Indian Writing in English

Gitanjali-1

thou hast made me endless:

THOU HAST made me endless, such is thy pleasure. This frail vessel thou
emptiest again and again, and finest it ever with fresh life.

This little flute of a reed thou hast carried over hills and dales, and hast
breathed through it melodies eternally new.
At the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart loses its limits in joy and
gives birth to utterance ineffable.
Thy infinite gifts come to me only on these very small hands of mine. Ages
pass, and still thou pourest, and still there is room to fill.
Summary
      God had made man imperishable and everlasting because it is God's
pleasure to make him so. Man's physical body is a weak, breakable vessel
into which God has imparted life. Into it God gives life again and again and
thus renders mortal man immortal. The poet is a mere reed which God
designs into a flute. He is the instrument through which God the musician
plays new and melodious songs, carrying it over hills and valleys. When God
places his hands on the poet his limited heart expands into unlimited
bounds through joy and happiness and from this is born inexpressible joy
which becomes poetry. God's unlimited gifts are received by man's limited
hands. Life after life God continues to pour his blessings on man. God pours
inspiration eternally.

when thou commandest me:

WHEN THOU commandest me to sing it seems that my heart would break
with pride; and I look to thy face, and tears come to my eyes.

All that is harsh and dissonant in my life melts into one sweet harmony-and
my adoration spreads wings like a glad bird on its flight across the sea.
I know thou takest pleasure in my singing. I know that only as a singer I
come before thy presence.
I touch by the edge of the far spreading wing of my song thy feet which I
could never aspire to reach.
Drunk with the joy of singing I forget myself and call thee friend who art my
lord.

Summary
      The poet says that he is inspired by God to write poetry and to sing it. This
makes the poet very happy, he feels as if his heart would break, as it is full of
pride that God had inspired him. He then looks towards God and re sheds
fears of joy and happiness. This results in dispersing all the discordant and
harsh elements in the poet's life and it is replaced by one sweet, melodious
harmony. The poet's love for God swells and soars like a bird soaring over
the sea. The poet knows and understands that God is pleased by his songs
and only as a singer can he come into God's presence. His song reaches far
and wide but he himself could never reach God, he can only hope to touch
God's feet by the edge of his far reaching song. The joy of singing fills the
poet with the ecstasy that makes him drunk and forget himself and
forgetting that he is a mere servant begins to call God his master, his friend.

the song that I came:

THE SONG THAT I came to sing remains unsung to this day.

I have spent my days in stringing and in unstringing my instrument.
The time has not come true, the words have not been rightly set; only there
is the agony of wishing in my heart. The blossom has not opened; only the
wind is sighing by.
I have not seen his face, nor have I listened to his voice; only I have heard his
gentle footsteps from the road before my house'.
The livelong day has passed in spreading his seat on the floor; but the lamp
has not been lit and I cannot ask him into my house.
I live in the hope of meeting with him; but this meeting is not yet.
 Summary
      The poet here expresses his aspiration to sing a song and through it to
find God. He says that he was born to sing a certain song but it has not been
composed yet. He has been tuning and untuning his musical instrument in
readiness for the song. But the time is not right yet and the lyrics have not
been composed properly either, he is only experiencing the pain of longing
in his heart. The song has not matured, not flowered, the flower has not
bloomed, only the wind has been passing by. Then the poet says that he has
not seen the face of God nor heard His voice but he has heard His gentle
footsteps on the road before his house.
      The poet has spent the day spreading a mat for his visitor but because he
has not been able to light the lamps, he cannot invite Him in. The poet
concludes by saying that he lives on only with the hope that one day he may
meet God, but that day is far to come.

