Chapter I. The Cartography of Indian Women Fiction

Transcription

1 21 Chapter I The Cartography of Indian Women Fiction The novel is a replica of reality which depicts a complex society woven around understanding the social structure in its intricacy of motifs. The novelists comprehension of man s relationship with society and environment in accordance with changing emotions is prevalent in everyday novel. A novel mostly reflects the contemporary society in its meaning and substance. Anita Singh in her article, Indian English Novel in the Nineties and After states: The literary values of a novel are often determined by a conjunction of e. subliminal and synchronous forces, which generate independently of the author, investing the surface story with a deeper social significance (The Atlantic Literary Review, 59). The novel encompasses all other literary forms, having no limits concerning style or subject. The colonies of England after getting political independence started cultivating English language for the development of their nations. Indians also hinged on English language as a medium in order to understand administrative policy of the imperial authority. In Indian Writing in English and poetry flourished all other literary forms in the beginning. But fiction arrived at last on the Indian English literary scene dominating all other forms having substantial growth in its content and style. The western novel was concerned with space and human beings relationships as the focal point. On the other hand, Indian

2 22 novel in English began as a colonial encounter, which described tradition and experiences related to Indian society. In the early period of the Indian English novel, writers mostly concentrated on themes like romantic, sentimental and historical themes, having emulated the eighteenth and the nineteenth century British fiction writers like Daniel Defoe, Fielding and Scott as their models. It is evident that the literary revival started in Bengal at first, but afterwards it appeared in Madras and Bombay presidencies. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee s first and only novel in Indian English, Rajmohan s Wife, is considered to be the first Indian novel in English in which romanticism and the nationalism of Bengal are blended together, having the national self-respect as the background theme. He was considered to be the literary master of not only of the romantic novel but also of the historical novel. Rabindranath Tagore reaped his fruits of success in writing novels following the footsteps of Bankim. He portrayed the psychological struggles of his characters in his fiction. In the Pre-Independence period, Indian English novels were more factual depicting contemporary India s social setting under the impact of Gandhian principles. Bhagabat Nayak s in his article, Trends in Indian English Fiction: Past Perfect and Present Continuous states: The resurgence of English education, rise of India s Bloomsbury intellectuals, political unity between Hindus and Muslims, vision of imagined India and sway of Gandhian ideology of the nation favoured a few elite Indians to write fiction in English

3 23 (The Atlantic Literary Review, 114). The emergence of great trio - Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao and R.K. Narayan in 1930s in the history of Indian English fiction was a noteworthy development. They created an identity for Indian English fiction by drawing the kaleidoscopic view of Indian geography and traditions. Anand s societal concern in Untouchable (1935) and Coolie (1936) highlights the claims of Brahmanic dominant culture which has suppressed the dreams of Indian downtrodden class. In the novels of Anand, marital relationships are visualized from outside. The maddening abnormality of human nature is justly viewed in Victor s fatal infatuation for his mistress, Gangi, in The Private life of an Indian Prince. Ananta s relations with Janaki have furnished the theme of romance in The Big Heart. R.K. Narayan offers his own literary world projecting men characters as crux while giving women characters of secondary importance. The married life of Savitri and her husband, Ramani is slightly cracked with the intrusion of the other woman, Shanta Bai in The Dark Room. He became unsuccessful with his experiment, Mr. Sampath in which the young artist, Ravi has fallen in love with the actress, Shanti whom he tries to carry away. Raja Rao s fictional world obviously has lacked the social milieu of Anand and Narayan. He has painted the East-West confrontation with the help of themes like true love and marriage. The gulf between Indian and western concepts of love, marriage and family is clearly understood when Ramaswamy marries a foreigner, Madeline and later falls in love with an educated Indian

