. In The Householder (1960) she delineates the life of a newly married couple, Prem and Indu. It is a domestic comedy. She presents the conflicts between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law. ‘The domestic scene in A Backward Place (1965) is superficially the reverse of the one in Esmond in India. In this novel, Judy, an English girl marries an Indian actor, Bal. But this marriage does not succeed due to their different mentality. R. P. Jhabvala probes successfully the mind, the 43Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists sensibility, and the agitated heart of the lonely or trapped woman. - In the literary career of R. P. Jhabvala the novel, Heat and Dust, matters most. This novel won the prestigious Booker Prize in 1975. It is the story of two English women Olivia and the Narrator who visited India, but they became the victims of this country. This story tells us how Olivia and her husband, Douglas comes to India. Olivia falls in love with Nawab. She elopes with him. This leads to the pregnancy and later on abortion of Olivia. She starts living in a cottage near the Nawab’s palace. She earns the title of the mistress of the Nawab. The other woman, who suffers in the novel, is the narrator herself. She falls in love with Chid, an Englishman turned Hindu. Consequently, she becomes pregnant. But she does not get herself aborted. She joins an Ashram and there suffers quietly. Thus, both the ladies become the silent sufferers destroyed by the ‘heat’. Nissim Ezekiel in his famous article “Distorting Mirror” views that Jhabvala has made the country stranger in her imagination overheated by hatred. If we study her works minutely, we see that her early works are richly devoted to India. But later on she becomes blunt and cold to this strange land. She herself observes:— “T suppose it could be put down to my change of attitude towards India. I lived everything during my first years here really loved it and was first years here really loved it and was wildly exited by it and never wanted to go away from here. But later that changed, I saw a lot I MTradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists didn't like, TM go farther: a lot that horrified me.” (Agrawal - p. 36) By exposing’ human follies, foibles and self- deceptions she either makes us laugh or at least smile. Nayantara Sahgal, (1927) daughter of Vijyalaxmi Pandit, niece of Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru wrote novels with the theme of politics. She also wrote columns for different newspapers on politics. Simplicity and boldness, straight forwardness and frankness are the peculiar characteristics of her writing. Her novels are set against socio-political backdrop of India. India before and after independence, had a disconcertingly different picture to project to the world. Her novels deal with man’s quest for his identity, man-woman relationship, East-West encounter and pre-occupation with Hindus and Hinduism. The tinge and tincture of Western liberalism related to political ups and downs provide unique flavour to her writings— “Sahgal's literary world in a broad sense can be termed “personalized fiction.” History, politics, autobiography and personalities intermingle in the novels of Sahgal.” (Sinha, p. 42) Her novels are a microcosm of life itself, the life which she keenly perceived around her. She herself announced for her novels that they are more or less reflections of the political era, we are passing through. On the one hand, her attitude in the novels is tantamount to that of Nehru, and on the other hand, it is a mixture of western point of views. She 45Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists only delineates the contemporary political incidents in her novels. She is never in favour of any particular political party. Her novels are glorified with artistic colour and objectivity. In spite of use of political themes, there is also description of Indian woman's search for freedom in sexual matters. Women's efforts to gain self-realization also weave the net of her novels. Sahgal's first novel A Time to be Happy (1957) is written in the backdrop of post — independence era. In it she focuses attention to Congress Activities and the events of 1942. It is not a very successful novel because it has no correspondence between action and characterization. In her second novel This Time of Morning (1965) she has given a composite picture of a multi faceted country still in transition. She, also, portrays the happenings in the corridors of power. The great expectations aroused by national leaders proved to be misplaced as the leaders of independent India disappointed their followers. She exposes the amoral strategies of people having political clout and individual consciousness in friction. The portrait of Kalyan Sinha mirrors the personality of V. K. Krishna Menon. The major theme of this novel is corruption breeding in the corridors of power. As‘~ “The value that she offers consistently and profoundly significantly is freedom as necessary pre-requisite for all human achievement, separateness, aloneness, alienation and agitations are the various modes of individual's experience that 46.Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists enable her principal characters to realize freedom in its various manifestations.” (Rao-p. 155) Her third novel, Storm in Chandigarh (1969) is a metaphorical projection of the theme of violence raging politically everywhere in Punjab and Haryana and psychologically within the minds of individuals. “.... a most interesting sketch of the lives of educated Indians and of the problems which confront not only them but all people who strive to establish positive relationship with each other. (Saville) The Day in Shadow (1971) is dealt with political movement. The novel is considered to be a sequel of Storm in Chandigarh, The novel revolves around the axis of polities and man—woman relationship: “The novelist shows that though Indians have got freedom, yet it is only on the surface level as in their attitudes to love morality, sex, marriage, education and religion, they are still the slaves of the west”. (Mahajan - p. 164) In the novel A Situation in New Delhi (1977) the novelist dwells on the failure of political machinery in the absence of a good leader and an educated woman's precarious position in the midst of immoral atmosphere. The novel exposes corruption and opportunism in a seemingly democratic machinery of the Government and its deep impact on honest party workers in the Congress. In this novel the private and 41Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists political worlds are co-mingled as well as the actions and characters are enjoined with each other. In Rich Like Us (1986) she once again turns to her- theme of India’s sufferings in post-independence era. Sonali, the 35 year old ICS Officer, found herself misfit in all round corruption breeding administration. The novel is based upon India’s national emergency, when the parliament was suspended. There was press censorship, India’s soul was wounded as it were by new indisciplined authoritarianism. This novel bagged Sahitya Academy Award. Thus Gandhian ideals, search for one’s identity and communication between individuals are the prime concerns of Nayantara Sahgal in her poignant novels. As Ruth Prawer Jhabvala reflects the. ‘social background in her works, Kamala Markandaya associates her works with different social, cultural and political problems, Anita Desai (1937) is preoccupied to dive deep into the inner realms of the protagonists. Her forte is the exploration of sensibility. She has tried to forge a style supple and suggestive enough to convey the fever and fretfulness of the stream of consciousness of her principal character: ‘Life is not a series of lamps symmetrically arranged: life is a Juminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end.” (Woolf p. 177) So, Anita Desai pictures the mind and soul of a character. 48.Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists Cry, the Peacock (1963) is Maya’s tragic story, the story of her married life with Gautama. Maya is haunted by the astrological prediction of the death of either wife or husband. She is the victim of Hardian Fate and Providence, that is, an uncannily oppressive sense of fatality. Her husband, Gautama is a busy, prosperous, middle — aged lawyer. He is too much engrossed in his own affairs. The solitude and silence of the house preys upon her, and the death of the pet dog starts a chain of reminiscence and reverie. The result is that in a fit of insane fury she kills her own husband. In Voices in the City (1965), the scene shifts from Delhi to Calcutta. It is called, the city of Kali, “Goddess of Death’! The Maya~Gautama tragedy is re enacted in the Monisha—Jiban-marriage. Monisha is unable to stand the strain of living in her husband’s house. In the long run, she commits suicide. Monisha’s brother, Nirode, and her sister, Amla, are also in Calcutta. All of them have to fight against the rigid conventions of middle class life. They are largely self afflicted, self-driven, self-condemned to crash in defeat and disaster. The novel is rich in diction. Anita Desai has explored the inner as well as the outer climate. She has dispersed the narration in the flow of several sensibilities. Bye-Bye, Blackbird (1971) is a symbolic novel. In it Anita Desai moves out of familiar Delhi and Calcutta. The novel presents East-West encounter. It is a great irony that the British characters in the novel seem to be more realized than the Indian protagonists. 