Chapter I

Introduction

The history of Indian literature is a little like trying to condense that

volume of water into a single bottle. There are two primary difficulties in

categorizing Indian literature-- the first is that so much of it was in the form of

oral traditions rather than written, making it impossible to date when a work

was first composed. Secondly, with 'India' being a legal construct barely 68

years old, there is difficulty in figuring out who and what should be considered

a part of the Indian literary tradition.

The Vedic Literature is the first non-archaeological written source of

Indian history. The Vedic literary tradition thus places itself at a transmission

stage of history between Pre-history and the Historical period. The Vedic

literary tradition started around 1500 BCE with the emergence of the Aryan

Culture. This literature gives information about the cultural and spiritual

events during that period, including the names of certain tribes and their

leaders and sages. Vedic literature is said to be the oldest readable Literature in

Indian history.

Harappan texts are available, but they have not been deciphered to

date. Vedic literature is intrinsically connected with spirituality. The term Veda

means Knowledge. Vedic literature is broadly a collection of three forms of

writings. The first one is Samhitas that includes hymns, incantation,

benediction, prayers, litanies, and sacrificial formulas. The second one is

Brahmanas, the voluminous prose texts which comprise the matter of

sacrifices and significance of sacrifices. The Aranykas and Upanishads, the

third, discuss matters associated with the meditation of God, and general

musings of the world and humans. Aranykas and Upanishads are partially
 2

attached with Brahmanas or included in Brahmanas themselves and partly also

exists as independent works from other collections of literature.

The correct date of the origin of early Tamil Literature is not traceable.

But it might have begun between the AD 1st Century and Century. Early Tamil

Literature is related to Sangam literature. According to Nilakanta Shastri,

Tamil literature is a fusion of Tamil and Aryan cultures, which are different.

Tholkapiyam is one of the important works of Sangam literature. The term

Sangam can be simply translated as an Academy of poets or scholars. The

centre place of Sangam was the Madurai in Tamil Nadu. In the later phase,

Sangam literature was under the patronage of the Pandya Dynasty.

Tholkappiyam is the oldest sangam literature. It critically analyses the

Tamil words and letters. Sangam literature is widely divided into two sections

which are Ettuthokai (eight works), Pathuppatu (ten works). Based on their

thematic features, two modes existed in Sangam literature. One is objective.

This section is related to the concept of society. It deals with the ethics of

social life, munificence and valour of king and war. Other one is Subjective. It

discusses personal matters such as love and different emotional relations

between lovers and elopement.

Bhakti movement originated in North India, but it developed into a

mass movement in south India. Basic philosophical characteristics of the

Bhakti movement include the mystic realization of God within oneself and the

ultimate union of the individual with God, based on loving devotion on the

part of devotees and God’s grace (Prasad) in return. The concept of a

personalised God is historical. Sathish Chandra traces back certain roots of

Bhakti thought in Vedic Literature.

 3

This personalised devotion, especially of Shiva and Vishnu, became

popular later in the sixth and tenth century CE. In south India, it started during

the reign of Pallava kingdom. Then it spread to other parts of south India,

including the regions under the Pandya and the Chera kingdom. The preachers

of Vaishnava tradition are known as Alvars and of Saiva tradition known as

Brahmin tradition is that it is more inclusive. There were people from lower

castes, and there were also women in the Nayanars or Adiyars. The main

difference of the bhakti culture from the Vedic Bhakti movement like Andal.

There were also conflicts between the bhakti movement, including Alvars and

Nayanars with Jainism and Buddhism, the main religions in medieval south

India.

Writings in India during the high and late colonial periods were largely

influenced by colonial and modern European literature. The so-called colonial

influence or impact represents the features of modernity that derived from the

Enlightenment in medieval Europe. Enlightenment traditions and their

influence on literary traditions are clearly visible in the themes of such

writings. Company-established colleges also fuelled these trends. Bengal was

one of the first regions to directly engage with colonialism.

The 19th-century proliferation of the printing press, however, saw the

rising Indian contributions either adapting to modern parameters or reacting to

them negatively. These writings thus included adaptation, contestation, and

resistance. Newer trends also appeared in regional languages. The best

examples of such writings include the works of Rabindranath Tagore and

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in Bengal, Indulekha by O. Chandumenon in

Malayalam, and Saadat Hasan Manto in Urdu.