Where the mind is without fear:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
   Where knowledge is free;
   Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic
walls;
   Where words come out from the depth of truth;
   Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
   Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert
sand of dead habit;
   Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and
action
   Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
Summary
The poet is dissatisfied with the present state of his country. He invokes God
to awaken his motherland with a rude shock and make this country an ideal
place. With God’s help, the men and women of India will get true freedom.
For this, Indians must be fearless in mind and dignified in conduct. There
must not be any barrier to the search for knowledge and truth Indians must
be free from all Darrow habits and dead customs. There must not be narrow
divisions in the way of the realization of human unity. Indians must be frank
and truthful and must strive tirelessly to achieve perfection in an ever-
expanding Field of thought and action. They must be sincere in word and
deed based on clear reason. The poet prays that with God’s our motherland
will achieve this true freedom of mind and spirit, and not merely the
freedom from foreign rule.

have you not heard his:

HAVE YOU NOT heard his silent steps? He comes, comes, ever comes.
Every moment and every age, every day and every night he comes, comes,
ever comes.
Many a song have I sung in many a mood of mind, but all their notes have
always proclaimed, 'He comes, comes, ever comes.'
In the fragrant days of sunny April through the forest path he comes, comes,
ever comes.
In the rainy gloom of July nights on the thundering chariot of clouds he
comes, comes, ever comes.
In sorrow after sorrow it is his steps that press upon my heart, and it is the
golden touch of his feet that makes my joy to shine.
Summary
      Here Tagore celebrates the idea of constant presence. He asks if others
have heard God's silent footsteps making their way towards them. God is
always coming, he comes at every moment, everyday, night and every age.
The poet says that all the different songs that he had sung according to the
different moods in his mind, have always announced God's coming God has
been coming through the paths of the forest in the sweet, fragrant days of
April. He has also been coming during the gloomy nights of July in the rain
and thunder. God has been coming to comfort him his sorrow and to shine
on him in his joy and happiness.

I had gone a-begging from:

I HAD GONE a-begging from door to door in the village path, when thy
golden chariot appeared in the distance like a gorgeous dream and I
wondered who was this King-of all kings!
My hopes rose high and methought my evil days were at an end, and I stood
waiting for alms to be given unasked and for wealth scattered on all sides in
the dust.
The chariot stopped where I stood. Thy glance fell on me and thou camest
down with a smile. I felt that the luck of my life had come at last Then of a
sudden thou didst hold out thy right hand and say 'What hast thou to give to
me?'
Ah, what a kingly jest was it to open thy palm to a beggar to beg! I was
confused and stood undecided, and then from my wallet I slowly took out
the least little grain of corn and gave it to thee.
But how great my surprise when at the day's end I emptied my bag on the
floor to find a least little grain of gold among the poor heap. I bitterly wept
and wished that I had had the heart to give thee my all
Summary
      The main idea in this poem depicts the Indian values. The power of
Charity and humbleness on one hand and surrender to God's will on the
other hand are elevated here. The poet pictures himself in the guise of a
beggar going from door to door to beg alms from people in a village. Soon he
is surprised by the appearance of a splendid golden Chariot in front of him.
He wonders at the gorgeous beauty and glory of this king of all kings. He
feels it as a splendid dream. The poet is happy at the thought that his bad
days are at an end and his hopes soar high in the sky. He was expecting rich
alms from this Almighty, glorious king. He lost himself in the dream of
scattered wealth but soon he waked up when this Almighty, splendid king
comes down with a heavenly smile on his face and says "what do you have to
give me?"
      The poet was shocked and thought it was a royal joke-that a donor is
opening His palm in front of a beggar. Here the poet is unaware of the aim
behind the king's act of begging. The God was testing his charity. The poet
was bewildered and confused, but he gave Him a grain of corn from his
wallet. At the end of the day, when the poet emptied his bag on the floor,
great was his surprise to see a small piece of gold among the grains in the
heap. He wept bitterly and regretted that he did not give his all to God.

on the slope of the:

ON THE SLOPE of the desolate river among tall grasses I asked her, 'Maiden,
where do you go shading your lamp with your mantle? My house is all dark
and lonesome-lend me your light!' She raised her dark eyes for a moment
and looked at my face through the dusk. 'I have come to the river,' she said,
'to float my lamp on the stream when the daylight wanes in the west' I stood
alone among tall grasses and watched the timid flame of her lamp uselessly
drifting in the tide.
In the silence of gathering night I asked her, 'Maiden, your lights are all lit-
then where do you go with your lamp? My house is all dark and lonesome,-
lend me your light.' She raised her dark eyes on my face and stood for a
moment doubtful. I have come,' she said at last, 'to dedicate my lamp to the
sky.' I stood and watched her light uselessly burning in the void.'
In the moonless gloom of midnight I asked her, 'Maiden, what is your quest
holding the lamp near your heart? My house is all dark and lonesome,-lend
me your light.' She stopped for a minute and thought and gazed at my face
in the dark. I have brought my light,' she said, 'to join the carnival of lamps.'
I stood and watched her little lamp uselessly lost among lights.
Summary
      The theme of the poem is still the 'quest of God' and 'realization of God'.
But this lyric is quite different. It is satirizing, criticizing the orthodoxy and
hollowness of Hindu religion which are being accepted as a way to please the
God. God can be reached through humanity rather than following useless
rituals.

