The Works Of Kiran Desai And Her Themes
As luck would have it marital bliss was not to be his. The only moment of passion that he shared with his wife Nimi who was known as Bela before her marriage and later changed to Nimi, was a cycle ride together while the family was out to sell the precious stones brought by Nimi in her dowry. Once he returns back from England securing the place in the ICS exam, his colonial hangover of feeling inferior due to his dark skin, takes better of him; since his days in England had him rubbing white powder into his facial skin with a puff. He had suffered unspoken humiliation and embarrassment in England which transformed him into an embittered soul. His young wife was full of curiosity about her husband’s possessions after his return from a foreign country; she managed to hide the pink powder puff into her blouse planning to sneak away, but was caught red handed. This incident turned him against her; he felt only rage when he saw her. Before leaving for England Jemubhai was so gentle and shy that he failed to consummate his marriage, fearing that he might hurt his young wife, but his bitter experiences in Britain changed him into a surreal monster towards his wife.
According to Sociology man is the product of past life and past environment, exerting at the same time that the civilized man acquires a certain mental versatility in coping with the changing complexity of his situation and this makes him adjust more readily to other environments. However in the case of Jemubhai the above statement is true but just partially, he had adjusted particularly well in England despite all hardships related to an alien country’s hostile environment beginning from food to people and other things. But once back in his own country and home he assumes great self-importance though he was the last one in the list of candidates to have cleared the ICS exam. The wife’s ingenuous curiosity had the better of her, being young and naïve the hiding of the powder puff was an innocent act, Jemubhai misinterpreted it as an encroachment upon his personal domain and as an act of defiance. This seemingly harmless incident enrages him against his simple wife to the point of no return. The puff was associated directly with his embarrassment in Britain, by discovering and taking possession over it his wife had uncovered his humiliation. The powder puff represents his tool of assimilation which he had been accustomed to lighten his complexion. He seeks recourse to the example set by the original colonial masters’ behavior he had so suffered in England and guided by it annihilates the unsuspecting wife’s life. Seldom aware of the intricate connection between the patterns of their own lives and the course of history taking shape men usually fail to see the connection between self and the world, and the kind of men they are becoming. Such a highly placed man in the hierarchy of law and administration loses all control over his civilized self to turn literally into a beast. There occurs a shift in power equation now; he turns himself into the colonial master and his wife the derided subject. He turns vindictive and demonic, instead of sharing his past grief with her in a civilized manner, he takes refuge in violence against her, perhaps he fears going soft on account of probably a few gentle emotions left in him. “He would teach her the same lessons of loneliness and shame he had learned himself. ”
There was no love, only lust and hatred in his relationship with his wife. “Nimi did not accompany her husband on tour, unlike the other wives, who went along on horseback or elephant back or camelback or in palkis upheld by porters (all of whom would, because of ladies’ fat bottoms, die young)”. Desai has this uncanny sense of humour to weave into the text at most unlikely instances. In the same breath she would perhaps score brownie points for speaking realistically about the palki bearers and at the same time earn the ire of fat ladies whom she is holding responsible for the death of the poor labourers! To see humour in most macabre of situations is perhaps not possible for ordinary beings, but Desai is not ordinary a fact being reflected in her celebrated Booker Winner novel.
Over the years Jemubhai, too, found no solace in his uneducated wife whose mannerisms seemed uncouth and unbecoming of a Judge’s wife. He tried to mend matters by keeping an Anglo-Indian tutor to initiate and train her in polished behavior, but already by then too much force and aggression had been wielded on the poor woman by her “civilized” husband. On account of this aggression she had turned obstinate to the point of no return. Resistance to the so called civilized ways was her only way to show reprobation. “She had spent nineteen years within the confines of her father’s compound she was still unable to contemplate the idea of walking through the gate. The way it stood open for her to come and go — the sight filled her with loneliness. She was uncared for, her freedom useless, her husband disregarded his duty. ” Jemubhai, a highly educated man of law, a sitting judge has lost his ability to meaningfully communicate with his wife, his attitude against her is stymied in negativity. It is just not the absence of skill to communicate, this skill exists but there is a loss of tolerance, a loss of strategy to apply these skills to improvise on his crumbling marriage. As a judge, Jemubhai must have helped resolve many conflicting situations, had he applied the same to his own marriage it would certainly have improved his marriage situation dramatically. Of course it takes courage, strength and trust to establish communication with one’s own spouse against whom one feels hatred, anger and displeasure. Use of force is the only answer such a person can resort to. As Ernest Jones, the psychoanalyst, asserted, that “man’s chief enemy and danger is his own unruly nature and the dark forces pent up within him. ”
Use of force is the end of mutuality and consequently it narrows also to a minimum the expression of the nature of those who wield it. Situations calling for effective social control demand the element of cooperation, use of “naked force” does not proffer desired outcome. “The exercise of force, whenever there is a practical alternative, is a wasteful operation, for it checks all the ordinary processes of life, all the give-and-take of common living. The more it is used, the more it breeds resistance, thus necessitating still more enforcement”. One day when he discovered her footmarks on the toilet seat his leftover counsel abandoned him and caused him to behave as a beast making him catch her hair at the back of her head and shoving her face into the toilet bowl. Such dastardly acts of her husband shrunk and reduced her mind’s faculties of comprehension further more.
