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RAJIV GANDHI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF LAW, PATIALA, PUNJAB

ENGLISH - I

COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO NOVELS: A MATTER OF TIME

AND A FINE FAMILY

SUBMITTED TO: Dr Tanya Mander

SUBMITTED BY: - Group IInd

Year: 1st

Year (1st

semester)

Group Members Name: Nikhil Suresh Parikh- 502

Angshuman Hazarika-512

Tribeni Ramchiary-522

Dewangana Chillar-532


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CONTENTS

1. Introduction.......................................................................................I. BackgroundII. MotivationIII. Comparision of background and motivation

2. Characters and comparison between the two books..........................3. Themes..............................................................................................

i. Language and styleii.

Symbols and metaphors

iii. Comparison4. Conclusion ........................................................................................


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CHAPTER: 1

Introduction

BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR

Shashi Deshpande is an award winning novelist born in Dharward in Karnataka in 1938 as

the second daughter of famous Kannada dramatist and writer Sriranga. She pursued her

education in Dharward, Bombay and Bangalore. The received degrees in economics and law

and was a gold medallist. When she was living in Mumbai, she did a course on Journalism at

the Bharatia Bidya Bhawan and took up a job as a Journalist in the magazine Onlooker. She

worked there for a couple of months. While working at the magazine she began writing her

first short stories and published them in 1978 and her first novel, The Dark Holds No Terror

was published in 1980. She won the Sahitya Academy Award for the novel That Long

Silence in 1990 and the Padmashri Award in 2009. Shashi Deshpande has written four

childrens books, a number of short stories, and nine novels, besides a several perceptive

essays.

BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR

Gurcharan Das is an Indian author, commentator and public intellectual. He is the author of

The Difficulty of Being Good: On the subtle art of dharma which interrogates the epic,

Mahabharata . His international bestseller,India Unbound, is a narrative account of India

from Independence to the global information age, and has been published in many languages

and filmed by BBC.

He is a regular columnist for six Indian newspapers in English, Hindi, Telugu and Marathi,

and he writes periodic pieces for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times,

Foreign Affairs, and Newsweek.

Gurcharan Das graduated with honors from Harvard University in Philosophy and also in

Politics. He later attended Harvard Business School where he is featured in three case studies

He is the author of the international best seller "India Unbound". He was also the CEO of

Procter & Gamble India and Vice President or Procter & Gamble Far East between 1985 and

1992. Prior to P&G, he was Chairman and Managing Director of Richardson Hindustan


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Limited from 1981 to 1985, the company where he started as a trainee. In 1995, after a 30-

year career in 6 countries, he took an early retirement to become a full-time writer. And thus

starts his writing career. He writes a regular column on Sundays for the "Times of India" and

"Dainik Bhaskar" and occasional guest columns for the "Wall Street Journal," "Financial

Times" and "Time" magazine. Penguin has recently published his book of essays called "The

Elephant Paradigm." In addition, he currently consults with a number of companies on global

corporate strategy and is associated with a venture capital fund.

ABOUT HER WRITING

Shashi deshpande is one of the famous contemporary novelists in India. Her novels mainly

deal with the inner world of the Indian women which are realistic in nature and their situation

in contemporary India. She writes about the conflict between tradition and modernity in

relation to women in the middle class society. The main points in her novels are the desires,

efforts and failures of women in the Indian society which makes it clear that she is not a

complete strict feminist which sees man as the cause of all the troubles. Her novel A matter

of time is an exploration of a womans inner life and generally her novels like the dark holds

no terror, that long silence etc explore a woman psyche. And in case of this novel womans

inner life is not the only subject, here the inner life of woman emotionally isolated from her

family is reflected and how her daughters react to it. She presents a world which consists of

socially complex relationship i.e. how men and women journey across their life in different

stages. Her novels present two to three generation living together and modern Indian

womanhood in her novels. Deshpande has concentrated upon womens changing perspective

and their search for bonding within family as a mode of strength in order to present the social

reality experienced by women. She mostly mentions about the clash of tradition and

modernity which is reflected in the generation gap and conflict between women. For instance,

in a matter of time the way Kalyani, Sumi and her daughters behave with each other in

certain cases. The younger generation portrayed in her novels rebel, reject and seek freedom

from traditional way of life and the portrayed generations presents the difference between

traditional and modern society. Shashi deshpande is a writer whose writing comes mostly out


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of her own experience of what it is to be a woman in our society and deals with gender-

related experiences.

