International Journal of English and Literature (IJEL) ISSN 2249-6912 Vol.2, Issue 2 June 2012 61-68 TJPRC Pvt.

. Ltd.,

A MATTER OF TIME
GEETHA PANEERSELVAM, PRIST University, Tanjore, India ABSTRACT Shashi Deshpande novelist deals with the inner world of Indian woman in her novels she writes about the conflict between tradition and modernity in relation to women in the middle class society. A Womans desires, efforts and failures in the traditional Indian society the main highlight of her novels. Her depiction of womens world is authentic, realistic and credible. KEYWORDS : Shashi Deshpande, Indian Woman, Novel. CONTENT A Matter of Time is an exploration of a womens inner life. This novel was published by Penguin Books USA and India in1996. As her other novels deals with womans psyche, A Matter of Time (1996) deals with the same subject, expect, that, the inner life of woman, emotionally isolated from her family is reflected. Deshpande believes to be a feminist and her concerns are universal. She writes about silent, sobbing women-mothers, grandmother, aunts, sisters, grandaunts, and daughters - a whole lot of females.Women are caught in the process of redefining and rediscovering their own roles, position and relation ships within their given social life. Her young heroines rebel against the traditional way of life and patriarchal values. They try to transcend the restrictive role. They rebel, reject and seek freedom from the traditional norms and way of life. Along with her class identity, her writing is gender identity. She says As writing is born out of personal experience, the fact that I am a woman is bound to surface, Besides, only a woman could write my books-they are written from inside, as it were (1) As, she deals with a womans psyche, feminism is at the core of her novels, and the way she is made to feel an inferior being, unwanted child, a burden on the family - is the fate and story of every girl child: The novel moves around the character Gopal, he walks out on his wife Sumi and three daughters. Sumi reacts very normally. She doesnt shout, scream or create scenes. She is proud and defiant. It is very clear that she doesnt need any bodys pity or sympathy. She, for that matter, understands, that life must go on, and for the sake of her three teenaged daughters, Aru, Charu and Seema. She must be strong and steady.

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Sumis father Shripati refuses to let his daughter Sumi and her daughters to stay all by themselves. Hence Sumi along with her three daughters comes to her parental home, to the shelter of the Big House, where her parents Kalyani and Shripati are living in a strange oppressive silence. They have not spoken to each other for thirty-five years. There is a distinct parallel between Shripatis desertion of Kalyani and Gopals desertion of Sumi. What is significant is that without the men and women come to their own and show the potential to shed the dependency syndrome. Sumi is different from other protagonist of Shashi Deshpande, because she straightaway decides to face the facts squarely. Gopal, after 23 years of marriage with Sumi, a history lectures in a local college, one evening, for reasons he could not speak, in a very casual way walks out and very easily unburdens his responsibilities as a husband and father of three grown up daughters. Even before Sumi could realize the seriousness of the situation and the burden thrust on her, every thing ends leaving Sumi in a shocked silence. Describing the whole scene of Gopals casual desertion, Keerthi Ramachandra saysOne evening, while Sumi is watching a film on T.V. about circus. Without the dirt, the smells the fear and despair of the real thing, but sanitized bacteria free Sumis marriage was a failure and had circumscribed her in an unexpected condition. No doubt that, Gopals absence leaves her in a state of vast emptiness, yet, from the depth of her despair that she struggles hard to transform her emptiness into meaning in order to redefine her identity. She does not become a passive person, but an active agent. Sumi, like her mother, Kalyani, is a suffering oppressed and wronged woman. Yet, Sumi does not question the man, her oppressor-Gopal. It was her identity, her individuality that she finds ultimately. Looking at the life of Sumi, we see that, though deserted, does not contemplate a divorce, for a moment, divorce frees a woman legally, but it cannot wipe out all the memories attached to a marriage. Above all this, the social stigma associated with divorce in Indian society, never allow a woman to stay and lad a respectful normal life. Luckily for Sumi, she has the full support and sympathy of her parents, sister, cousins and others. This support of her family members helped her a lot to with stand the shock, pain, humiliation and the trauma of desertion. Sumi and Gopal had lad harmonious joyous, intimate married life. Their married life was their conjugal bliss. But however, this happiness walked out of their life, as there was, basic incompatibility, a dissimilarity of temperaments. There was constant fear housed in Gopal, of not able to do his duties as a husband and a father doubted with intense loneliness and a feeling of isolation from his wife and daughters compelled him to a cowards way. Sumi quitens Aru and asks her to ignore the strange relationship between her grand parents just as she has ignored what Gopal has done. Do you want to punish him, Aru? I dont Im not interested. I just want to get on with my life. Let him go Aru, just let him go. This is not good for you; (61). (8)