4 24 girl, Savithri in the novel The Serpent and the Rope. The success of the trio inspired the emergence of novelists like Bhabani Bhattacharya, Manohar Malgonkar and Kushwant Singh. In the post-independence period, Indian English novelists dealt with man s suffering in accordance with psychological, historical, social problems and spiritual quest. Though Bhabani Bhattacharya was strongly influenced by Tagore and Gandhi, his fiction had an unmistakable social purpose like Anand. M.K. Naik observes in A History of Indian English Literature about Bhattacharya s novel Music for Mohini as: The novel fails both as a domestic drama of marital adjustment and a cultural stamen of the East West encounters (214). His women characters are victimized but later acquire harmony in life. Manohar Malgonkar has a belief that art should provide entertainment. In his fiction, he gives importance to male domination whereas women are treated as instruments of masculine pleasure. The themes of love and lust are skillfully drawn in the relationships of Winton, Jean, Eddie and Ruby in Combat of Shadows. Sundari packs her off with Gian to whom love is a skilful game in A Bend in the Ganges. Khushwant Singh is a novelist who deftly paints the mundane things in his novels. M.K. Naik also points out: Khushwant Singh s obsession with sex results in exercises in copulation involving major characters as well as minor practically in every chapter in I shall not Hear the Nightingale (220).

5 25 A host of Indian English novelists have turned up on the literary scene exploring creative themes with diversity. Balachandra Rajan illustrates psychological realism and fantasy with the background of East-West confrontation in his fiction. Sudhindranath Bose attempts to reflect and creatively interpret Indian ethos in his novels whereas G.V. Desani has highlighted human beings spiritual quest for the comprehension of the meaning of life. It is clearly viewed that Indian English novelists shifted their interest from the public to the private matters after Arun Joshi mainly projects the theme of alienation in its different aspects like self-pity and escapism. Chaman Nahal exposes the East-West encounter explaining life s painful events in his fiction. K.Smitha in her article, The Development of Indian English Fiction says: However the 1970 s was also the gestation period for the revolution in fictional technique and sensibility that was to occur the 1980 s (India English Fiction: New Perspectives, 3). In 1981, Salman Rushdie s Midnight s Children registers the significant change in Indian English fiction which foreshadows the arrival of a new novel with fresh blooming. Among them, the notable novelists are Vikram Seth, Amitav Ghosh, Rahinton Mistry, Amitav Chaudhury, Raj Kamal Jha, Kiran Nagarkar, Ruskin Bond, Shiv K. Kumar, Shashi Tharoor, Vikram Chandra and V.S. Naipal, etc. In the nineteenth century, orthodox reformers encouraged women education which honed the skills of women as good home makers and protectors of the traditional values in the Indian society. Christian missionaries

6 26 started establishing girls schools in the 1880 s but it were not very much beneficial for them as they were confined to the larger towns and cities. The literary representation of Indian women writers was underestimated owing to patriarchal ideas of male domination. An astonishing development happened with the early show up of women novelists though female education was not of importance. In the early phase, these women novelists restricted themselves to the themes of encased domestic life and their experience within it and hence their novels were labelled as immature. Among those women novelists, a few of them are Raj Lakshmi Debi, who wrote The Hindoo wife in 1876 and Toru Dutt presented her novel, Binaca in 1878, a romantic story set in England. Krupabai Sathianathan exposed the cultural discord faced by a Hindu woman, who is caught in between western and Indian cultures in her novel, Kamala in Shevantibai M.Nikambe highlights the contemporary women in her novel, Ratanbai: A Sketch of a Bombay High Caste Hindu young wife written in Antonia Navarro-Tejero in the article, Modern Indian women writers in English states: Since proficiency in English is available only writers of the intellectual, affluent, educated classes, a frequent judgment is made that the writers, and their works, belong to a high social strata, and are cut off from the reality of Indian life (1). After the Second World War, women novelists of quality have started enhancing the Indian English fiction. The second phase of women novelists, belonging to the post-independence period attained a certain maturity in

7 27 delineating socio-psychological problems of women showing a steady development from modernism to postmodernism ( ). During this period, the novelists have dealt with Indian ethos and multi-cultural elements. A host of Indian women English novelists like Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Kamala Markandaya, Nayantara Sahgal, Anita Desai, Santha Rama Rau, Nergis Dalal, Attia Hosain, Shakuntala Shrinagesh, Raji Narasimhan, Bharati Mukherjee, Shanta Rameshwar Rao, Kamala Das and Rama Mehta formed a sizeable school in fiction. Jhabvala s novels mock at the urban middle class Indian life using gentle irony and satire as weapons. The marriage between an idle idiot but pretty Indian girl and a snooty colonial-minded English emigrant proves to be a disaster in her novel, Esmond in India. A young man and woman relishes the delusion of romantic love though they accept a separate arranged marriage in another novel, To whom she will. M.K. Naik in his book, A History of Indian English Literature says: The most distinctive feature of Jhabvala s novels is the subtlety and adroitness with which she unravels the gossamer threads of intricate human relationships-especially among the women in the Hindu joint family (235). Kamala Markandaya, who is regarded as the most outstanding writer, has explored the individual consciousness projecting the images of cultural change in her novels. She offers us a tragic picture of the Indian family life. Ira, the daughter of Nathan and Rukmani opts to earn money by selling her body in