ABOUT HIS WRITING

Gurcharan Das is now mainly known for his two best-selling books,India Unboundand The

Difficulty of Being Good.India Unbound, is a narrative account of India from Independence

to the global information age, and has been published in over a dozen languages and filmed

by BBC. The Difficulty of Being Good: On the subtle art of dharma (Penguin 2009) examines

contemporary moral failures through the lens of the 2000 year old epic, theMahabharata.

Apparently he spent nearly 7 years researching the book at the University of Chicago. It uses

quotes from the Mahabharata yet also other ancient works such as The Illiad etc. and cites

examples as recent as the financial crisis.

Gurcharan Das began to write soon after college. He wrote three plays in his twenties, which

have been published as an anthology, Three English Plays (Oxford University Press, 2003). It

consists ofLarins Sahib, a prize-winning play about the British in India, which has been

presented at the Edinburgh Festival;Mira, which was produced off-Broadway to critical

acclaim from New York critics; and 9 Jakhoo Hillwhich has been performed in major Indian

cities.

He wrote a novel in his thirties,A Fine Family, which follows the stories of several

generations of a Punjabi family beginning with the Partition.

The Elephant Paradigm is a book of essays which ranges over subjects as varied as

panchayati raj, national competitiveness, and the sacred and philosophical concerns of the

average Indian consequent to Indias entry into what the author calls the age of liberation.

While India may never roar like the Asian tigers, Das argues, it will advance like a wise

elephant, moving steadily and surely, pausing occasionally to reflect on its past and to enjoy

the journey.

SUMMARY OF A MATTER OF TIME

This book tells us about a family which mentions three generation and starts with Sumi,

whose husband Gopal, walks out on her and her three daughters Aru, Charu and Sheema.

There was no concrete reason behind why he had walk out on her, on the other hand Aru


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considers herself to be responsible for her fathers act as because she was rude to him when

he resigned from university teaching job. Sumi along with her daughters return to their

ancestral house, but initially her daughters find difficult to settle in a new environment. It was

the house of Sumis parents, Kalyani and Shripati, who did not shared a good relation where

Kalyani has been living in strange oppression and silence for nearly 40 years with Shripati,

since they had lost their only son in an incident after. Even Manorama, who sometimes didnt

liked Kalyani for not being a male child, blamed her for her fathers (Vishwasraos) death.

Every members of the family hoped and tried to make their condition like before and starts to

settle within that environment. But later there is a realisation that it was of no use in trying to

make their condition better. Gopal who himself had suffered loses, also sometimes gets

disturbed by his fathers act i.e., marrying his brothers widow. Later when the reality behind

Kalyani comes in front of Aru, she tries to find out why she didnt claim that it was not her

fault. The story turns into a direction when Sumi and Shripati were killed in a road accident

and after their death everybody gets into their own way.

BACKGROUND OF A MATTER OF TIME

First of all Deshpande divided this book into three different parts i.e., The House, the Family

and The riverwith the help of which she enables a reader to understand the story, about the

house of the family and what incidents leads them to live in such way and later how they goesinto their own direction by their destiny. This story by Shashi Deshpande is mainly about the

existence of men and women in an intricate relationship and also about societal norms.

Deshpande poses, they discover new and clearer ways to think about their own status as

mothers or daughters or wives. Analogies from Hindu belief and myth make clear that

Deshpande writes for readers in India first and foremost. But her careful exposition renders

literary and historical reference no more a barrier to comprehension than the characters

unfamiliar names. Published in India in 1996, this novel places Deshpande in distinguished

international company; readers who enjoy Anita Brooknern or Isabel Allende may find

distant analogues here. In her first, somewhat charmless book to be published here, Indian

writer deshpande tells a story familiar to readers in the west: a family crisis is triggered when

a husband walks out on his wife.


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It is a story encompassing four generation of women project four variants of ideology within

the same family charting the course of social history and ideological change. The experiences

which they had to face are inescapable even in reality.

Later she gives vent to her long suppressed feelings as her relation with her daughter and

grand daughters develop, opening up the gates of her memories through which the family

legacies pours out. While going through the book, other than mentioning about what actually

happens with all the family members, it also keeps retelling stories of their past, specially

about the ancestral history and about the past of Sumi and Gopal. This book mentions the

battle of the Peshwas and its victory because of the miracles of the idol of Ganpati and how

Vishwasrao is related to the Peshwas. And unfold the family histories which are rich in

abandonments and betrayals.

This book is also reflects a society in transition. The change in society is skilfully elaborated

through the different generations in this book; Kalyani who couldnt complete her study in

high school just because her mother didnt allow her after coming to know about the feeling

of a boy towards Kalyani, Sumi who is educated but doesnt work outside the house, keeping

beside her dreams; Sumis sister Premi who is a successful doctor, and the young girls Aru,

Charu, and Sheema, who all aspire for careers and independence.