 4

Modern Indian Literature in English generally includes the writings of

Indians in English and other regional languages during the colonial period.

Before the emergence of full-fledged British colonialism, the influence of

European literary traditions and associated modernity in Indian literature was

scant. The early colonial phases of the 17th and 18th centuries seldom saw

Indian contributions within a modern paradigm of enlightenment rationality.

The influence of colonial traditions, an integral part of the colonising

hegemony, includes mimicking their crude forms and resisting its dogma.

Colonialist perception wrote-off pre-existing writings or writing culture in

India by judging them from the norms prescribed by Enlightenment

rationality. Such ideological contradictions and negations inspired new trends

in Indian literature like nationalism and identity formation, including language

identity.

Historically, the print culture enabled the popularisation of Modern

Indian Literature, spurning a new print-literary tradition. However, contrary to

popular belief that Printing and publish, modern modalities, would churn out

literature subscribing to enlightenment norms, they generated literature that

bend itself to market demands. Publishing during colonial times thus turned

into the reproduction of pre-modern folktales, myths and romances that had

better demand among native readers rather than bring them the tenets of

European modernity.

Writing in English in India is greatly inspired by English writing.

There have been Romantics, Victorians, Georgians, and Modernists in our

midst. Indian writing in English is like to one animal replicating another's

steps. Following the publication of new English literature in Johannesburg,

 5

Sydney, Vancouver, and Chennai, the same powerful paper published a full-

page storey on the books of R.K. Narayan, a Chennai native. Rammohan Roy

and Ranade, Dadabhai and Phirose shah, Surendranath and Bipin Pal,

Sankaran Nair and S. Srinivasan Iyengar, Tilka and Gokhale, Malaviya and

Motilal, C.R. Das and Aurobindo contributed to the development of new

literature. Anglian literature taught us to be a new nation and people in India.

Many Westerners in the final decade of the nineteenth century found

Swami Vivekananda's lectures and analyses on Hindu texts to be enlightening

and thought-provoking. Aurobindo wasn't the only author who used western

and eastern myths and stories to produce what he termed "poetry of the soul."

Mysticism permeates Rabindra Nath Tagore's poetry collection Gitanjali,

which earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, making him the first

author from outside of Europe to receive the honour. The late President of

India, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, a famous philosopher, wrote eloquently on Indian

philosophy's ancient treatises. The essence of Mahatma Gandhi's words might

be gleaned from their simplicity.

Rabindranath Tagore, a Nobel laureate, novelist, thinker, and

ambassador for Indian culture across the world, is widely regarded as one of

the greatest Indian poets of all time. His most important works are Ghare

Baire, Gitanjali, and Manasiare. Most of Rabindranath Tagore's contributions

to literature are still only available in the Bengali language, despite the fact

that he wrote eight novels and many poetries.

R. K. Narayan is a famous Indian author best known for his works set

in the fictional city of Malgudi. R. K. Narayan has a rare blend of

sophistication, ingenuity, and wit. His services to literature have earned him
 6

the Padma Bhushan. In 1935, he had his first tale, Swami and Friends,

published. Both Bachelor of Arts (1936) and The Darkroom (1938) followed

shortly afterwards. Bachelor of Arts, R.K. Narayan's second book, was a huge

hit over there. One of his many fans was the acclaimed author, Graham

Greene. He writes about a made-up place he calls Malgudi in his books.

Malgudi, the setting of many of his novels and stories, is an integral part of his

writing. The English Teacher (1945), Mr. Sampath (also known as The

Talkative Man , Waiting for the Mahatma also known as The Guide, are just a

few of his other noteworthy novels.

Sarojini Naidu made significant contributions to the Indian

independence movement and served as the Indian National Congress's leader

in the state in 1952. She communicated with the United States and Canada.