49.Where Shall We Go This Summer (1982), shows the tragic inner reality of Sita. She is stifled by the cruelty and callousness of urban life. She is fed up with the burden of children. She runs away to a small island. In Fire on the Mountain, Anita Desai presents the psychology of two different woman characters-Nanda and Raka. On the one hand, Nanda is an unsentimental old widow, on the other hand, Raka is a shy, gentle and lovely school girl. Nanda leads a segregated life like a recluse in a segregated hill hut. The story takes a tragic turn when Illa Das, Nanda’s bosom friend and a social worker is raped and strangled. This incident overcasts its dark shadow on Nanda Kaul. The imagery of the book has reached the height of Shakespearean tragedies, where metaphor plays a significant role in the plot and structure of the royal tragedies. Clear Light of Day (1980) is set at the time of India achieving Independence. The novel depicts a mansion in Delhi which becomes for the most part the centre of action. Bimla, the protagonist, is brought up in an upper middle class Hindu family. The novel positions Bimla in a circle of power by making her the first child of her parents. After the death of her parents, she takes the responsibility of running the household. Bimla’s femininity in the novel is pushed aside. She is empowered to become the individual wearing the masculine mask. In this novel, Anita Desai has, rewritten the history of modern India by slowly depicting a woman's character who casts away her traditional role and adopts the role of a bread — earner. -50-Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists Anita Desai’s In Custody (1984) strikes a different note from her previous novels. Instead of portraying the psyche of her heroines, she focuses on the predicament of male protagonist. In this novel she describes the struggle of a college lecturer Deven and how his attempt to interview Nur, the greatest living Urdu poet, proves a fiasco. But a study of the novelist’s use of irony offers a deep insight into the meaning of the novel. It highlights the depth, richness and complexity of novelist’s vision. Thus, Anita Desai has heralded a new era in the realm of psychological portrayal of the character. She herself observes:— “My novels don't have themes at least not till they are finished, published or read, do I see any theme. While writing I follow Hlashness of insides. I veer away from or even fight any thing that threatens to distort or destroy this inside, and somehow come to the end and look back to see the pattern of footprints on the sand.” (Desai —p.1) Mrs. Vimla Raina, a well — known poetess and dramatist is known for her debut and bestselling novel Ambapali. She earned tremendous reputation in Indo — English fiction, with the publication of this novel. Ambapali (1962) is based on the life of the courtesan Ambapali, who is loved and appreciated by all in Vaishali and Magadh. The novelist presents a realistic picture of Vaishali. She has produced the loving, throbbing warm — blooded and yet pure characters like Ambapali. She also portrays a number of other 51.Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists characters like Ajat Shatru, the king of Magadh, the gentle prince Suryanami and Charanda who tries to smother-his passion beneath ochre robes. Kautilaya, the ancient Machiavelli, is also portrayed very well. There is Buddha, preaching his ideals and gospels and showing the path leading to the “nirvana”. Ambapali was the first woman in the fold of Lord Buddha. Rama Mehta (1923-1978) was the first woman to be appointed to India’s Foreign Service. She was also a sociologist and lecturer. But she was forced to resign her position because of her marriage. Rama Mehta was awarded the prestigious Sahitya Academy Award in 1979 for her first novel Inside the Haveli (1977). The novel realistically delineates the confrontation between culture and civilization. It also deals with the differences of city and village, tradition, and modernism. It depicts how Geeta, a modern Bombay girl, has to lead a secluded life under the Purdah in the Haveli. Shashi Deshpande (1938) shot into lime light in 1977. She is a born story-teller. She started her literary career as a short story writer. But later she proved herself as a prominent novelist. Two of her novels The Dark Holds No Terror and That Long Silence, won the Sahitya Akademy Award, She attempts to analyze man-woman relationship within the ambit of family and society. She is concerned with the intriguing problems and the suffocating environment of her female protagonists. Her female protagonists try to discover their true identity in male-dominated world. Her first novel, The Dark Holds No Terror (1980) presents an unusual character Sarita. Sarita dares to challenge the age-old traditions to marry a man of outside her 52.Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists caste. But her marriage does not prove to be a happy one. She faces many problems as a working woman. The novel deals with various phases of woman's life as a daughter, sister, wife and mother. Another novel, Roots and Shadows won the ‘Thirumati Rangammal Prize in 1984. The novel projects the inner world and thoughts of Indu. Indu refuses to be cowed down by Akka, the rich family tyrant, who dominated her ancestral home. Her Sahitya Akademy Award winner novel, The Binding Vine (1993) is a feminine novel. The novel projects complex human relationship through three women characters- Urmila, Mira and Kalpana. Since ages Indian women however educated they are, taught to submit to the will of her husband, without asking why? Through this novel Shashi Deshpande poses the question-is it necessary to submit and obey the husband's will all the time? In That Long Silence, Shashi Deshpande presents a married woman, Jaya who suffers silently. In the novel, she makes an aesthetic plea to free the female psyche from the conventional male control. The novel revolves round the pathetic and heart rending condition of women in a male dominated society. Shashi Deshpande explores the concept of freedom in the light of Rousseau’s philosophy in the novel, A Matter of Time (1996). Freedom is not only social, economical or cultural, it is more than that. It lies in having the courage to do what one believes is right thing to do and the determination 53.Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists and tenacity to adhere to it. The novelist portrays the mental state of different kinds of people on the journey to freedom. The novel is narrated from Gopal and Sumi’s point of view. . Charactes of the novel realized that they had to unshackle themselves from centuries of bondages to social norms and pre- decided roles. But they succeeded in doing it only within the limited purview of their own lives. Bharati Mukherjee (1940) is a significant woman novelist. She was born on 27* July 1940 in a Bengali Brahmin family of Calcutta. Her main creative novels are; The Tiger's Daughter (1972), Wife (1975), Jasmine (1989), The Holder of the World (1993) Leave it to Me (1997), Desirable Daughters (2002) and The Tree Bride (2004). An examination of the works of Mukherjee reveals a movement from expatriation to immigration. In the Tiger's Daughter, Hotel Catelli Continental, described as the “navel of the universe”, becomes an important symbol of a rootless existence, a symbol of Tara’s expatriate sensibility. In Wife, the ‘cage’ is an important symbol which stands for a comfortable but restricted existence. Jasmine is a feminist novel where the protagonist rebels not only against age-old superstitions and traditions, but also effects a proper balance between tradition and modernity. The novel is a celebration of the strength of a woman, not her weakness. In one of her interviews she comments:— “We immigrants have fascinating tales to relate. Many of us have lived in newly independent or emerging countries, which are plagued by civil and religious conflicts. We have experienced rapid changes in the 54Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists history of the bastions in which we lived. When we uproot ourselves from home countries we can come here, either by choice or by necessity, we suddenly must absorb 200 years of American history and learn to adapt to American society. Our lives are remarkable often heroic.” (Carb-pp. 653-54) Gita Mehta (1943) started her career with writing scripts for documentary films. Her novels Karma Kola, Raj, A River Sutra, Snakes and Ladder are universally appraised. She herself observed.— “Karma Cola was written almost on a bet. I thought, ‘really; this is great’ I think every first book is a joined’ esprit, you are not self conscious. Then — God punished me. The best book took nine years. This was Raj, which demanded a lot of research ... One of the things that irritates all my readers is that no one book is like the other. So if you like Raj you hate A River Sutra. But to me what is fascinating is to deal with different material and with the parameters of the material. I enjoy not repeating myself.” (Mehta -p. 30) Her novel Karma Cola (1979) reflects the corruptions prevalent in our life. It is a witty satire on the lives of the fundamentalist priests:—Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists ‘Her wit is swift and cutting..... Her tough . intellectual approach rather uniquely combined with an unusual “sense of humour produces carefully carved incidents which are pure theatre, blazingly fanny and desperately true.” (Karma Cola) Her next novel Raj (1989) reflects a crucial period in the Indian history. It is the story of a young princess, Jaya. The novel presents the Royal past of Rajasthan. She has divided her novel into four books, ‘Balmer’, ‘Sirpur’,, ‘Maharani’, and ‘Regent’. The novel opens with a prologue. It introduces us with Maharaja Jaisingh, his queen and their children. The novelist portrays a picturesque world of Balmer. She shows the skill of narrating in luxuriance of imagery. Another novel A River Sutra (1993) presents various hues of life in a realistic manner. She is a deft story— teller. The reader is surprised to see an unexpected end of a story, giving place to the new one. A River Sutra begins with the epigraph ‘Listen’ on brother-Man is the greatest truth nothing beyond.’ (Love songs of Chandidas). There are six stories in the novel; “The Monk's’, “The Teacher's’, “The Executive's”, “The Courtesan’s”, The Musician’s” and “The Minstrel’s”. Shobha De (1948) is one of the brilliant names in the galaxy of Indian Women novelists in English. With her works like, Snapshots, Sisters, Second Thoughts or Speedpost, she has enlightened and enriched Indian English fictional -56-Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists world. She has portrayed the sexual mania of the commercial world. Her works have sensitive appeal and realistic touch. She is very frank and straight forward in the narration of incidents. She shot into literary limelight by writing her first novel, Socialite Evening in 1988. The novel is Lawrencian in expression The novelist has tended to be more introspective and contemplative about life beyond the glamour and superficiality of the elite society. When Snapshots was published, it created a furore among the reading public. Shobha De was unceasingly accused of sensual titillation due to her bold sexual imagery. The novelist has presented vivid expression of premarital, extra marital, incestuous and lesbian relationships. In her novel Second Thoughts, she has presented “The New Woman’. It means ‘New’ literary female model. The ‘New’ woman is assertive and self-willed. Maya is a young, pretty, urban middle class woman. She is born and brought up in Calcutta. She has great fascination for the city. She is married to a Bengali boy Ranjan who is settled in Bombay. But their marriage failed due to Ranjan’s strange behaviour. Besides his physical coolness, he did not even care to cater her emotional requirements. And when the suffering is beyond her endurance, she violates general and accepted norms of society. She is capable enough of taking bold decision. She is ready to attach a new meaning to her meaningless married life. Shobha de’s other important works are Starry Nights (1989), Sultry Days (1994), Strange Obsession, ST-Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists Shooting from the Hip (1994), Small Betrayals (1995), Surviving Men (1998) and Speedpost (1994). Shobha De has openly discussed sex in most of her works. She depicts the familial and societal maladjustments that force women to seek emotional outlets elsewhere. A woman has to encounter solitude, acerbity, frustration and alienation in a male dominated value structure. She portrays the secret depths of the human psyche. Her racy and captivating style and her accurate characterization compel the reader to identify himself with situations and characters. She has penned down very fine pieces of poetic and metaphoric exactitude which haunt our mind long after reading. Manju Kapur (1948) shot into prominence with her very first novel Difficult Daughters (1998). The novel succeeded in winning the famous Commonwealth Writer's prize for Eurasia region. Difficult Daughters begins with death, in the middle, it is interwoven with memories it ends in a feeling of loss and despair. The novel discusses the life of Virmati and her relationship with her mother Kasturi, her sisters and her daughter Ida and Harish’s wife Ganga. The novel also deals with the extra—marital affairs of the protagonist. About the book, she observes:— “Nothing is planned in a big way, but eventually things may take a grand shape. Writing this novel was not very difficult for me, but it took eight long years before the book finally saw the light of the day.” (Kapur Magazine-p. 132) 58.Tradition and Sce io of Indian Women Novelists Her next novel, A Married Woman (2002) has the issue of Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi and the frenzied reaction of the people as the focal point. This political issue and Astha's attempts to present it on the canvas, are somehow sidelined due to Astha’s sexual forays. Manju Kapur’s novels enable us to get an idea of the feminist struggle against biases. A woman's life is like the life of a nation which is passing through various trials and tribulations. Ida struggles to reconstruct her mother’s life, Astha struggles to place the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmbhoomi episode in the correct perspective. These novels show that Manju Kapur is a skilful wordsmith. Kiran Desai (1971) is the renowned Indian English novelist. She is the daughter of an eminent Indian English author, Anita Desai. She made her eminence by her fascinating novels, Hulla Baloo in the Guava Orchard and The Inheritance of Loss. The Inheritance of Loss, won the prestigious Man Booker Award in 2006 by eclipsing the works of five other short-listed authors. The novel is partly set in India and partly in the USA. Kiran Desai described herself that the novel:— “tries to capture what it means to live between East and West and what it means to be an immigrant.” (Human warmth). The novel has been described as ‘a globalized novel for a globalized world.’ The novel deals with the quest for individual identity and the struggle for self-determination. 59.Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists The Indian part deals with the story of a makeshift family comprising an irascible and retired judge, his young grand— daughter, his old and loyal cook and his pet dog. The American section narrates the story of Biju, the son of the judge’s cook, who struggles to survive as an illegal immigrant worker in New York. This multi-layered novel that tells parallel stories set in India and America, is written in a riveting prose that shimmers with uncompromising honesty and astonishing humanity. Gita Hariharan’s first Common Wealth Award winning novel The Thousand Faces of Night may be read as revisionist myth-making-programme, in which the novelist attempts to renew the whole comm6unity of women through representation of myths. She strongly believes in the theory of womans liberation from the bondage of male domination. Devi is the central woman character in the novel. She has to bear the brunt of patriarchal persecution. Malashri Lal calls the novel: “a narrative of split consciousness.” She maintains that there is a paradigm of the ‘Law of the threshold’ in the Indian context that implies a strong sense of the inside’ and ‘out’ there. (Lal- p. 109) dhumpa Lahiri (1967) is a sparkling sequin on the fabric of Diaspora writing. She is the winner of Pulitzer prize. She was born in London in 1967 of Bengali parents. Inspite of having lived all her life in U. K. and U.S.A, she shows the subtle nuances of typical Bengali life and culture. Her novel 606Teadition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists The Namesake powerfully depicts the disillusionment of the Bengali immigrants td us. The novel explores the immigrant experience of the middle class Bengali American couple and their first generation offsprings in the U.S. struggling for survival and assimilation. Jhumpa Lahiri provides an authentic detail of diasporic culture by throwing light on the lives of the characters~ Ashok, Ashima and their son Gogol in her debut novel The Namesake. The novel discusses the ‘names’ relations, families, inheritance, cultural and psychological norms with respect to home. Namita Gokhale, the contemporary Indian women novelist has beautifully and realistically portrayed the plights of women who have to bear the brunt of patriarchal domination. Quest for self and search for identity are the main features of the women characters of Gokhale. Namita Gokhale’s novel ‘Paro’ is the story of an irresistible and passionate, through outrageous woman of the same name and is narrated by the observant Priya, who records not only the love and the failures of her friend but her own. Paro is presented as a proud, audacious and self- confidant, ambitious woman with an assured cat-like grace. Priya and Paro are, in fact, like the two faces of a coin; are complimentary to each other. Both of them put together stand for a typical modern woman of today. Sex and sensuality are part of life and in order to aceept this life one has to affirm sensuality. Namita Gokhale seems to say that she is not concerned with the traditional concept of morality and purity of love. In Paro women -61-Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists character are not silent rebels but are bold, outspoken determined and action- oriented. Sometimes in a fit of boldness these emancipated women can abuse the men in words which even coarse, illiterate women would not use in Public. In the late 1960's the homosexual themes came into light when a new school of gender theory began to study gender and sexuality. Gay and lesbian literature since World War II chronicles the multifaceted explosion of gay and lesbian writing that has taken place in the second half of the twentieth century. Late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries writers speak of women’s same sex desire in terms of ‘female sexual inversion’ or ‘female homosexuality’. Lesbian consciousness is a late nineteenth century phenomenon. Rita Garg's maiden novel ‘Precursor of Love’ analyzes female love, desire and eroticism in a range of early modern discourses but with a different