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Premi, Sumis sister is furious and is quite angry at the carelessness shown by Sumi and Gopal towards their livesIn throwing away what they had, uncaring, it seems to her, of the value of what they have discarded. (136) (2) Poor Kalyani be moans the repetition of history My father died worrying about me, my mother couldnt die in peace, she held on to life though she was suffering, she suffered terribly-because of me, she didnt want to leave me and go (47) (3) Kalyani explains to her son-in-law, her own misery and the agony that surmounted in her heart all through. She implores him What have you done to my daughter, Gopal dont do this, dont let it happen to my daughter(46). (4) Sumi knows why Gopal left her and his daughters, because he had the fear of Commitment and family ties and responsibilities. She knew that Gopal believed that Marriage is not for every one. The demand it makes a life time of commitment--- is not possible for all of us. (69) (5) She remembers that, before their marriage, Gopal had proposed that, if, by chance either of the two wanted to be free, he or she would be left to go. There shall be no ties to tie them together. Reminding Gopal about this, she tells him, And I agreed. I was only eighteen then and you were twentysix But it meant nothing to me then. How can you think of separating of wanting to be apart, when you are eighteen in love? I thought we would always be together. (221) (6) She is conscious of the strange developments taking hold of him. She tells him then you began to move away from me I knew I could not stop you, I could do nothing when you left, I knew I knew I would not question you, I would just let you go. (221) (7) Unlike others, she does not seek any explanation from him, but bears all the disgrace and humiliation. She knows that there is no external reason, but the reason lies inside him, the reason is him. (24) (8) So with all the trauma of being a deserted wife, Sumi is more interested in getting on with her life and finding a meaningful existence. She does not hope or wallow in self-pity. She did not hinder Gopals way of life, for she understands to find her own path of life. Staying with her three daughters in her parents house, she feels like a parasite and determines to get a job. She understands, that being a daughter is a disadvantageShe saw it then, the adoration of the male child. It must have been this way in the stable of Bethlehem, in Nandas house on the banks of the Yamuna in Gokul. The male child belongs to,(75)(9)

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After getting a job, Sumi starts searching a house and luckily happened to pass the house of the student at whose press Gopal is working and with whom he is living, she meets Gopal. At this juncture of having met him, she feels that Gopal and she must move on alone and reconciles their separation. We can never be together again. All these days I have been thinking of him as if he, has been suspended in space, in nothingness, since he left us. But he has gone on living. His life has moved on, it will go on without me. So has mine. Our lives have diverged. They now move more separately, two different streams (85). (10) Sumi never questions Gopal, and he is grateful to Sumi for not asking questions and saved him from embarrassment and positively mortification of voicing half-truths. Sumi hates to discretion Gopals dissection with any body. What do I say, that my husband has left me and I dont know why and may be he doesnt really know, either? And that Im angry and humiliated and confusedLet that be, we wont go into it now(107). (11) Gopal, for that matter is an idealist, for he realizes the futility of existence and expresses---I stopped believing in the life I was lading, suddenly it seemed unreal to me and I knew I could not go on (41). (12) He discloses his awareness and meaninglessness of life and his loss of faith in it. He expresses to Premi the greatest wonder in this world. We see people die and yet we go on as if we are going to live foreverthat is the greatest marvel this world holds, its the miracle. In fact, its the secret of life itself. We knew its all there, the pain and suffering, old age, loneliness and death, but we think, some how we believe that its not for us. The day we stop believing in this untruth, the day we face the truth, that, we too are mortal, that this is our fate as well, it will become difficult, almost impossible to go onIt happened to me. I stopped believing. The miracle failed for me and there was nothing left. Youve got to be the Buddha for that emptiness to be filled with compassion for the world. For me, there was just emptiness (133-134). (13) Sumi looks at the desertion as Sanyasa, but the word Sanyasa cannot be equated to the Vedic renunciation. Sumi casual makes a remark. When, one studies Gopals childhood to know the reason for his desertion, we see that Gopals childhood was not a normal one. He painfully remembers that this father had married his own brothers wisdom, and he was born out of that marriage. In his adolescent period when he heard about this fact, some how, his mind had not accepted this concept, and he thinks of several possible reasons for this marriage. He struggles a lot within and his predicament is parallel to hamlets frustrated state of mind It was when I read Hamlet, fortunately much later, that the most terrible version of my parents story entered my mind. Just that once, though for I slammed the door on it immediately.