She, with Gandhi and Nehru, was arrested in 1939, during World War II. She

started her career as a writer when she was just eleven years old, in 1890,

when she wrote her first poem. In 1892, she wrote The Lady of the Lake, a

long poem with 1300 lines, in only six days. That same year, she wrote a

2000-line play. In 1905, she published her first book of poetry, titled Golden

Threshold. Forty poems cover a wide range of topics. Poems like "Innovation

to India" and "Lord Buddha Seated on Lotus" have made this collection

famous. The Bird of Time, her second book of poetry, was published in

London in 1912.

There were 46 love-themed lyrics in all. The Broken Wings, her third

collection of poetry, was published in London that year, 1917. There are 61

poems in all. The Sector Flute (1953), The Feathers of Dawn (1961), and The

Temple (1963) are her other collections. In India, she is revered as much as the
 7

nightingale. Sarojini Naidu was an activist, a champion of individual freedom,

a poetess, and a political leader. Sarojini Naidu is revered by us as India's

"Nightingale." After India gained its independence, Sarojini Naidu became the

country's first female governor. The success of her book of rhymes established

her as a major figure in Indian English literature.

Kerala in the 1960s and 1970s, depicted by Arundhati Roy in her book

The God of Small Things (1997), is a microcosm of the bigger national scene,

marked by clashing political beliefs, deep chasms separating the rich and poor,

food shortages, economic stagnation, joblessness, and, most of all, caste and

gender discrimination. The storyteller reimagines history from the perspective

of women and members of marginalized groups in order to depict the plight of

the subaltern under the heel of mighty social and political forces. Over the

intervening years, Roy has used her high profile in India to become "a writer

for the victims of modernity" rather than an advocate for the things she

believes in.

While in India and Pakistan in 1998, Roy published a long and

emotional article titled "Completion of Imagination," in which she harshly

condemned the government for its choice to initiate nuclear tests. As she fights

evil in the world, Roy begins to identify as a feminist. Roy is committed to

keeping her audience well-informed. She questions the sincerity of conducting

all of these nuclear tests at once when so many people in India are living in

filthy slums and terrible poverty. She is calling on the government of India and

the rest of the globe to reevaluate their treatment of the planet and its

inhabitants.
 8

Chetan Bhagat's works are worth millions, as was just indicated. It's

interesting to think about how these books' styles and themes resonate with

today's youth since they are so similar to those of blockbuster Hindi films.

Approved occupations, like the ones he writes about, have straightforward

narratives like the ones in his book. Young people are drawn to Bhagat's novel

because it combines seemingly disparate elements-expensive, realism,

optimism, thriller, gritty arguments, comedy, sex, and so on in the style of a

cinema. Bhagat's writings resonate with young people in part because they

deal with issues they face.

Gita Mehta, a well-known author from the Indian diaspora, has

established herself as a major figure in the field of Indo-English postcolonial

literature. By writing in both the literary and nonfiction genres, she will secure

a place for herself among the constellation of Indian female writers. A River

Sutra (1993), Karma Cola (1979), Snakes and Ladders (1997), Raj (1993),

and Eternal Ganesha (2006) are all works of hers that deserve recognition.

Salman Rushdie is an author of fourteen novels and a short-story

collection. He has also written five non-fiction books, and co-edited two

anthologies. His career as a fiction-writer began with Grimus, followed by

Midnight’s Children, the book that he is best known for. He won the Booker

Prize (1981), the Booker of Bookers (1993), and the Best of the Booker (2008)

for Midnight’s Children. He subsequently published Shame, The Satanic

Verses, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, The Moor’s Last Sigh, The Ground

Beneath Her Feet, Fury, Shalimar the Clown, The Enchantress of Florence,

Luka and the Fire of Life, Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights,
 9

The Golden House and Quichotte, the last having made it to the Booker Prize

shortlist in 2019.

Indian playwrights have used English to address both historical and

contemporary issues, often combining elements of mythology with modern

theatrical techniques. Girish Karnad’s plays like Tughlaq and Hayavadana

explore themes of power, identity, and existential conflict, blending folklore

with modern dilemmas. Girish Karnad’s works reflect the fusion of tradition

with modernity. Mahesh Dattani, as a modern dramatist, Dattani’s plays tackle

issues such as communalism, gender identity, and LGBTQ+ rights. His works,

like Final Solutions and Tara have earned him critical acclaim. Indian

dramatists have enriched English-language theatre by addressing complex

themes while staying rooted in Indian cultural contexts. Postcolonial Indian

literature in English has been instrumental in questioning Western stereotypes

and reclaiming indigenous identities.