      The poet asks the girl, on the slope of the deserted river among the tall
grass, to lend him her lamp so that his lonesome and dark house may be
enlightened. The maiden raises her dark eyes for a moment and looks at his
face through the dim light of the evening. She refuses him in order to follow
the old custom of floating the lamp on the river. The poet is helplessly
looking at the floating lamp burning in the void. Later the poet requests her
again to lit his house with her lamp as her house is full of light and poet's
house is dark and deserted. She again refuses and dedicates her lamp to the
sky. Similarly many lamps are burning in the moonless darkness of midnight
to celebrate the ceremony or festival of lamps, but none is given to the poet.
The poor, pathetic poet remains in need, while the number of lamps are
burning in needless empty ritual.

in one salutation to thee:

IN ONE salutation to thee, my God, let all my senses spread out and touch
this world at thy feet.
Like a rain-cloud of July hung low with its burden of unshed showers let all
my mind bend down at thy door in one salutation to thee.
Let all my songs gather together their diverse strains into a single current
and flow to a sea of silence in one salutation to thee.
Like a flock of homesick cranes flying night and day back to their mountain
nests let all my life take its voyage to its eternal home in one salutation to
thee.
Summary
      The last poem of Gitanjali is the last flower of devotion which the poet is
offering at His feet. The poet wishes to offer every possession of his to the
holy feet. With a spirit of contentment and joy he surrenders himself to the
Immanent will. His senses, mind and inner self is offered to the Supreme and
silent one in different images. He wishes to bend down minds at His door,
like a rain-cloud of July which bends low with its burden of water which is
yet to come in the form of showers. Just as a stream flows into the sea, so
also all his songs will unite to form a single stream which will flow into the
eternal sea. His soul, sick of Eternal abode wishes to fly to Him as the
homesick cranes fly to their nests in the mountains for eternal peace.
The soul’s prayer:
In childhood's pride I said to Thee:
'O Thou, who mad'st me of Thy breath,
Speak, Master, and reveal to me
Thine inmost laws of life and death.

'Give me to drink each joy and pain

Which Thine eternal hand can mete,
For my insatiate soul can drain
Earth's utmost bitter, utmost sweet.

'Spare me no bliss, no pang of strife,

Withhold no gift or grief I crave,
The intricate lore of love and life
And mystic knowledge of the grave.'

Lord, Thou didst answer stern and low:

'Child, I will hearken to thy prayer,
And thy unconquered soul shall know
All passionate rapture and despair.

'Thou shalt drink deep of joy and fame,

And love shall burn thee like a fire,
And pain shall cleanse thee like a flame,
To purge the dross from thy desire.

'So shall thy chastened spirit yearn

To seek from its blind prayer release,
And spent and pardoned, sue to learn
The simple secret of My peace.

