Abha Shukla Kaushik

‘In the country of Deceit’ - Shashi Deshpande

‘In the country of Deceit’ is the tenth novel penned by famous writer Shashi Deshpande. She continues probing into women’s experiences, constraints and problems in this novel also. Here, she brings back to life Devyani, a young spinster, a character from one of her earlier novels ‘Come up and be dead’. The story begins symbolically with the demolition of Devyani’s ancestral house in Rajnur in Karnataka. It is not just the house but also Devyani’s conservative outlook and inhibitions that have been done away with. House is a potent metaphor of the space allowed to women. It is not just the house that has been dismantled but Devyani’s life as well. With its demolition, the stage is all set for a new beginning for her. The new house that comes up in the place of old is a complete reversal of the old house.  After her sister Savitha returns to Delhi with her husband and children, Devyani starts her life ‘anew’ in the new house. This life is indeed new for her as she finds new friends in Rani, a former film actress who has returned from US to settle in Rajnur and Ashok the district superintendent of police who is posted in Rajnur. After a brief entry into the superficial life of filmdom, through Rani, the story of Devyani enters into a new realm of an illicit affair. Her relationship with Ashok presents profoundly difficult moral choices as Ashok is married, has a ten year old daughter and his position of esteem adds to the difficulties. It has to be a clandestine affair which has no future, is doomed from the beginning, and ends predictably. In between we find Devyani delving   into her past looking for explanations for her desires and actions. Desire is an important line of action in this novel. Satisfaction, gratification of desire and  fulfilment of desire rather than ignoring it is important for Devyani. As she says, “I want a needle point of extreme happiness; I want a moment in my life which will make me feel I am touching the sky.”(25) Physical desire and its gratification is what she wants and gets. However, this involves betrayal or deceit as the title says it. Deceit in its various forms – from betrayal to adultery, disloyalty to fraud runs through various strands of the story. It is a subtle mixing of desire and deceit that makes the novel so convincing and serves as a constant reminder that most of the time it is women who have to suffer and that bliss often has to be purchased at a high cost and that too will not last. Devyani’s aunt Sindhu who is a breast cancer survivor writes letters to her from the US where she lives, functions as a conscience keeper and her letters give voice to a perspective of age, wisdom and balance.  She points out to Devyani in one of her letters, “Our country does not allow women to fulfil these desires without marriage.” (42-43) Deshpande describes the suffering, evasions and lies that overtake Devyani as she is caught in the web of subterfuge.  As expected ‘happiness’ has to be ‘sacrificed’ at the altar of ‘reputation’, but some questions are left unanswered. Is the pursuit of a hedonistic happiness which allures and consumes Devyani worth anything? Who is it that is being deceived – the society or the self?

Shashi Deshpande’s thoughtful, observant and incisive writing brings her fictional world to life. She has the ability to record the multilayered richness of relationships within the family and outside. Her descriptions of the limited daily lives of women making tea, cooking, writing letters, tending to plants, taking care of the sick, cherishing memories etc. Compel one to compare her with Jane Austen – working on her ‘two inches of ivory’ with fine, detailed and minute strokes. It makes for delightful reading but leaves one wishing that other characters in the novel were also provided with some flesh and blood. With the notable exception of Devyani, all the other characters seem to be too airy, insignificant and artificial, bit players brought into the plot incidentally to further the protagonist’s tale.