Writers such as Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, and Amitav Ghosh

have challenged the hegemony of colonial narratives, offering alternative

perspectives on history, identity and nationhood. Indian writers have won

numerous awards, including the Booker Prize, Commonwealth Writers’ Prize

and Nobel Prize nominations. Their works have been translated into many

languages, influencing literary movements around the world and shaping

global perceptions of Indian culture. The contributions of Indian writers to

English literature are vast and diverse.

Manju Kapur is an Indian novelist. She was born in 1948 in Amritsar.

She graduated from the Miranda House University College for women and

went on to take an MA at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and

 10

an M.Phil. at Delhi University. Manju Kapur is a professor of English where

she is a teacher of English literature at her alma mater Miranda House College,

Delhi.

She has three daughters. Her first novel, Difficult Daughters, won the

1999 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, best first book, Europe and South Asia.

Manju Kapur’s debut novel Difficult Daughters earned her substantial success,

both commercially and critically, in India as well as abroad. She teaches

English at Delhi University under the name Manju Kapur Dalmia.

She studied and received an M.A. in 1972 from Dalhousie University

in Halifax, Canada, and an M. Phil from Delhi University. A Feministic

tradition is strongly apparent in her novels. The search for control over one’s

destiny is the key theme. Manju Kapur speaks for the middle-class and even

has been earned several comparisons with Jane Austen for her sharp-eyed,

finely turned character portraits that are caught in tricky situations.

When Kapur’s first novel came out in 1998, India had just tasted

literary success on the global stage, with Arundhati Roy’s Booker

Prizewinning debut novel, The God of Small Things (1997). The next year,

Jhumpa Lahiri, an American woman of Indian origin, won the Pulitzer Prize

for her first collection of short stories, The Interpreter of Maladies. In contrast

to these 30-something literary celebrities, Kapur’s first book, Difficult

daughters, entered the world as she was hitting 50.

Manju Kapur is a woman writer of the current era. She experiments

human relationship in modern society. More particularly man-women

relationship she illustrates through characters with different kinds of women

daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law of the Indian society. Thereby she details

 11

the issues of womanhood in varying social circumstances, the bone of

contention experienced by women between modernity and traditionality, the

social miseries the women experience, the way in which the women folks

encounter and battle the barriers they face, the male dominance in the society,

the turmoil the woman folks experience in obtaining equality, the sufferings

they experience because of the defined social conditions and culture,

superstitions, belief, habits etc.

 12

Abstract:

Manju Kapur’s novel Custody narrates the story of two women who

suffer under the constraints of traditional family values. The story revolves

around two couples, Raman and Shagun, who undergo a divorce and battle for

the custody

of their children. The novel explores the lives of two very different

women: Shagun, who desires a modern, unrestricted life, and Ishita, who longs

for love and support but is rejected by her own family due to her infertility.

Both women face similar struggles, as they are held back by societal

and familial expectations rather than being allowed to make their own choices.

Shagun represents the modern woman, leaving her family behind to pursue an

affair with Raman’s boss, Ashok Khanna. Meanwhile, Ishita, a traditional

woman, adheres to societal norms without hesitation. However, her life takes a

drastic turn when her infertility leads to her being cast aside by her family.

The novel explores themes such as the search for love, freedom,

identity, and the suppression of women. Kapur presents these two women as

victims of a rigid traditional society. By the end of the novel, both characters

undergo significant transformations: Shagun moves forward in life with Ashok

Khanna, while Raman and Ishita gain custody of Roohi, allowing Ishita to find

renewed hope and purpose.

Manju Kapur has her own concerns, priorities as well as her own ways

on dealing with the predicament of women protagonists. Kapur, being one of

the modern-day women authors, has expressed herself freely and boldly on a

variety of themes without adopting feminist postures. Her novels furnish

examples of a whole range of attitudes towards the importation of Indian

 13

tradition. However, the novelist seems to be aware of the fact that the women

of India have indeed achieved their success in sixty years of Independence, but

if there is to be true female independence, too much remains to be done.