I, bending from my sevenfold height,

Will teach thee of My quickening grace,
Life is a prism of My light,
And Death the shadow of My face.'
Introduction:
The Soul's Prayer is an exceptionally transcendental poem by the Indian
poetess, Sarojini Naidu. It reveals Naidu’s mystic vision about the problems
of life and death. The poem consists of 28 lines divided into seven quatrains.
Each quatrain follows the rhyme scheme of ABAB. The poem is portrayed as
an imaginary conversation between the poet when she was a young child of
thirteen and God. The child pleads God to reveal the meaning of life and
death. The poem also presents her faith in God and her pride to be His
innocent child. The poem is a popular poetic work, often considered as an
example of the steady growth of Naidu's poetic sensibility and imagination.
Summary
In the first stanza, the poet calls herself the innocent child of God and feels
pride in taking birth from His breath. She then suddenly has the extreme
desire to learn about the two great mysteries of life and death. She thinks
that if God reveals her the laws and mystery of life and death, she may get
ready to bear the bitter experiences of life as joys and sorrows.
Next, she asks God to bless her with both pleasure and pain, as she wants to
savor them both. She wants to experience both of these emotions in her life.
The poetess prays to God to allow her to feel everything in the world - all
life's delights and discomforts at the most intense levels. She craves bliss in
life, but she is also ready to bear every pang of strife and struggle in her life.
She asks God not to hold back any of the griefs or delights. She craves the
bliss of love and life which in turn enhance our life but she also wishes to
know the deep secrets of the grave, life after death. She is delighted about it
because she knows that the soul might not have to come back to deal with
vagabond issues. The knowledge of the grave is mystic because what
happens at the grave goes beyond one’s ordinary senses.
God listens to the child's prayers and replies back in a low and austere voice.
He promises the poet that he will pay attention to her requests and will bless
her soul with the knowledge of ecstasy and desperation, both at their peak.
The poet will be disciplined about all these intricate emotions.
The poet will know the flavor of both emotions. She will be pleased and
honored and would also enjoy passionate love. However, she will also bear
agony and miseries which will act as the cleansing flame to remove all her
urges.
God informs her that after having experienced all the love, comforts, and
highs and lows of life, her soul would not be satisfied but it will crave to be
released from the blind prayer. Then, drained and forgiven her soul will beg
to learn about peace, instead of passion. It will want to know how to leave
the fire and flame behind, the burning and cleansing, and simply experience
quiet, underrated peace. It will wish to achieve salvation.
At that moment, God will show her the way by coming down from the high
sky and showing her the meaning of His grace - where the sun has never
shone there is also light, His light. At last, the poet finds solace in the
knowledge that life and death are merely the two faces of God - His light and
shadow. Thus the poem concludes with a belief that life and death are
interlinked between one another, reflecting each other.
Themes:
Life and death - The poem discusses the two extremes of life and death. They
have their laws which are administered by God and no other being can ever
understand them. But, the poet wants to be a part of this life cycle. She
wants to understand it and God promises to bestow his knowledge on her.
Joy and pain - Both these emotions are viewed as two ends of a coin. They
are contemporary and one experiences both in his life. The poet accepts it
and even craves these emotions - the good and the bad.
Conclusion:
The poem succeeds simply to allow the reader a flash of the mystic creator
and the balance of the universe. The poet understands that both “good and
bad things” in life are necessary for the satisfactory completion of one soul’s
agenda. At the moment certain things don’t make sense; but that doesn’t
prevent her to accept life as it is: with all the bitter and the sweet.
Background Casually:
Introduction:
The poem Background Casually  written by Nissim Ezekiel tells about the
struggle of the poet for identity in a country where he as well as his
community (Jews) is considered to an alien. The poem has been divided into
three sections. The first section deals with the childhood of the poet. The
second section throws light on his adult-age and third section deals with the
old-age of the poet.
Summary
Section 1
In the beginning, Ezekiel uses the third person for himself. According to
him, he was born low. Being a member of the alien community he could
neither eat nor could sleep and thus became quite weak. Due to this feeling,
he could not fly a kite. Even the top also failed to spin in his hands.
In the next stanza, the poet describes his childhood by using the first person.
He was sent to a Roman Catholic School where he, according to him, was
like prey before wolves (referring to Hindus and Muslims).
He was often taunted by the Hindus and Muslims who accused him of the
murder of Christ. They compare him to Judas who betrayed Christ. The same
year he won Scripture prize depicting that he was quite good in his
schooling. He was often beaten by a Muslim boy and hence terror reigned in
his mind during that stage.
Not only Muslims but Hindu boys also repelled him away with their wrong
accent and use of language. Being enraged he even thought of becoming
violent and used his knife, though he did not mention where, how and why
he used the knife.
One night he heard prayers that made him believe that he is not morally so
good (as he heard of Yoga  and Zen). He thought if he could still become
a Rabbi  (a saint). Being curious he tried to find the answer but the deeper he
went the more confused he was.
Section 2
In the second section, Ezekiel talks about his adult-age experiences. His
family desired to send him to England for higher studies but being
financially poor they could not effort his expenses. However one of their
friends paid for him and he was able to go to England.
There he was alone and considered poverty, poetry, and philosophy of his
friends. Time passed and even after two years he was alone. A woman came
and tried to motivate him and henceforth he tried to make his life a little bit
better.
Later he recognized his failure which became an unbearable thought. After
spending some years he desired to go back to India. However, he was too
poor to do so.
Hence he started working on a cargo ship that took French guns and mortar
shells to India and China. He was finally able to go back to India on the same
ship.
After coming back to India Eziekel tried to be happy and feel at home again.
However, he was still an alien. His father often told him that all the Hindus
are violent. Nissim and his family were often humiliated by their neighbors.
Hence he prepared to endure the worst.
He married and even changed his job. Doing such things he acknowledged
that he was a fool. He started writing poetry and knew well that he has
ample to write. He explains how low their community was. His ancestors did
the job of crushing seeds which were not a good job.
Section 3
In the 3rd section, Ezekiel explains his experience as an old person. He says
that one of his friends told how he fought in the Boer War.  Hearing the
stories started fearing from the Indians. He recognized that writing poetry is
also not safe and even the words can harm a person.
He wrote poems and gave up his sufferings. Now he tried to write wisely
without giving free play to his thoughts. He expresses his inner and outer
suffering that he ultimately failed to defeat. He says that now he has become
an integral part of India.
The foreigners consider him to be an alien on that land (India). But he
decided now he will consider himself as an Indian. He has to stay there
though it is a backward place for the other Jews living outside of India.