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In this story my father became a man succumbing to his passion for his brothers wife, the woman complaint, a pregnancy and a child to come and then, after the husbands convenient death (no, I couldnt, I just couldnt make my father poison his brother) a marriage of convenience(43). (14) Gopals father is his mothers guilty partner. Their gruesome death leaves him in great confusion and void, what ruins his peace is his painful realization that even his sister Sudha and he, didnt share the same fatherGopal feels Isolated and abandoned, Gopal is nurturing these feelings of loneliness and desolation since long. Emptiness, I realized then, is always waiting for us. The nightmare we most dread, of waking up among total strangers, is one we can never escape. And so its a lie, it means nothing, its just deceiving ourselves when we way, we are not alone. It is the desperation of a drowning person that makes us cling to other humans. All humane ties are only a masquerade. Some day, some time, the pretence fails us and we have to face the truth(52). (15) His insecure childhood, lack of understanding the true concept of happiness and ignorance of true quality of joy, has led Gopal to renounce his Grihast-ashrama in search of eternal bliss. Gopal is still to search a solution to his loneliness and achieve peace. Gopal could not convince any one, the reason for his desertion, at least not to his daughter Aru. She, like the Yaksha, questions him and decides irresponsibility. To her Not just a tragedy, it is both a shame and a disgrace(13). (i6) Aru does not want him to get away Scot-free while they had to face the disgrace, shame and humiliation, that the desertion brings. Aru demands for family maintenance, but Sumi, who endure pain with patience, self-respect and magnanimity refuses family maintenance. No doubt, Gopals desertion upsets every one in the family, more so his wife, Sumi, but his desertion springs out Sumis hidden talents, and her real hidden strength. As a wife and a mother, Sumi had led a contented life, and had willingly accepted the responsibilities of a wife and a mother. Though disappointed and frustrated, she learns to cope up with disgrace and humiliation of Gopals desertion in an admirable way. This is not passivity; she deliberately plays cool and maintains her mater-of fact attitude. Her patience, tolerance, sense of equanimity and stoicism makes her an enigma Shashi Deshpande says, Sumis acceptance is not passive. She blocks out the unpleasantness. She has a good opinion of herself; she is more concerned with getting on with life. She does not want pity; she would do anything for pride. She distances even her husband. The point is, they are both unusual people. People are puzzled by the abandoned wife not feeling bad. (Vimala Rama Rao 131). (17) Sumi never likes to unlock her heart and lay bare her emotions to Gopal. Her pride prevents her, nor she requests him to come back to her. She controls all her feelings and has a composed expression to the outside world.

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She feels lost in staying with her parents in her parents house. She could not demonstrate her own grief in that house. She fully realizes that trying a lacerated heart to ones wrist and showing it to the world is meaningless (Pathak.159) (18) She reveals an independent and individualistic, Spirit, by working as a teacher, though on a temporary basis, she wants to stand on her own legs and there by assert her identity. She doesnt accept any kind of economic assistance either from her parents, or from Premi, her doctor sister or from Ramesh, Gopals doctor nephew. She picks up her heart and prepares for the future-she says:Retracing my steps, picking things, thinking --- is this it? But she turned resolutely away from even her immediate past, she is preparing herself for the future(122). (19) She is in search for a permanent job, and with great determinations learns to ride a two---wheeler, at her age, the moment she learns to balance her drive, she is thrilled at her success. She decides to move out of her parents home, to lead an independent life along with her daughters. She makes serious search for the house. But at last she is made to give up the idea, considering very well the impracticalities associated with moving out of the Big House, which is spacious enough to accommodate her family. Even today, the fate of a woman is measured only through their marital status. A woman in a society gets respect only of she has her husband, irrespective of the number of wives or mistress he has, there in compatibility, his cruel treatment of or his dead silence with his wife. It is more than enough if they live together under one roof because, What is a woman without a husband (167)? (20) Kalyani like most of other women, is contended and accepts life, as it is she still feels happy to put her signature, she signs as Kalyani Bai Pandit. The little girl Aru is amazed at this. Its not so easy for a woman, separated or divorced from her husband to starts anew life. But Sumi does not seek divorce, yet she displays rare courage and selfconfidence in trying to adjust in such a situation all by her. Generally, a wife is so much dependent on her husband that his absence either in death or desertion, makes then miserable. Gopals sister Sudha was very lively and active when her husband was alive. But after his death she becomes very peevish, self- centered and almost an invalid. It feels as if all the activity of her life has evaporated from her. But Sumi, after Gopals walk out, revives her creativity. She writes a play the Gardeners son for the school function and rejoices its success, It feels so good and now suddenly I want to do so many things(231). (21) These thoughts of Sumi, reflects her modern progressive out look. She has a sound understanding that man-woman relationships should be sound, equal and non-partisan. She stands for responsibility, motherly care, love and concern. Every moment she is concerned and worried about her grownup daughters. She is worried about their future, and is aware of her responsibility as a mother cum-single parent to her daughters. She becomes quite frantic when Aru meets with an accident, cries for help, despite the profuse bleeding from her own injuries. She is so much worried about Aru that she neither