Literature is the reflection of mind; the mirror of life study of both

war and peace external and internal. It reflects the nature of both nature and

man. The broad definition incorporation everything that has been written

down in some form or another i.e. all the written manifestations of a culture.

The broad explanation is difficult as it does not really enable

communication about the topic. Furthermore, this concept neglects the fact

that in many cultures in the past and for a number of original people today,

literature has not been arrested in written media but has been passed down

in a long oral tradition of myth, storytelling, ritual speeches, etc.,

Sanskrit theatre was considered as the first performance of Indian

theatre; the commencement of this theatre was at second century BC. It

illustrated the aristocratic and religious Indian enthusiasm, the origin of it as

the consequence of religious custom. So; the Sanskrit theatre continued

popular till the 17thcentury. Wide extending themes are dealt with in Indian

writing in English. In Indian literature, there is reflection of Indian culture

and their tradition. The Indian contact of contemporary Literature had an

important relation with the social and political history of the mid- nineteenth

century. The first half of the nineteenth century saw gradual improvement of

English education in India.

The works of modern Indian writers reflected the Indianite English,

Salman Rushdie, Shashi Tharoor and Amitav Ghosh. After Independence,

India was faced with a number of crises including social, political and
 14

economic. Contemporary Indian English writers were conscious about their

own culture and traditions. While some of the authors pen in English, most

of them continue to write regional languages. Most of the modern writers

have been successful enough to maintain the unique flavour of their region

in their works. Indian writers in English have made the significant influence

to the novel. The rich and the wonderful legacy of India was the strength of

the Indian English novel is predominantly.

The first novel written In Bengali was Alaler Gharer Dalal‟s Spolit

Sort of a Rich Family, which was published in 1858. It also gives nice

picture of its changing situation in the post-colonial era.

Chapter II
 15

Broken Bonds and Shattered Lives in Manju Kapur’s

Custody

The novel is a domestic fiction. Domestic fiction, also known as family

drama, focuses on personal relationships, family dynamics, and societal

expectations within a domestic setting. In this novel, Kapur explores themes of

marriage, infidelity, divorce, and child custody battles, depicting the emotional

struggles of her characters as they navigate broken relationships and societal

pressures. The novel provides a deep psychological insight into family life,

making it a strong example of domestic fiction. The novel deals with the battle

of divorce and its consequences in the Indian society where the marital

relationship is supposed to last forever.

These problems arose in the family when Shagun, the beautiful wife of

Raman, found the love of her life outside wedlock. This upper middle-class

family was doing well until Shagun fell for Raman’s boss Ashok and had an

extramarital affair with him. When Raman suspected this affair, it had a hard

effect on him, both physically and mentally. Later the dispute for the custody

of the children arose when Shagun demanded a divorce out of mutual consent.

On the other side, Ishita, a young woman, was divorced because of her

inability to give birth to a child.

Throughout the process of divorce, the children, Arjun and Roohi,

were the people who had to suffer the most. The eldest boy could understand

the domestic changes that took place and was constantly worried about the

society’s eye on him and his family. The youngest couldn’t comprehend the

fact of two mothers, two fathers, two countries, and ultimately two families.
 16

The disintegrated family has separated or divorced parents where

children, under the pretence of legal rights and parental ego battles, are

shuttled between those two individuals, who in the very first place were

supposed to give them a happy, carefree, and contented childhood. The novel

narrates the story of Raman and Shagun, a married couple with two children,

eight-year-old Arjun and three-year-old Roohi, who enjoyed a privileged life.

Soon Shagun meets Ashok Khanna, Raman’s boss, and they immediately fall

in love. When Raman discovers their love affair, Shagun has to decide what

she wants to do or what she can do.

She asks Raman for a divorce, but he turns into a vengeful person. In

another part of Delhi is Ishita, whose marriage collapses because she cannot

have children of her own. She tries to find some satisfaction and a sense of

identity in social work, but she abandons it when she meets the divorced

Raman. Since she is drawn to him, she believes she can be happy as a

stepmother. In the second half of the novel, the story focuses on the custody of

the children, the bitter legal battle, and the price of freedom.