8 28 order to protect her child brother who is dying of starvation in her Nectar in a Sieve. The prince, Rabi s affair with a slum girl in Bombay turns out to be fantasy in The Golden Honey comb. Nayantara Sahgal s novels deal with the modern Indian woman s search for sexual freedom along with the political theme. The traditional woman, Maya marries the anglicized Harish but seeks escape into extramarital affairs in her novel, A Time To be Happy. Simrit, when she is unable to bear the inhuman treatment of her husband, Som, breaks away and finally marries an energetic young M.P., Garg in The Day in Shadow. Her fascination for political themes and her authority over English is more impressive than her art as a novelist. Anita Desai s works are different from other major Indian women novelists like Jhabvala, Kamal Markandaya and Nayantara Sahgal. Desai has depicted the psychic life of her characters, exposing tensions between family members and the alienation of middle-class women in her fiction. The husband -wife alienation created by the emotional incompatibility between Gautama and Maya forms the important theme of her novel, Cry, the Peacock. The picture of the East-West encounter, involving in sex, love and marriage has been given a variety of treatment through the characters of Sarah and Adit in another novel, Bye-Bye, Blackbird. Desai s characters suffer from the existential crisis when they struggle to maintain their individuality in the society.

9 29 Santha Rama Rau and Nergis Dalal attempt to portray the various aspects of Indian life along with the East-West encounter and clash of the generations. Santha Rama Rau s novel, Remember the House reflects the vivid picture of the East-West encounter through young Indira, how she is affected from adolescence to maturity. Nergis Dalal s Minari explores the high class life of traditional characters at a hill station. Her novel, Two Sisters probes the earthly prejudices like jealousy in between twins who are opposite poles both physically and mentally. Attiah Hosain s Sunlight on a Broken Column presents a nostalgic report of noble life in Pre-partition Lucknow. Shakuntala Shrinagesh s novel, The Little Black Box describes the psychological conflict of a rich woman, Sarala who keeps her money-box under her bed when she is in a hospital. Raji Narasimhan s Forever Free has portrayed an interesting story of a young woman who is in search of fulfilment in life. Bharati Mukherjee s novel, Wife delineates the picture of exasperated Bengali wife, who suffers a sense of alienation in New York. Her novel, Jasmine is a dramatic story of a Punjabi girl s sexual escapades when she goes to the U.S.A. as an illegal immigrant. Shanta Rameshwar Rau s Children of God, Kamala Das s Alphabet of Lust and Rama Mehta s Inside the Haveli are some examples in fiction with a meaningful portrayal to their credit. After 1980, Indian English novelists moved towards values of the globalized world. A plethora of women novelists turned upon the literary scene competing with their men counterparts in writing fiction in English. Anita

10 30 Singh in her article, Indian English Novel in the Nineties and After observes: Global communication technology, multinational capitalism and current configuration of the world system have altered conditions of production and reception of art. Indian English novels have thrown up new signs of identity, opened up innovative sites for collaboration and contestation (The Atlantic Literary Review, 88). During this period, Indian women novelists depict the true picture of Indian society and its treatment of women, highlighting the upper middle class society which they have known well. They have started depicting women characters searching for identity and self-respect erasing their victim status. The prominent women novelists of this new age are Shashi Deshpande, Arundhati Roy, Kavery Nambisan, Indira Ganeshan, Meena Alexander, Anjanna Appachana, Gita Hariharan, Manju Kapur, Dina Mehta, Anitha Rau Badmi, Chitra Diwakaruni, Jhumpa Lahari, Shauna Singh Baldwin, Sunny Singh, Nina Sibal, Namita Gokhale and Shobha De, etc. Shashi Despande s women characters are victims to their fate. Her finest novel, That Long Silence portrays a middle-aged married woman, Jaya who lives a dull married life in a middle class home. This novel is a reflection of a life of boredom and silent suffering. In her novel, The Dark Holds No Terrors the female protagonist is a doctor who rebels against the male macho of her husband in her profession with her acute awareness. In The Binding vine and A Matter of Time, Despande focuses on the eternal hardships of woman.