SUMMARY OF A FINE FAMILY

Bauji is forced to flee India by the violence and instability unleashed by Partition. Bauji has

lost everything in the transition, and when hbis daughter Tara gives birth to a son, everyone's

hopes are pinned on the child to revive the family's fortunes in an independent India.

A fine family is the extraordinary chronicle-rich in passion and incident-of several

generations of a Punjabi family.Bauji,a successful lawyer in Lyallpur is forced to flee India

by instability unleased by Partition.Bauji has lost everything in the transition and when his

daughter Tara gives birth to a son,Arjun,everyones hopes are pinned on the child to revive

the familys fortune in an independent India.Together the voices of the various generations

tell the story of a fine family and a great country as both to struggle to build a new future in

in difficult circumstances.


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MOTIVATION

Shashi DeshpandesAMatter ofTime is a continuation of her exploration into the many

facets of feminine experience in writing. She has written this so that it gives the readers

insight intoawomanslife inamiddleclasssocietyofIndia.Deshpande isfromKarnataka

andshehasspentmostofherlifearoundBombayandBangaloreandthismayreasonofwhy

shehaswrittenthisstoryinasouthIndianbackgroundandwhereshementionsaboutplaces

likeBombayandBangalore.Thefactthatmostofthetodayswomenarefacingproblemsin

theirfamilialrelationshipwhich isclear fromherwritings ismeant for thereaders toknow

about theplightofwomen.Beingawomanshe isconsciousabouthowwomen are looked

uponbypeopleinanIndiansocietywithastereotypeattitudeandisbeingdisturbedbysuch

viewsofpeopleandbywritingsuchnovelssheexpressesherfeelings.Butonethingwhichis

clear from her writings is that she is not a feminist who only favours writing about the

problemsofwomen.

BACKGROUNDOFAFINEFAMILY

`Afinefamily` isaremarkablebookonIndianurbanmiddleclass.Thisisacreationof

GurcharanDas.Indianurbanmiddleclasshaslostthemostastheyexpectedalotfrom

democraticIndiabornoutoftheBritishEmpire.TheclassofIndiansocietyhasgivenmore

thanithasbeenrewarded.Thisbooktracesonesuch `khatri` familythroughWorldWarI.It

hasalsoconcentratesondifferentaspectastheRowlattActof1919,thesofteningofBritish

Empire,the QuitIndiaMovement,theerrorofGandhiandhistimeinjail,riseofJinnahand

thetwonationtheory.HealsogivesimportancetoLordMountbattenandtheRadcliffeLine,

theensuingriotsonbothsidesoftheborder,theperceivedlossofHindu`s.Inhiswriting,

idealisticdreamernamedNehru,Indo-Chinaties,theriseoftheIndianbureaucrats,the

convoluteddemocracyledinsuccessionbyNehrufamily,tyrannyofIndiraGandhi,Sanjay

inspiredemergencyandsearchforspiritualityamongthenewIndianmiddleclasshascome

upinanexcellentmanner.InthisbooktheauthorrelatesthelifeofBauji,whoisa `khatri`

lawyerfromEastPunjab.Sherepresentedthepre-independenceprogressiveIndians.These

peopleusededucationtofurtherthedevelopmentoftheirpeople,whowillleadIndiafrom

freedomtoglory.ButBaujigotcaughtonthewrongsideoftheRadcliffeLineanddidnot

believethathiscountrymenwillturnthejoyousoccasionoftheirfreedomtooneofthemost


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hatefulepisodeofcommunalriotsinthemodernhistory.Likemanyotherunfortunatebut

bravesoulswithsimilarexperience,BaujibuildshislifeagaininfreeIndia.Andhislifewas

betterthanhismorefortunatecountrymen.Hisgrandson,Arjun,carrieshistorchofmiddle

classhonesty,stubbornsenseofjusticeandgood-naturedindustry.Theboundariesofarigid

Hindusocietyareextendedbythesebold,sensuous `khatri` males.