At the beginning of the story, we see Raman in his traditional role of

father and husband, head of the family, who goes out to the world to fight and

make money, who has to be looked after. After he comes back home, he also

does not care much for his own wife or children. His professional career is

more important than them. He seems to be married to his job and company.

His parents would never question him. They assume that a woman’s

selfhood, status, respectability, and realisation lie in wifehood and

motherhood. The household functions as a producing and reproducing unit.

The husband produces and goes out into the public sphere, and the wife gives
 17

life to children and takes care of them at home in the private sphere. Amid the

demands of the four grown-ups, Raman, Shagun, Ashok, and Ishita, in this tale

of broken marriages, the children remain quietly in the background until the

novel’s second half. It is then that we begin to see the disastrous side effects of

the bitter fight for their custody, the tyranny of blood, and their trauma, torn

between two mothers, two homes, and two countries.

The shattered lives of the children are due to the extramarital affair of

the parent, the in-law’s treatment of a woman who cannot conceive, and the

changing parenting scenario in middle-class Indian homes. Shagun, the green

eyed, beautiful wife of Raman, falls in love with his charismatic, handsome

boss, Ashok Khanna, who has never been in love before and is determined to

possess the woman he now loves. It does not matter to him how, but he goes

about conquering Shagun’s mind, body, and soul like a seasoned, persuasive

marketer. He represents everything that a woman of today would find difficult

to resist. The pace of the story gains momentum as their affair begins to

become more fiery, daring, and passionate. Shagun has no regrets about lying

to her husband or to her own mother.

The extent of her selfishness and ability to be cruel is visible in the

choices she makes. For example, she leaves her kids with her mother to go off

for weekend trysts with her newfound lover. Yet she convinces herself all the

time that she is a devoted mother to her children. She goes to all lengths to

brainwash her children against their own father, knowing that this would be

useful to negotiate her terms of divorce when it is finally time.

The story skirts our closest to the society’s traditional norms and

conventions. Manju Kapur demonstrates her intrinsic level of detailing with

 18

tiny social observations, such as how Shagun’s mother does her best to coax

her to remain faithful to her husband, and in retaliation, Shagun threatens to

completely stop confiding in her mother if this is how she is going to take

sides. It is evident that marital life in India is fast disintegrating and being

shaped by foreign elements such as extramarital affairs, materialistic pursuits,

and so on. As a parallel story, the plot swerves to the troubles of Ishita, who is

the daughter of Raman’s mother’s friend and neighbour. Reflecting the dismal

marriage scenario that prevails in most middle-class Indian families, Ishita’s

problems begin when she is unable to conceive.

Her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, who doted on her and acted as

though they were all dear friends, changed overnight when they realised that

Ishita is medically pronounced as unable to have children. The Men

extramarital affair of the parent, the in-law’s treatment of a woman who cannot

conceive, and the changing parenting scenario in middle-class Indian homes.

The novel conveys the typical middle-class mentality of Indian

families, particularly in tackling situations like this. The well-knit story reveals

the layers of dirt that are hidden behind the happy family. syndrome among

middle-class families. An example: Ishita’s mother-in-law holds detailed

discussions with the doctor to dig deep into understanding the medical cause

of this condition.

Everyone’s curiosity is satiated when the doctor clarifies that it is

Ishita’s fault and that this happened because she had contracted an illness in

childhood that had damaged her system. In Ishita’s story there is nothing

shocking, but what is clearly absent is her in-laws lack of sympathy or

understanding for the girl, who could have been seen as a daughter instead of a
 19

daughter-in-law. And thus, Ishita’s husband, who had proclaimed never-ending

love to her, becomes the obedient son to his parents. The coldness, the cruel

indifference, and finally the rejection of a wife solely because she cannot bear

a child are portrayed in a heartrending way. Even domestic pets are treated

better than a daughter-in-law in some Indian families.

A divorced, socially isolated Ishita finds the courage to volunteer and

teach underprivileged children. She loves children, and they love her back.

Gradually, she finds hope in the process, her own sense of individuality. In the

second attempt, Ishita marries Raman and thus returns to the status so rudely

snatched from her, the status of wifehood and motherhood, which endows her

with legitimacy.