Obituary:
This well-known A.k. Ramanujan poem depicts a son’s reaction to his
father’s death. The piece takes the reader through a variety of images that
relate to where and how the father died as well as what has changed now
that he’s gone. Lines like: “And he left us / a changed mother / and more
than / one annual ritual” help convey the speaker’s experience
in ‘Obituary’  in clear language. 
Summary:
The poem begins with the speaker telling the reader that his father died.
When he died, he left behind a lot. There are unless and meaningless things,
like dust and old papers. But there are also memories and rituals which are
going to last a lifetime. 

 In the second half of the poem, the speaker describes how they cremated
this father and threw his leftover bones into the river. He also speaks about
something he learned but is yet to see with his own eyes. Apparently, his
father left an obituary in a local paper. Now, the son is searching the most
popular papers for it, hoping to see this other thing he left behind. The poem
ends with an emphasis on the importance of the rituals that came from his
father and are now established parts of family life. 

Detailed Analysis
Stanza One 

Father, when he passed on,

left dust

named by the toss

of a coin after him,

In the first stanza of ‘Obituary,’  the speaker begins by telling the reader who

died– his father. The speaker focuses on what the father left behind. There
were utterly normal things that have taken on new importance. Such as dust
on a “table of papers” and “debts and daughters.” The father also left behind
a grandson named after him. Little details, like the fact that the grandson
was named after him because of a “toss of a coin,” are interesting and bring
the reader closer to the speaker’s family. 

Stanza Two 

a house that leaned

slowly through our growing

he burned properly
at the cremation
In the second stanza of ‘Obituary,  he lists things that the father left behind
grows. There was a house that had been leaning slowly throughout the
speaker’s years. It is on a coconut tree in the yard. 

In the next lines, there are a number of things the “burning” could allude to.
Practices associated with farming are the most obvious. To make it more
complicated and relate it more easily to the loss, the speaker compares his
father’s habit of burning to the way he burnt promptly when he was
cremated. The humor here lightens the mood a bit and tells the reader that
the speaker does not intend to speak too heavily on loss and depression.
Instead, he is celebrating his father’s life. 
Stanza Three 

as before, easily
and at both ends,

several spinal discs, rough,

some burned to coal, for sons
In the next lines of ‘Obituary,’  he refers to the “eye coins.” This is related to
the tradition of putting coins on a dead person’s eyes when they are buried,
or, in this case, before they are cremated. He draws attention to the fact that
that the coins didn’t burn. They were left in the ashes, looking the same as
when they went into the fire. Alongside the coins are “several spinal discs.
These, unlike the coins, are rough. 