11 31 Arundhati Roy and Manju Kapur have openly discussed free play of sex, homosexuality and lesbianism in their novels. Ashok Kumar in Women Empowerment through Indo-Anglian Literature points out: With the women s awakening and with the assertion of their rights they have also asserted their right to their bodies (Critical Responses to Feminism, 30). Arundhati Roy s novel, The God of Small Things registers the silencing of women and their victimization in the patriarchal society. Velutha, an untouchable, pays the penalty having fallen in love with a high-caste Christian woman, Ammu, who is a master of her body. Manju Kapur s novel, Difficult Daughters presents the mother-daughter relationship in a realistic manner. Virmati has no reservations about the game of sex before marriage with the married Prof. Harish, and later she becomes his second wife by refusing to be labelled as a victim of the world. Her novel, A Married woman deals with lesbianism which has gone beyond the limits of the Indian social code of conduct. Githa Hariharan s novel, Thousand Faces of Night throws light on the American educated heroine, Devi s search for love in marriage. When she fails, she leaves her husband, Mahesh and her lover to live on her own terms. Her novel, When Dreams Travel narrates the plight of women who become helpless victims of desires of the ruling class. Kavery Nambisan s novel, The Scent of Papers pictures a woman protagonist, Nanji, who maintains dignity and individuality though she has

12 32 gone through colourful drama of everyday existence like countless women in India. Anjana Appachana s novel, Listening Now reflects the legend of Shakuntala, who is deemed as the single mother deserted by her sexual partner through the character, Padma, who leads an intricate life of her own in spite of unfulfilled desires, adjustments and despairs. Dina Mehta s And Some Take a Lover is the story of multicultural relationship in which a Parsi girl in Bombay falls in love with a young Gandhian. Mehta has painted the same theme in her another novel, Milo in Love. Chitra Diwakaruni delineates the story of middle class joint family in Bengal, where two sisters grow up together facing the inner recesses of life in search of identity in her novel, Sister of My Heart. Her novel, The Mistress of Spices displays the magic realism through the main character, Tilo, who tries to empower dislocated inhabitants of Oakland community by selling magical spices. Suniti Nanjoshi stands out for her use of magic realism and fantasy in women s fiction in her works, The Conversations of Cow and The Mothers of Mayadiip, a description of feminist Utopia. Nina Sibal s Yatra is identical with Suniti s novels, where the main character, Krishna possesses magical skin which will change its colour in reply to emotion. Anita Rau Badami s novel, Hero s Walk explains how the Indian communities in the west have confronted the problems through the seven years old protagonist, Nandana, who is wrecked in a cultural shock that her ancestors have experienced in Europe and America. Shauna Singh Baldwin s novel,

13 33 What the Body Remembers emphasizes the predicament of young Punjabi girl s impatience under the restrictions imposed by dictatorial fathers and traditional society. Meena Alexander s Manhattan Music delineates the problems of Indian immigrants in the U.S.A. through the character Draupadi who has never been to India. Sumitra Gupta s novel, Memories of Rain portrays the disastrous life of a young Bengali girl who marries an Englishman when he visits Calcutta, but soon realizes his disloyalty towards her on going to England with him. Shama Futehally s Tara Lane narrates the misfortunes faced by Tahera, nurtured in a snug aristocratic Muslim family, when she enters the cobweb of modern world. Jhumpa Lahiri s novel, The Namesake offers the themes of migration and cross -cultural problem through Indian-America family, the Gangulis, at first through a married couple, Ashima and Ashoke and then through their son, Gogal. Namita Gokhale s novels, Paro and Dreams of Passion throw light on Metropolitan society and the cocktail party circles in Delhi. Sagarika Ghose s The Gin Drinkers also explores the same theme of pub culture of urban middle class society. This novel reflects the trends of postmodern novel characterized by a surge of interest in the female body as a source of literary inspiration. Sunny Singh s Nani s Book of suicide exposes the problem of cultural identity of an Indian woman in the process of her imbibing western culture. Kiran Desai s The Inheritance of Loss describes the consequences of colonialism and global issues of religion, race and nationalism.