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leaves her daughter alone nor she takes rest. She desires that her daughters life must become easy and comfortable. Sumi reveals essentially an optimistic vision of life. She demonstrates strength and maturity even in adversity. She never wants to end her life like that of her mothers. She introspects her relation with Gopal in a more matured way and recognizes that Gopals life and its concept was always different identity from hersOur journeys are always separates, thats why theyre meant to be. If we travel together for a while, thats only a coincidence (212). (22) Sumi starts her life again at the age of forty. She starts working in a school on a temporary basis, but when she gets her permanent appointment, she wants to go there with Seema, her youngest daughter. Sumi, was preparing for a fuller life, it is really an irony of fate that her life cut off in the prime. It is pity that Sumi dies when she was taking up a job to support herself and her daughters. Had she lived, she would have become an economically independent woman with modern and matured outlook towards life, and at the same time, a loving and responsible mother. Perhaps through Aru, the novelist looks hopefully at the younger generation to penetrate silence, make women realize their situation and speak up for themselves. Inheriting her mothers pride and dignity, courage and confidence. Aru assures her father- well be guide alright, dont worry about us (246). (23) Through education, determination and an inner strength, the potential is revealed only when one suffers, Sumis daughters find their voice and establish their identifies-Aru as a lawyer and chru is in the medical line, became of their talents and qualities, the girls are already being pursued by two very capable young men Rohit and Hrishi. It is because of Aru and Kalyani and the partnership they have forged, the strength with which they face suffering, that the novel ends on a note of hope. The last image on which the novelist closes her story is not of Sumis death but of Aru and Kalyani standing together at the door with the smile of encouragement, which they have for Gopal. The novel, A Matter of Time, moves beyond feminist concerns, in that it raises the existentialist question itself. It tries to penetrate and analyze the very predicament of human existence and solve the riddle of life. It is only through a process of selfexamination and self-searching; through courage and resilience, that one can change ones situation from despair to hope. The most important message conveyed is the novel comes through Gopals realization in the end.

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If it is ideal true that we are bound to our destinies, that there is no point struggling against them, even then this remains, that we do not submit passively or cravenly, but with dignity and strength.

REFERENCES
1. Bande Usha, Tolerance or Tolerance Altruism- A Study of Shashi Deshpandes A Matter of Time in psychic knot: Search for Tolerance in Indian English Fiction Ed. K.singh, New Delhi. Bahri, 1988, P.77-84. 2. 3. Deshpande Shashi, A Matter of Time. New Delhi: Penguin, 1996. RamRao, Vimala, In Conversation with Shashi Deshpande. The Fiction of Shashi Deshpande, Ed. R.S.Pathak. New Delhi: Creative Books. 256-59. 4. Vishwanathan, Vanamala, interview with Shashi Deshpande, literature Alive. British Council, Madras, 1.3.December 1987.8-14. 5. Bande, resistance and reconciliation: Shashi Deshpandes A Matter of Time and Small Remedies. Writing Difference, The Novels of Shashi Deshpande, and Ed by Chanchala.K.Naik, PenCraft international, Delhi, and Literacy Criticism- 2005.