COMPARISONBETWEENTHEBACKGROUNDSOFTHETWOBOOKS:

AMATTEROFTIMEANDAFINEFAMILY

A Matter of Timeisabookaboutafamilybelongingtoamiddleclasssocietywhereasafine

familyisanovelbelongingtoaurbanmiddleclass.Shashi Deshpandebeingwomenmainly

focusesonwomenplightsandissuescentralizedtowardswomenhoweverGurucharan DasfocusesontheproblemsfacedbythepeopleduringthepartitionofIndia.Shashi Deshpande

hasaparticularviewregardingtherelationshipbetweenamanandawomanwhereas

Gurucharan Dashasageneralizedviewfocusingonthesocietyasawhole.A Matter of Time

isanovelreflectingtheculture,religionandbackgroundofasouthIndiansocietyevenifthe

storyhasafamiliaritywiththewesternworldwhereasA Fine Familymainlyreflectsthe

cultureandsocietyofanorthIndianPunjabifamily.


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CHAPTER:2

Characters

AMATTEROFTIME

The characters in this story reflect the realitybehind familynorms,valuesandabout those

things which are sometimes ignoredby us. It is in this stifling atmosphere the characters

evolveandcometoanewerunderstandingoftheirlives.Kalyaniwhotriesveryhardnotto

letherdaughterandhergranddaughtersknowabouthersecretofherpastandshewished

thatherdaughterswouldbefreefromthe lifeshehad lived.Even inreal lifeamotherwho

hassufferedsomuchinhermarriedlifewouldneverletherdaughterstosufferthesame.The

wayshetellsaboutherancestorstoherfamilymakesitclearthatshefindspleasureintelling

aboutherfamilyhistory.Sumiwhowanders insearchofjobshowshowwomen thrive for

fulfilling theirdreams.Both themaleswho findsproblem to carryonwith their familyare

showninaslightlydifferentwaybyDeshpandelikeifforGopalitissomethingasbizarreas

existential fury thatdriveshimaway fromhisfamily,forSripati it is the innerfuryof loss.

Fromthis,itisclearthatitsnoteasyforamantolivewithafamilyoffemales.

Therelationoffatheranddaughteri.e.,thatofPremiandSripatiisyetanotherrelationwhich

takesthereaderdeeperintothecomplexwebofhumanrelation.Theunconsciousinheritance

thatpasses from one generation to another canbe clearly understood when Deshpande

mentions about Manorama and her relation with her daughter Kalyani and Kalyani with

Sumi.

Deshpandeisatherbestusingallusionstoportraythedevelopmentandinnerturmoilofher

characters.As thewomens secrets and strengths are revealed, so are the complications of

familyandculture,catchingeachinturninthecyclesoflove,loss,andrenewalthatbecome

essential to her identity. A matter of time reveals the hidden springs of character while

painting a nuancedportraitof the difficulties and the choices facedby women especially

educated,independentintodaysIndia.

IncaseofchildrenSumisthreedaughtersarealsoportrayedinthreedifferentwayslikethe

relationshipthatAruandCharusharesisdifferentfromthatofwhattheysharewithSheema

becauseof theiragegaps.Itcanalsobeseen inmostof the families inoursocietyand the

intimacywhichtheysharewitheachother.AruandCharuwhowereshownintheirteenage,


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CHAPTER: 3

The

es

AMatterofTime

Thebaseofthisstoryisaboutafamilywiththehelpofwhichtheauthorisrepresentingthe

realitywhere destinyplays a major role.With this novel she takes the themes of silence,

gender differences,passive suffering, and familial relationship into much deeper realms.

Fury,roleofdestiny,genderdifferencesaresomeofmanythemesaroundwhichDeshpande

weaves her tales.This novel of Deshpande attracts most of the readers even it is set in a

particularregion,milieu,cultureandgender,becauseofitsuniversaltheme.

LANGUAGEANDCULTUREOFAMATTEROFTIME

ThisstoryissetinpresentdayKarnataka,richwithsouthIndianculture,landscape,folktales

and history.The characters mentioned in this story are familiar with three languages i.e.,

Kannada, Marathi and English. Deshpandeportrays the characters of this story specially

womeninatypicalsouthIndianmannerwhichisclearfromthedressingstyleofthegirls,the

waythey interactwitheachothertotheirfoodstyles.Eventheviewsandperspectivehasa

littlefamiliaritywithit.

SYMBOLSANDMETAPHORES

Shashi Deshpande used quoted lines from A.K.Ramanujans translation of early classical

Tamilpoetry inPoems ofLove and War and translated verses fromUpanishadsby DrS.

Radhakrishnan taken from The Principal Upanishads and from The Thirteen Principal

UpanishadsbyRobertErnestHume*.Eventodescribeandexpressthefeelingsandemotions

ofdifferentcharactervariousquotedlinesareusedlikeforinstancethejoyofGopalwhenhe

was with Sumi was compared to the supremejoy Purandaradasa has found in his Lord,

Vithala.