14 34 The Indian English novelists of the nineteen-nineties brought out experimentation both in delineating theme and form of the novel. M.K.Naik in his book Twentieth century Indian English Fiction rightly comments: The new women novelists naturally share most of the preoccupations of their male counterparts, though in spite of what fanatical feminists would claim, they do have a room of their own in the fictional mansion, in terms of certain pressing concerns and their attitude towards them (210). During the last two decades, the surging up of Indian women fiction writers in English has significantly caught the attention of the world. As they have delineated variety of priorities and values, they have gained international acclaim in the form of literary awards. They have started sharpening their pen against male macho prevalent in the literary world exposing the facts of interior and exterior world. Meenakshi Bharat asserts about the strength of women novelists in India in a book of edited essays Desert in Bloom as: Confidence of a timbre never sensed before, has started coursing through their veins infusing a rare, hitherto never experienced vitality (12). Among them, Shobha De is one of the most prominent women novelists of our age. Shobha De was born in an upper middle class family in 1948 to a district judge from small town Maharastra, and was educated in Delhi and Bombay. She had her graduation in Psychology from St. Xaviers College, Bombay. She started her earnings at first as a model much against the wishes of the father in the late sixties. She adopted a career in journalism in 1970 in which profession

15 35 she found her roots for success and became the editor of three popular magazines, Stardust, Society and Celebrity consulting editor to Sunday and Megacity. With her industry, she reaped name and fame as a free-lance writer and columnist for several upfront magazines and newspapers. After a painful incompatible marriage with Sudhir, she took divorce from him. Later, she married Dilip De, a shipping magnate, with whom she has been living in Bombay with her six children. Even at the age of sixty-two, she is still active with abundant energy and is pursuing her career as a writer with tremendous vitality. Shobha De has written sixteen books so far out of which seven are novels. Her first novel, Socialite Evenings was published in Socialite Evenings is based on the lives of the super rich class urban society of India. She has portrayed the evolution of Bombay socialite, Karuna from middle class girl to a self-fulfilled woman in search of unlimited freedom, developing extramarital relationships even though her marriage is intact. Karuna never cares about the pain in order to keep up her identity in the society. Shobha De s second novel, Starry Nights (1990) presents the tale of a film star Aasha Rani who journeys from a small town background to the tinsel world of Bombay. In order to emerge as a top heroine, she utilizes every opportunity by breaking up the traditional shackles. Like a new woman, she does not hesitate to involve in a number of extramarital affairs to reach her desired goal.

16 36 Shobha De s novel, Sisters (1992) reveals the picture of two corporate half-sisters, Mallika and Alisha, who struggle to find a place for themselves in the world of business after the death of their father, Seth Hiralal. L. Sonia Lingthoujam in her book Image of the New Women in the Novels of Shobha De observes: Life according to these women is to be lived as they desire. They have money and power and anything else hardly matters. They hate men towering over them. They demand equality with them (36). Shobha De s Strange Obsession (1992) depicts the strange relationship of lesbianism between Amrita Aggarwal, a budding model and Meenakshi Iyengar, a lesbian. Through this novel, De questions the traditional institution of marriage and sanctity of normal sexual relationship between man and woman. Uncertain Liaisons: Sex, Strife and Togetherness in Urban India (1993) is a book of essays edited by Shobha De and Khushwant Singh which concentrates on sex in modern India. It pinpoints on the fast changing attitudes of the modern Indian couple as well as the nexus between practice and attitude in popular culture. The essays also focus on homosexuality, heterosexuality, divorce and sex, and also dissatisfaction in having sex that can be seen within Indian marriages today and in the Bollywood cinema industry. In Sultry Days (1994), Shobha De has adopted a complete new approach of dealing with the woman s quest for separate identity in the male dominated