Stanza Four 

to pick gingerly
and throw as the priest

no longstanding headstone
with his full name and two dates
The sons, the speaker, and his brothers engage in a ritual of throwing these
bits of bone “facing east  / where three rivers met / near the railway station.”
The speaker mixes traditional and mysticism with reality. This ritual
happens somewhere normal, right near a train station. He goes on to
describe how they chose not to have a headstone for their father. They didn’t
think that “his full name and two dates would do him justice. 

Stanza Five 

to holdin their parentheses

everything he didn’t quite
and his death by heart-
failure in the fruit market.
The “parentheses” which would go around the dates would’ve represented
“everything he didn’t quite / manage to do himself.” The kind of things the
speaker is thinking of is the father’s birth and his death. He was born in a
“brahmin ghetto,” and he died “by heart- / failure in the fruit market.”
Simple places are again contrasted with important events. 
Stanza Six 

But someone told me

he got two lines

exactly four weeks later

to streethawkers

The sixth stanza relates directly back to the title of the poem, ‘Obituary.’  The
father has left something behind, “two lines / in an inside column / of a
Madras newspaper.” The son doesn’t know exactly which paper or where the
lines are. But he did hear that it is sold by the kilo and would turn up with
the “streethawkers,” or those on the street selling goods, “four weeks later.” 

In these lines, the poet makes use of half-rhyme with “newspaper” and

“streethawkers.” 

Stanza Seven

who sell it in turn

to the small groceries

in newspaper cones
that I usually read
These sellers bring their papers to the grocery stores where the speaker goes
to buy normal everyday products. Usually, he buys a newspaper along with
spices such as coriander. 

In these lines, “groceries” and “jaggery” are half-rhymes connected due to

their “e” sounds.

Stanza Eight 

for fun, and lately

in the hope of finding

and more than

one annual ritual.
In the last seven lines, the speaker describes reading the paper and hoping to
find the “obituary lines.” Their presence is one thing the father left behind,
along with everything else mentioned in the previous stanzas. The poem
ends with the speaker describing how his mother has changed. Now, he adds
the family is left with annual rituals which were started by a man who is no
longer alive. 

Cry, The Peacock

Cry the Peacock by Anita Desai was originally published in 1963. The main
theme of the novel is marital discords and alienation. Most of Desai's
protagonist are alienated and neurotic female characters. The book won
Sahitya  Akademi  Award for Anita Desai. It is a story of a young girl named
Maya, who was surrounded by childhood prophecy of disaster.  The cries of
peacock in the novel represents her cries for love. Maya is a extremely
sensitive married girl. Here husband name is Gautama, who was a also a
lawyer. She got all the attention and love from her father and after her
marriage she accept the same from her husband. But being a busy man he is
failed to meet her demands. 
The love Maya got from her father made her have a feeling that the world is
a toy especially made for her, seeing her morbidity her husband warns her
from turning neurotic and blames her father for spoiling her. Maya is a
sensitive, poetic, and unstable type of personality that appears consistently
in Desai's fiction. She is extremely sensitive to the beauty around her , the
flowers, the fruits, the sky, and her pet, her trees, and her animals in short
the whole nature. Gautama on the other hand is her apposite. He is totally
insensitive to the beauty of nature. He is a pure rationalist. The name of the 
characters in the novel are fit to their behaviours. Maya means illusion and
Gautama is the name of Buddha, who was able to rend the veil of Maya. Thus
Maya reveals the world of senses Gautama rejects it entirely. 
Maya herself responsible for her own alienation because she never tries to
make herself clear to Gautama. She is always haunted by death fear of the
astrologers prophecy. She is also faces number of emotional and
psychological disturbances but never tells anything to Gautama. Maya lost
his mental control totally because she cannot got the love that her father
gave her. And because of the prophecy of astrologer that one of them must
die after their marriage, so Maya decide to kill Gautama because in her view,
he has rejected all that makes life worth living to her he is already died. So in
the end one of the day when Gautama must busy in his work she is asked to
a accompany to her to terrace of their house to enjoy cool air, where he
pushes him from a terrace, she also committed sucide in the end because of
her guilt.
Cry The Peacock presented the psychological alienation of Maya a young
bride who is obsessed by a childhood prophecy of disaster. She suffers from
neurotic in a utter loneliness she remarks;
"Torture and guilt, dread, imprisonment, these were the four walls of my
private hell, 
One that no one could
Survive in long, Death was certain."
That Long Silence
Indian feminist author Shashi Deshpande’s fifth novel,  That Long
Silence (1989), won the Sahitya Akademi Award, given by the Indian
Academy of Arts and Letters to outstanding works written in any of India’s
twenty-four major languages in 1990. During her career, Desphande has
also been awarded the Padme Shri for cultural contributions and been
shortlisted for a Hindu Literary Prize for her novel Shadow Play.

