Where women make their way in the world as freely as men

Novel of Gitanjali Shree sand tomb It is about women who want to make their way freely in the world like men. This is clear from the opening lines. In a skilful translation by Daisy Rockwell (from Hindi original) writ mausoleum): “There’s a limit to this particular story and women come and go whatever they want. Once you’ve got women and a limit, a story can write its own. Even women are quite on their own. Women are stories in themselves, full of hustle and bustle floating in the air, which linger with each blade of grass.”

In history and fiction, women have always been confined to a limited range. Lines are drawn around them, beyond which they are told that they should not cross the boundaries of gender, class, caste, sexuality, language etc. When they have crossed borders, either by dragging or by their own will, it has given rise to quarrels and wars. If they have said anything, they are rejected; And if they have asked a question, they have crossed an untold limit. Women have been silenced and are expected to remain silent.

More than anywhere else, these boundaries first appear within the family. Women are expected to play their assigned roles as daughters, sisters, wives and mothers. The family has been the first and foremost pillar of patriarchal values.

step across borders

Fortunately, there have always been some women who have not been able to resist speaking up or stepping across boundaries. He has shown the way for others. One such is Ma, the central hero of sand tomb – Eighty years old, weak, almost invisible to others, like all elderly women, having taken care of everyone else all his life, but now, in the pages of the novel, returning to life, assertive, assertive and fearless. Even as she diminishes in physical size, her yearning for freedom grows, and she moves beyond home, across geographies and history, and even into nations and crosses an artificial boundary between people – to ask fundamental questions about freedom and identity. ,

At the beginning of the novel, Ma makes a blunt comment about the families’ everyday lives: “They pointed out that men always get high-quality lentils and women just get leftover mash, right? Hmm? That’s fearless. So, what does it do right?”

All her life, her identity has been engulfed in the roles of wife and mother and the act of caring for the family. “When Papa was alive, he had devoted everything to his care. She was ready, no matter how tired, she was alert. too busy getting the ground for a pulp; very much alive. Irritated, upset, coping, faltering, breath after breath after inhalation. Everyone’s breath flowed out of her, and she used to breathe everyone’s.” It really was as if she wasn’t living for anything else: “As if Papa was her only reason to live.”

Even in her old age, when she is lying on a bed in her room, she is sensitive to signals that indicate the presence and needs of others. “The well-trained ear of a mother recognizes immediately, accustomed throughout life to the sounds of others, that someone has just entered through the door.”

Patriarchy makes men also victims

If the novel is about the desires and feelings of women, it is also about the ways in which the patriarchy creates prisons for everyone in rigid traditional roles. In patriarchal ways of family, the eldest son has the central responsibility. Whenever the daughter comes, her older brother takes on his role as patriarch: “He screams loudly when he sees her. Shouting is a tradition, an ancient custom followed by older sons. In a grand manner. ” The son inherited this tendency from his father, presumably in the form of a formally assigned charge, and thus the patriarchy passed on for generations: “The father cried until his retirement; Then he handed over the shout to his son and himself became relatively calm. ,

The light touch and joyful disrespect of the prose does not take away the intense pain it describes. The patriarchal lifestyle also preys on men: they become trapped in these ways of living, unable to express their feelings in any other way. “Whatever their feelings, they should be covered under this guise.”

Managing everyone’s beliefs and movements about social norms is a part of a mother’s responsibility. He has immersed his own identity in the collective life of the family. “When the daughter was growing up and the mother was not yet old, and the home was constantly surrounded by disputes over social codes, traditions, culture, patronage, and the mother began to breathless as she tried to calm everyone’s breath. “

like moms do

And yet, in the midst of all this, the mother gives her daughter the breathing space she needs in order to grow and bloom – as does the mother, for her daughters. This strategy is described in some of the novel’s most endearing lines: “But the fun part was that in the midst of all the work, Ma managed to forge a path toward the forbidden. Like a window opens in a guava orchard. It was the mother who cleared this hidden passage of the daughter. Inside, there was constant commotion No, not at all, she won’t go out, And meanwhile the daughter came out of the open window and started fluttering like a bird. Only mother knew.”

And over time, as she encourages her daughter to be brave and fearless and explore the world, the mother herself begins to learn valuable skills: “The window had become so useful that the mother even raised herself. had learned , pivot and jump out.”

This is how she realizes that in order to do anything worthwhile, one cannot be restricted by boundaries: “She laughs. Whatever is worth doing is beyond limits. Nor is she apologetic to her great project for freedom: “Who is seeking forgiveness? She roars with laughter.” sand tomb A powerful tribute to women’s unapologetic quest for freedom.