17 37 society. In this novel, Nisha yearns for Deb but his new way of life creates repulsion and alienation between them. De deals with the realistic picture of distressed woman, who has beaten men at their own game. Small Betrayals (1995) is the collection of short stories which exposes the different dimensions of betrayal and conflicts among men and women. With this work, De tries to free herself from the label of pornographic writer and challenges the critics who have charged petitions against her previous novels. De s another novel, Snapshots (1996) brings out a very realistic picture of the urban women and their unorthodox life-style. It reveals the life of the six school friends Swati, Aparna, Reema, Rashmi, Surekha and Noor, who reassemble the image of the new woman by giving a different dimension to moral issues in the society. Sobha De s novel, Second Thoughts (1996) discusses the story of a higher middle class Bengali girl, Maya, who has gone to Bombay after an arranged marriage with a foreign returned Bengali boy, Ranjan conforming to the principles of the society. When her husband fails to fulfil her urges both physical and psychological, she has second thoughts to fill up that vacuum, having sexual union with Nikhil by breaking the marital bond with Ranjan. Shobha De s book, Shooting from the Hip: Selected Writings (1996) is a marvellous collection of essays in which her keen observation and dissection

18 38 of persons and events can be seen with a marked clarity. She has touched various aspects like politics, media, food, festivals, films, books, personalities, travelogues or articles relating to her city Bombay, which is a mixture of joy and sorrow. This volume also presents the first short story written by De. Surviving Men (1997) is a book which unveils the mysterious nature of men and their typical attitude in her perspective. De tells us how and what men think about ladies, job, marriage and everything that constitutes life. This book also gives answers to the core for the questions what women have on their mind about men, leaving a wise and controversial remark that man s life is incomplete without a woman. It is a guide to newly married ladies as it gives complete entertainment while offering knowledge about men. Selective Memory: Stories from My Life (1998) serves as a source to understand the intimate details of Shobha De s life. Though De cannot unveil all the secrets of her life, she has focussed on the image of her self, by cleverly delineating the incidents and accidents without destroying the finer qualities of an Indian woman. Speed Post-Letters to my Children (1999) is a collection of letters written by Shobha De to her six children. It reveals undeniably the indefinable association between a mother and children. De has handled sensitive relationships with utmost perception by giving apt conclusions, which are very

19 39 much related to urban families. It reveals about living and coping with the reactions of the exciting new world. In Spouse: The Truth About Marriage (2005), Shobha De defines the image of new woman as a life partner to a man living in the changing world of postmodern society. On the surface, De expresses her view about the role of partners when they are coupled together in the bond of marriage. This book reveals De s keen observation, her personal encounters in married life and lively illustrations from consulted couple, in particular, the urban upper class couples whose lot is a bundle of dissatisfactions and compromises throughout their journey. In Superstar India: From Incredible to Unstoppable (2008), Shobha De mentions popular opinions which are in wide circulation among the public in India. De presents interesting points of view in her columns about cricket, state policy and macroeconomics. It leaves the reader with a feeling of indifference and despise, if he is a politically conscious individual. S s Secret (2010) is a work of fiction which delves deep into the psyche of a teenager, Sandhya, who is labelled too old for toys and too young for boys. De wants to capture the minds of Indian children by writing a book like this after many sensational works. In this interesting work, she has addressed issues of smoking, drugs, drinking and driving and driving. It is a book that De has promised to her six daughters for a long time.

20 40 In her novels, Shobha De portrays women with so much vigour and talent. But they are not compliant, leading a life of their own, aggressively violating the patriarchal norms of society. Tripti Karekatti in her article, Theme of Sisterhood in Shanta Gokhale s Rita Walinker, Shashi Despande s A Matter of Time and Shobha De s Sisters states: De, while striking a pose of an informed woman writer with a certain stand on issues of women, reinforces most of the orthodox patriarchal assumptions about women and their desires and needs (110). De has projected the new woman as challenging and confident in the pursuit of achieving her desired goal. In this journey, she is in the fore front in order to change the socially approved image of woman. Some critics rank Shobha De amongst the first to explore the world of urban woman in India. The new woman in Shobha De s novels is very much calculative about the mundane things and use sex as means to become affluent and popular. Shivike Verma in his article, The Novels of Shobha De: A Feminist Study states: Shobha De has raised sexuality as a weapon and as a problem for the women in the traditional Indian society. She feels that most of the problems of women are sex-oriented and sex- centered in the male dominated society. Her women characters are free from the chains of husband and society, reactionary and rebel, and new woman and a liberated human being (Indian Writings in English, 192).