attitude. She herself writes:— “The fact of two women’s total closeness is nothing new or regional but its dimensions are on the increase. Hence, the need of this novel, The present discussion on this problem might help the future generations from being misled while deciding to settle down in life with 2 companion-homo or hetero.” (Garg Pretace) 62Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists The Girl, heroine of the novel is a business person. In her school days she indulged in lesbian relationship. She attracted girls by singing songs and creating other mesmerizing features for girls like money, car, scooty ete:— ‘She seems to be fond of joy, fun, hilarity, tea, and college level chit chat in Epicurean style. Such a person is universally appreciated” (Precursor of Love —p. 5) Thus, this brief analysis clearly shows that the seed of Indian Women novelists in English was sown during the period of the British rule in India. Now the seed has blossomed into an ever green tree with fragrant flowers and ripe fruits. The women have made their permanent mark in the field of English fictions. They are being conferred on not only national but also international awards. They have heralded new consciousness, particularly the pathetic plight of the Indian women. From being a curious native explosion, Indian English has become a new form of Indian culture and voice in which India speaks. The parade of fine Indian women writers is long and lengthening. In their novels, the women protagonists revolt against hypocritical and insensitive male domination. They do not want to lead a desolated and entirely sapless life. It is pride to state that the women novelists constitute a major group of the Indian writers in English. They are now enjoying an increasing popularity and prestige. They have produced sufficient work to merit attention. In a nut- shell, we can state that the fruits of the tree of Indian women writing in English are being tasted not only by the native 63Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists people, but they are also being ‘chewed and digested’ by the foreigners. It was possible only after the constant caring, watering, pruning and feeding. In the realm of fiction, Indian women novelists are progressing by leaps and bounds.Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists References > Agrawal, Ramlal : Interview with R. P. Jhabvala (Quest, sep oct. 1974) p. 36. > Agrawal, Ramlal : Interview with R. P. Jhabvala (Quest, sep~ oct. 1974) p. 36. > Asnani, Shyam M. ; Critical Response to Indian English Fiction, (Mittal Pub. Delhi 1985) p. 80. > Carb, Alison B. : “An Interview with Bharti Mukherjee” The Massachusetts Review, Winter 1988-89, pp. 653 — 54. > Desai, Anita; “Replies to the Questionnaires” Kakatiyas Journal of English Studies, Vol. 3, No 1, 1978, p. 1. > ‘Human Warmth is such an innate part of India ; file ; “G:/kd? Human warmth is such an innate part of India/.htm. > Iyengar, KR. Srinivasa : Indian Writing in English, Sterling Publishers Private Limited p — 55 > Iyengar, K. R. Srinivasa : Indian Writing in English, Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, 1994, p. 440. v dung, Anees : Unveiling India, (Penguin Books, Delhi, 1987) p. 26. >» Karma Cola, Quoted at the blurb of the book, Penguin Books, New Delhi. > Kapur, Manju : Rashtriya Sahara Magazine, April, 1999, p. 132. > Krishnaswamy, S; “Kamala Markandaya : Autonomy, Nuturance and the Sisterhood of Man” The Woman in Indian Fiction in English (New Delhi : Ashish Publishing House, 1984, p. 162) > Lal, Malashri, “Writing the Self : Indian Women Writers in English” Literature and Ideology, ed. Veena Singh Rawat Publications. Jaipur, 1999. -65-Tradition and Scenario of Indian Women Novelists > Mahajan, Anita, “Storm in Chandigarh ; An Assessment,” Indian Women Novelist, ed. R. K. Dhawan, (New Delhi 3 Prestige Books, 1993), Set II, Vol.. 4, p .164. > Mehta, Gita : In an interview with First City, Delhi City Magazine, June 1997, p. 30. v Plato : The Republic, The Penguin Classics, p. 225. v Plato : The Republic, The Penguin Classics, p. 229. v Quoted from Indira Gandhi's speech used as an epigraph in the monograph, in Prof. Asha S. Kanwar, Ghashiram Kotwal : A Study Guide, IGNOU, New Delhi, 1993, p. 1. > Rao, A. V. Krishna, This Time of Morning ; A Critical Assessment, “Indian Women Novelists, ed. R. K. Dhawan, (New Delhi ; Prestige Books, 1993), Set II, Vol . 4, p. 155. > Saville, Sheila, “Indian Civil Servants in a Strike Crisis”, Eastern Daily Express, June 13, 1969 > Sinha, Lakshmi, “Nayantara Sahgal’s Sextet; From A Time to be Happy to Rich Like US” Indian Women Novelists, ed. R. K. Dhawan. (New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1993) set IT, vol. 4, p. 42. > Woolf, Virginia; The Common Reader. (Ist series) The Hograth Press, London, 1953, p. 177. -66-