The main character of That Long Silence is Jaya, a girl born into a middle-
class family. When she is young, Jaya is clever, curious, and bright, all
qualities considered unladylike by mainstream society. Jaya’s grandmother
encourages her to act more conventionally so she can get a husband when
she grows up, explaining that civilized and cultured girls are skilled at
cooking, cleaning, and household labor. In addition, she tells Jaya to learn
to be more accommodating and to keep quiet when she disagrees. All
young women will have to build good relationships with their in-laws at
some point and learning to make a good impression will go a long way
towards helping her do this in the future.

Eventually, Jaya learns to play the part of a subservient woman, while

retaining a sense of individuality. She writes in her free time, though she
has failed to become successful as an author. As she grows up, Jaya becomes
keenly aware of the fact that people, in general, do not like it when she
expresses herself or her individuality, and so she learns to hide it. Jaya
refers to this stifling of herself and her ideas as “the long silence” since it
stretches across her life from childhood to middle age. Only Jaya’s father
encourages her in her writing and sees her as an individual.

Jaya gets an education, and after college, she marries Mohan, a successful
businessman. Jaya and Mohan disagree on many things and their marriage
is not intimate or happy. There is no place in their relationship for Jaya to
express her point of view, as Mohan expects her to go along with
everything he says unquestioningly. Jaya takes care of the household while
Mohan works, feeding him and cleaning up after him as if he were one of
their two teenage children.

When Mohan is suspended from his job due to misconduct, Jaya is

compelled to take account of what her life has become. Jaya and Mohan are
forced to move from their spacious apartment into a small and dingy one,
while their children stay behind with relatives. Jaya begins writing more to
supplement the family income. Some of her articles are frank and open
about her dissatisfaction, including the way in which her husband is unable
to connect with her or their children. Though Mohan is not happy with the
article, he does not say anything about it to Jaya. She merely senses from
his expression that he does not like her writing and automatically and
unthinkingly seeks to please him.

Mohan faces further disgrace when he is found guilty of counterfeiting at

his job and fired. Jaya’s sister Kusum visits Jaya and discusses her own
husband from whom she has recently separated. Jaya thinks that Kusum’s
abusive husband and her own distant one have very different flaws but that
they stem from the same cultural expectations of the way men should treat
women. Next, Jaya meets wither her brother Ravi, who speaks harshly
about Mohan. When Mohan learns about this, he is angry with Jaya.

It is clear that Mohan needs Jaya’s support and love while he faces a trying
period, but neither of them has ever been comfortable talking about their
feelings and fears with each other. Mohan has no idea how to ask for what
he needs, and Jaya has no idea how to offer it. The situation becomes even
direr when the couple’s son, Rahul, runs away from home. Eventually,
Mohan leaves the house.

Thinking about what has led to their separation, Jaya understands that she
is partly to blame for withdrawing from her husband during his trying time.
She recognizes that the long silence has stifled communication and
openness in her family, making it difficult to support her husband and vice
versa. Mr. Kamat, an elderly man in her apartment building helps Jaya
think through her feelings about herself as an individual and her
relationship towards her husband.

The book ends with Mohan sending a telegram to Jaya saying that he will
be home soon. In addition, his job is willing to take him back. Jaya is ready
to accept Mohan back into her life, and she vows that never again will she
let the long silence separate them emotionally from each other.