21 41 Although the traditional Indian society controls women to express their opinions about sex, De s women have courage to raise their voice against the conventions of society. Bhaskar A. Shukla in his article, Shobha De: The Writer and Feminism states: Shobha De s women are free about their sexual expression. They will not tolerate infidelity on her on the part of their husbands. All sexual taboos are broken by them with gusto (Indian English Literature, 211). Shobha De has presented a new woman to be a composite figure, who has physical freedom and feminine qualities, amalgamating pleasure, career and marriage. Having undergone purposeless suffering, she fails to derive the real definition of life. Dr.S.P.Swain in an article, Shobha De s Socialite Evenings A Feminist Study declares: Shobha s women suffer in an androgynous world for they do not cherish genuine passions but only plastic passions which make them passive without a sense of purpose living in a frustrating world of anxiety, guilt, hostility, bitterness, boredom and resentment. These women cast off the conventional sense of morality, the old, tired and repressive sexual moves and revel in the erotic celebration of the body. (137) Shobha De s women characters show vitality in having sufficient stamina to rebel against male chauvinism. They never bow down in meek subordination. They assert their actions though they are objected by their male

22 42 counterparts. Pratibha Gupta in her article, A Social Semiotic Study of Narratives observes: De s style depicts new women in a mood of revolt. It undermines the old mythologies of gender relationships by questioning and revising them. They are challenging the stereotypes, fairy tales, traditions and histories that are prescribed plots of their lives and estimates their authority and power. She is now like a released, long blocked river sweeping away everything coming her way. And very often it has devastating effect on the society. (Reflections on Indian English Fiction, 35) It is Shobha De, who has awakened the spirit of new woman to realize her potential to face and challenge any sort of obstacle, turns up in her chosen path. Dr. Ashish Gupta in The Androgynous World of New Women in Shobha De s Fiction asserts: De has designed an atmosphere where woman is not living as a victim but not a victor. In her works, she has advocated rebellious sort of woman ready to revolt against established social taboos which tie her to behave as passive one and always be subjugated by man s authority (4). In order to present this class of women, De depicts the negative side of struggles in fulfiling her aspirations. Though Shobha De at the initial stage of her career wrote racy or raunchy fiction with spicy narration, she struggles hard to wipe out that image in her later works. As she has emerged as a writer in the nineteen-nineties, she

23 43 follows the genre of that age, what according to Jasbir Jain who has asserted the role of women writers in his article, Towards the 21st Century: The Writing of the 1990 s saying: To come out of the postcolonial phase would automatically mark a shift in relationships, transforming then from dependent, subordinate ones to self-confident and equal ones (23). She has presented sex in her novels liberally which shocks the traditional Indian masses. Many critics try to marginalize her novels as pulp fiction but she has brushed aside all their comments. When some writers criticize her novels as obscene and controversial, she has answered boldly in one of her interviews to the Pakistan s journal Newsline that: The only thing is that when you decide, or even instinctively, write something that is deemed controversial, you have to be able to substantiate what you are saying and have a track record of credibility. There has to be some sense of responsibility and you have to take what comes your way too (2). Though many critics have sharpened their pen by allotting low rating for her novels, De takes a firm stand to champion the cause of Indian urban woman in her own way. Dr. Ashish Gupta in his article, The Androgenous World of New Woman in Shobha De s Fiction asserts: One may not like everything in De s fiction, but her treatment of the contemporary urban Indian woman s challenges, predicament, values and life-style is surely nit without significance (3). In fact, her first three novels are taken as course material by the school of oriental and African Studies in London and some of her novels have been prescribed as syllabus by Mumbai University. Meenakshi

24 44 Bharat in Desert in Bloom comments: Shobha De has long been recognized as the financial spine of Penguin India (14). Shobha De s novels Starry Nights, Sisters, Strange Obsession, Sultry Days and Second Thoughts are taken for the critical study in order to explore the original nature of human psyche in the modern urban set-up which is still a fertile area to plough.