At another inctance, simple soul, Nimi was dragged along with an active political worker to greet Nehru at the railway station. Not having any inkling about it she found herself hauled in a car to the railway station, slogans were shouted Indian National heroes were hailed and back to her house Nimi was dropped back unceremoniously. Reports of this rendezvous reached the colonial government, Jemubhai was summoned and explained the possible consequences of his wife’s act of defiance. Jemubhai listened to the allegations dumbfounded; once back home he accosted his wife, who was incredulous herself. He called her a fool and for the first time she returned back the favour with equal disdain saying that it was he who was really a fool. This one and only retort of hers unleashes adequate fury on her by her husband, the black and blue marks on her body lasting over a month, narrating the untold story of her misery. All this while she had been a mute victim to her husband’s excesses and a retort from her made the Judge lose all his sanity. This retort could have been taken by the Judge as a spark of hope for their relationship, a truly mature person could have taken it as a chance to initiate a dialogue and mend existing misunderstandings but male chauvinism would not allow an exchange of ideas, women have to be just spoken to, never to be heard. Can one conclude that a mere powder puff had become the cause of Nimi’s hamartia or given the society of its time there would anyway had been no hope of salvaging Nimi. “By year’s end the dread they had for each other was so severe it was as if they had tapped into a limitless bitterness carrying them beyond the parameters of what any individual is normally capable of feeling. They belonged to this emotion more than to themselves, experienced rage with enough muscle in it for entire nations coupled in hate.
Exasperated the Judge realizes that he may end up murdering her and hence decides to send her back to her father’s haveli, she was reluctant to go as she feared for her father’s honour and pride. She was ready to suffer and die a slow death yet defend her father’s honour. She delivered Jemubhai’s daughter at her father’s haveli, which had been taken over by her uncle after her father’s death. When the news of his daughter’s birth elicits no response from Jemubhai the uncle realizes that she had been sent there for good. He asks her blatantly to leave the place citing that she had been given a handsome dowry as her share and that they would have nothing to do with her now. Nimi was given refuge by a cousin, whose husband despised her completely. Jemubhai conspired with him to cause her death and make it look like an accident, as numerous accidents take place in the country by the exploding kerosene stoves. He is gracious enough to arrange for their daughter’s education, who later elopes with another orphan. The judge seems almost relieved that he would not be expected to provide for her in wake of such a disgraceful act. Little did he know that he will only have to bear the responsibility of her child after she and her spouse die in an accident. Sai, the grand-daughter arrives to stay with her grand-father, the judge. Jemubhai’s most trusted companions in his old age are chess and his pet dog Mutt, both mute, though the dog could reciprocate some feelings, the game of chess signify the British Empire without any real opponents. He has only one friend, Bose, with whom he had shared their colonial past. The cook fulfills the Judge’s need for specialized food items, his palate being defined by the English taste he had developed during his stay in England as a student and his subsequent service in the ICS.
Towards the end, Jemubhai, while reminiscing about his life, does wonder to himself whether he had been too harsh with his wife. He completely adores his pet bitch Mutt, who is his closest companion he loves and dotes on her, to the point of surrender. When Mutt gets kidnapped, the judge feels helpless and miserable. He is shown to have human feelings with Mutt’s disappearance. Perhaps with age not on his side, the need to have some company is appropriately fulfilled by a pet dog which is like a spoilt child but reveres her master. Mutt and the judge form a mutual admiration club, fulfilling each other’s need; the animal needing to be looked after and the human needing to look after. A powerful man who finds himself incapable of compromising with his wedded wife’s idiosyncrasies and mannerisms in his youth, becomes overly so concerned and devoted to an animal in his old age. His solitude is filled in with his pet dog, which becomes a true symbol of companionship, the others Sai and the cook just about exist in his life. The cook is so cheaply paid for his services that he has to resort to illegal means to subsist, he exists in Cho Oyu only to fulfill the Judge’s needs. Sai has to be provided for and looked after because she had been orphaned and her grandfather was the only known relative to exist.
