Archana Bhatnagar
"Moving On", Shashi Despande, New Delhi, Penguin/Viking, 2004, pp. 345, Rs. 450
All the stories that have ever been told are the stories of families – from Adam and Eve onward.
– Erica Jong
Seen in the light of the epigraph to the novel it becomes evident that Shashi Despande in her latest novel, "Moving On" depicts the quotidian life of the average Indian. Her novel focuses on the interior world of uncles, aunts, cousins, in-laws, thereby presenting a whole galaxy of characters, a wide range of relationships interwoven in an intricate pattern.
Shashi Despande's writings hold a universal appeal that clearly emanates from her rootedness in everyday India- a society in which we breathe and a culture to which we belong. "Moving On" depicts her as writing with a smooth, easy eloquence which makes the reader confident of his literary safari with this author. Deshpande has steadfastly refused to write to suit the global market and in an era of verbal acrobatics and pretty packaging, she is genuinely real and refreshing. There are writers of the younger generation undergoing the stress of being heard abroad but Shashi Despande has created a comfortable niche for herself. Shashi Deshpande's forte lies in telling a story as it is. In "Moving On" she appears as an authoress with an uncanny insight into the nature of human relationships and an equally subtle eye for detail. Shashi Deshpande ventures to dive deep into the recesses of the mind deeper than she has ever done in exploring the nuances and the structure of familial bonds, thereby emanating a perennial charm for her novel. But, at the same time "Moving On" keeps its reader forever alert inorder to keep company of the various relationships that the characters share with each other : Baba-Mai, Gayatri-R.K, Manjari-Shyam, Laxman-Mangal, Raja-Rukku, Bharat-Medha to name a few, if not all , the major ones, followed by numerous other names in different categories and relationships such as Malu, Raja, Hemi, Premi, Anand, Sachi, Pavan, Nirmala, Abhishek, Raman etc. The reader, in turn, has to be all-time alert if he is to understand these relationships in the right context. The depiction of characters in "Moving On", though not autobiographical in nature, is perhaps an outcome of the fact that Shashi Deshpande herself had five uncles and five aunts on her paternal side and four uncles, one aunt on her maternal side and 33 first cousins.
The narrator in "Moving On" is Jiji (Manjari), a widowed woman who moves into care for her ailing father. Discovering her father's diary after his death, she sets out to evaluate her life retrospectively- in view of Baba's revelations that show past events in a new light. She searches for clues in the childhood spent with her anatomist father, who shares his fascination for the human body with Jiji. Along with Mai, the mother, who writes impossibly perfect, romantic stories for popular magazines, they form a cosy threesome that adores the younger daughter, Malu. This idyllic childhood is populated with an extended family which includes Baba's childless but loving sister, Gayatri and her husband, RK. It also includes Baba's best friend BK (RK's younger brother) and his family, and Mai's two brothers and their wives. Viewed through Baba's writings and the observations of the child, Jiji’s life in a household ruled by the beautiful but reserved Mai is realistically brought to light.
While Jiji's past appears to be picture-perfect, her present is riddled with uncertainty. Grappling with choices about the future, she lives alone in the large house that her father has bequeathed to her daughter, Sachi. With both her children away in school, she fields mysterious phone calls from strangers who want her to sell the house and marriage proposals from Raja, BK's son, an architect and widower, who lives in the neighbourhood. The gradual distancing of the family starts when the young and naive Jiji gives up her education to marry Shyam, the savvy cinematographer who introduces her to the world of passion.
Amidst these circumstances, the unravelling of Jiji's family beginning with the entry of her husband Shyam, is revealed in bits and pieces. Until the very end, Deshpande keeps the reader in suspense about the event – including Shyam's early demise that drive Jiji to struggle to provide single-handedly for her children. In her latest novel she displays an uncanny insight into the complex nature of human relationships and an equally unerring eye for detail.
Another highlight of the novel is that Deshpande uses the body as a repeating theme. It begins with Baba's teaching tool – Mr. Bones, his enjoyment of physical pleasures (a joy not shared by Mai) and his belief in the perfection and endurance of the body. But this belief disintegrates as he watches his beloved wife succumb to illness and perceives his own impending death. As a single woman, Jiji herself struggles with the desires and demands of her body.