LANGUAGEANDCULTURE OFAFINEFAMILY

ThestoryofthreegenerationsofaPunjabifamilyinadrasticallychangingworld.A

prominentlawyerinLyallpurthanIndia,nowPakistanisdrawnintotheuphevealthatcomes

withthecreationofanewnation.Evenmorehisdaughter,Tara,whopreferstoworkasa


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schoolteacher,notquitetheprofessionofamemberofanupperclassfamily.WhenIndia

gainsindependencefromBritainin1947LyallpurbecomespartofthenewMuslimcountry

ofPakistan.Thisfamilyandmillionsofnon-MuslimIndiansmustemigrateandadapttoa

completechangeinlifestyle.


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CHAPTER:4

Conclusion

A MATTER OF TIME

AmatteroftimebyShashiDeshpandeisastorywhichisbasedonrealityoflifeandwhich

tellsus thatwhateverwearedestined to,we cannot escape from it.Weknow thatsorrows

andmiseriesarealwaystheretocomeineverypathofourlifejourneyandnothingremains

permanent in this worldbut still we try to ignore the fact and hope or expect everything

wouldbefine.Itsastorywhich istryingtomakeusunderstandthatwehavetoacceptthe

realityandeverythingdoesnothappenaccordingtoourexpectation.Averysmallexampleto

thisfact isthat,whilereadingthestorymanyreadersmighthaveexpected thattherewould

beahappyendingwhichisratheropposite.

Afterreadingthisnovelwecansaythatitgivesusarichinsightabouttherealitybutbesides

thebrightersideofthebook,therearesomedrawbackswhichShashiDeshpandemighthave

ignored. She has introduced the character of this novel in an abrupt manner unlike other

novelswhereonecaneasilyunderstandhowaparticularcharacterislinkedtothemainissue

andhowtheyarerelatedtoeachother.Itisonlyafterreadingthewholebookthoroughlyand

minutely,onecanunderstandtheroleofthecharacters.Moreovertherewerefewcharacters

inthestory,whoserelationshipswiththemaincharactersarenotmentionedproperlyorhow

theyarelinkedtoeachother.Infactitisonlyaftercomingtothemiddleofthestorythatyou

getacquaintedtothemethodofintroducingthecharacterbythewriter.Giventhecomplexity

ofSumisfamilytree,Deshpandesfailuretoclearlydemarcatehercharacters-readerswillbe

hard-pressedtosaywhatanyofthemactuallylookslike-makesforathinlypresentedpresent

time,throughwhichrecollectionsdartquicklyintoview.

Another thingwhichwecanpointout is that, thereare fewchaptersandparagraphswhich

arenotinapropersequentialmannerlikeendinginaparticularpointbutthenextstartsfrom

anotherwhichhasnorelevancewith the earlierpart.Moreover the fragmentsof thehistory

mentionedinthebookareoftenmoving,buttheyseemtoloosejumble,lackingtheparticular

flavourofaspecificperspective.

Therearemany issueswhichare leftunresolved i.e.which startswithsomethingbut later

therearenomorementioningabout it.Even theendofthenovel isanunexpectedsurprise.


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AsShashiDeshpandeisafemalewriter,alittlebiasnesstowardswomanisobviouswhichis

clear from the fact that the whole story concentrates mainly on females, theirpains and

experienceandthoseofmalesarequiteignored.

AMatterofTimeinterestinglytracesthetransformationoftheideologyfromthestageofthe

internalizationofpatriarchalvalues through awareness of thevalue of femalebonding and

selfidentitytoassertionofwomensright.

A FINE FAMILY

Thisbook,Afinefamily`byGurcharanDasdefinitelyinspiresusnottogetinvolvedinany

sortofreligionbasedpoliticsandriots.Thiswillstoppoliticians,fromaskingthepeopleto

beHindus,Tamil,Muslim,etc.,beforebeinghuman.Thisstoryhasabackdropaspre

independenceaswellasthepartitiontime.Thetraumaticsituationofthattimeisdepictedin

anicemanner.Becauseofthepartitionmanypeoplehadtoadaptanewlifestyle.They

sufferedmanyproblems.Alltheseareextra-ordinarilyexpressedinthisbook.

FAMOUS QUOTESBYGURUCHARANDAS

y "Youneedtwothings:youmusthavethehungerforsuccessandthedesperationtoachieveit.It'sasifyourlifewon'tbecompleteuntilyousucceed.Thatfundamental

discontenthastobethere.Gotit?"

y "IcouldsayIbelieveinthereligionofman,ratherthanofGod!"y "Inlife,actionismoreimportantthanthought."y "Howarichcountrybecamepoorandwillberichagain."


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