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Well, Devi's mother arranges her meetings with suitable boys. Devi marries Mahesh. Why? Who knows? There is nothing to sustain the marriage, neither the husband nor the wife have any interest in making the marriage work. Mahesh is one more example of what a husband should not be. Devi lives like a stranger in her own home, with a stranger whom she has married, a father-in-law who quotes for her sayings from Sanskrit books, Mayamma a servant. Mayamma is the second important female characters of this book. She is introduced as if she would be the Indian equivalent of Mrs. Danvers in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, but soon turns out to be nothing but a victim of a heartless husband and mother-in-law, and whose life became worth living only after she came as a servant to Parvatiamma, Mahesh's mother. Even Mayamma's philosophical outlooks learnt from the hard life she had had to lead, cannot and do not influence Devi. Mayamma does not judge Devi, does not stop her when the latter decides to elope with Gopal, a musician next door. She could not have as after all she was the servant and Devi was the lady of the house, though she does not understand what that role implies. About two-thirds into the book it starts getting interesting. The main character there is Sita, Devi's mother. This Sita is a woman who knows her mind, has clear views on what she wants to achieve. Like the stray branches of the jasmine plant she prunes in her garden, she prunes the stray branches, thoughts, and actions in her life to achieve what she wants to. As a girl, her ambition was to become a great Vina player. She achieves that, but silences her craving for music for ever, when she pulls out the strings of her instrument when the instrument comes in the way of her being accepted as a good wife and a good daughter-in-law. The Sitas and Devis of this novel are very unlike the mythological characters of Sita and Devi. Sita of the novel is very firm in character and stops at nothing which could come in her way. Devi who carries the name of that great goddess, the goddess who vanquished demons as if they were flies, is a person without any back bone. The only times Githa Hariharan's Devi exhibits any firmness of mind is when she gets into and out of senseless relationships - once with Dan and the next time with Gopal. Both relationships are doomed to be nothing other than temporary answers to the dilemma which Devi faces in her life - dilemma of not knowing what to do with it. Hariharan is a talented writer. The book has quite a few interesting ideas. Unfortunately they are a bit disjointed. End! |