Is Shashi Deshpande a feminist? Often the critics ponder over this question. Deshpande who started writing while living for a while in London, says, "I am a writer first and not a feminist. She wonders why male writers are never accused of writing male propaganda. Why is it said only about women writers?", she justifiably asks. Her aim is to write about human beings and not merely about women. Sarla Palkar says:
"For a long time woman has existed as a gap, as an absence in literature ... . This is not only true of the fiction created by men, but also by women, who have mostly confined themselves to writing love stories or dealing with the experiences of women in a superficial manner... . (which) repress the truth about the majority of the sides and their lives."
Deshpande hopes to fulfill this vacuum though she has limited milieu of Indian society for her settings. She says, " I feel no need to apologise for casting women as my heroes. No one does when the protagonists are men. I write about people and that's the bottom line". She further feels, "Initially, the tradition of Indian writing in English did not give space for a women writer, so I had to carve my own." It is here that Shashi Deshpande seems to emerge herself as a kind of "female Tolstoy".
A reading of "Moving On" shows that her characters take form first and then the titles of her novels. She can also be admired for entrusting her characters with a vocabulary common to their day-to-day life, putting words and phrases such as 'Janata Towel' , 'Kabaab–me-Haddi', 'Aamchi Mai', 'Jiji Sarkhi', etc. (as in Moving On).
The female protagonists of Deshpande wish to move out of the narrow confines of their homes and choose a career of their own, for example Manjari(Jiji) keeps deliberating the different roles she can adopt for asserting her independence and keeping herself busy after her husband's death and when her children move out of the city for the purpose of study. She worked earlier as PRO, now she thinks of taking yoga classes with Nirmala, or putting her car in business as taxi or becoming a typist.
"From the traditional roles of daughters, sisters, wife and mother, Deshpande's protagonists emerge as individuals in their own rights. They achieve this not by being brazen feminists or iconoclasts but by a gradual process of introspection and self –realization".
Unlike her contemporary writer Anita Desai, the female characters and protagonists of Shashi Deshpande do not commit suicide but try to compromise with the existing situation. "Faced with dilemmas of life, they search a path that allows the individual freedom and growth... .Without succumbing to pressures and without breaking away from accepted traditional, social institutions, these protagonists succeed in being individuals." Her female characters also face isolation, alienation. They introspect and do not break but after some time towards compromising between the opposite poles --- they adopt the midway. Deshpande's heroine are specific, modernizing women even in their traditional milieu. Critics say that “Moving On" will widen women's space.
In typical Deshpande style, all the characters of "Moving On” are realistically drawn; the best defined perhaps is Mai, the always dignified but detached matriarch. Since,"Moving On" is basically the story of families her characters feel a powerful internal bonding particularly for their parents and family. This bonding is reflected in the recurring combination of Jiji's, whenever she utters:
"Baba-Mai Malu and I are going out.
"Baba-Mai Malu and I are going out to see a picture.
"Baba-Mai Malu and I are going out to eat ice-cream"
As children both Jiji and Malu try to get close to Mai..... " not between her and Malu, but with them, beside them: I want to be part of the two of them." (Baba and Mai).
"We were, the four of us, a happy family, tightly bonded together."
After Mai's death and Baba's illness Jiji comes to Baba's house to look after him. There is a heightened sense of loss at the death of her sister, Malu, "But I have erased all of it ... in erasing her, I have deleted something of myself as well. A part of me died with her, the part she had defined was lost forever. "
Unlike love, there pervades a sense of dislike, hatred as well, for eg. as is revealed by Mai's hate for Jiji opting for marriage with Shyam. Still Shashi Deshpande's characters feel a powerful bonding, particularity for their parents and for that matter their family members. As Baba also said , "Faith- (is) the adhesive that hold things together." In this book, Shashi Deshpande very eloquently tells the story of a family and in doing so restores faith in the belief that it is possible to tell stories about contemporary India and Indians in English--without falling prey to the demands of the mass market.