Her marriage to Raman elevates her to her husband’s social position.

Ishita’s union to Raman empowers her and gives her strength to fight for the

household’s common target: the custody of his children. Some women, like

Ishita, Raman’s second wife, may be fully satisfied being guardians of their

family. But Shagun’s spirit, like that of so many other women, is different. She

has never been able to guide her life. Everything has been decided by her

parents, family, and cultural customs. In this novel children become the

family’s material stakes. Ishita convinces her husband to manipulate events

and invent lies over Roohi’s illness. She exercises power over the small child

by teaching her what she has to say in court in order to win the custody of the

little girl. Their lawyer, a friend of the family, does not oppose Ishita and

Raman.

Their unscrupulous behaviour undoubtedly manifests that the more the

members of a normative patriarchal family confine themselves to its social

 20

internal structures to maintain power over others and have control of their

possessions, the more they transgress ethics and democratic laws. More

appreciative was the insight into the difficult situation divorce puts the

children in. Through Arjun and Roohi, we are shown how a perfect childhood

can get messed up and how the care takers egos and their personal desires can

take a toll on the innocents.

Some of the most well-written chapters were those involving the kids

and how the adult’s fiddling with their minds can not only coerce them but

also leave a lasting impression that eventually makes them into adults with

troubled emotions. Ishita cannot dominate the boy, who is older and capable of

discerning her dishonest behaviour, but she can control the little girl, Roohi, to

whom she gives a new name, Roohi. This new name represents that the child

is hers and not Shagun’s. To a certain extent, the readers feel compassion for

the barren Ishita, who still suffers from the reminiscences of her past

frustrations and social ostracism. As she is under society’s constant

supervision, she needs to demonstrate to herself and to the others that she is a

good, loving mother for Roohi. Entrapped in such a suffocating family, her

egoistic love compels her to break whatever democratic ethical agreements are

set. As a victim of the norms of patriarchal normative households, Ishita turns

into the worst oppressor.

She never speaks to Shagun, nor does she make the effort to

understand her as a mother and woman who also wants to be happy. Roohi’s

custody constitutes Ishita’s last chance to cure her past frustrations and be

accepted as a good mother and exemplary wife among those who dictate or

abide by patriarchal socio-cultural norms. The novel portrays the stress and
 21

anxiety caused in the Indian traditional families because of the intervention of

globalisation and liberalisation ideas affecting the Indian culture. This novel

focuses on the two children of Raman and Shagun. In this ugly battle of

‘custody’ and ‘divorce,’ the children are treated like commodities in constant

shift between two homes, two parents, and two countries.

Due to this estrangement in the family caused by Shagun, Roohi, her

daughter, becomes a victim of slight nervous disorder, and she becomes quite

withdrawn. Her son Arjun’s performance in studies also deteriorates. He is an

eight-year-old boy who has inherited Shagun’s appearance and her character

traits, like being selfish, cruel, and indifferent to everything for his own

satisfaction. Whereas Roohi, two years younger than Arjun, is “right from the

beginning it was clear that Baby Roohi was a carbon copy of her father,” who

(father) is very loving, understanding, and generous.

Raman and Shagun are not aware of the most important factor the child

psychology and the stress upon the children’s psyche. The stress upon the

children to choose one of the parents is the most difficult and most

emotionally devastating trauma to bear with. The parents are unaware of the

consequences. The children undergo psychological trauma that is not revealed

directly. Because of the unstable relationships, homes, and mothers, Roohi is

the first one to get affected. She is in a confused state and unable to tell her

mother’s name (i.e., biological or stepmother) in her school interview.

Whereas Arjun is having a hard time with his father’s position replaced

by Ashok Khanna. The children’s happy childhood days have become full of

scars with broken family memories, which eventually would make them adults
 22

with troublesome emotions. Arjun and Roohi also suffer from parental

alienation.

They feel isolated by the parents because of their divorce and family

problems. Shagun’s extramarital affair with Ashok Khanna, the hasty second

marriage between Shagun and Ashok, and Raman with Ishita Rajora are the

reasons for the parental alienation of the children. Before the divorce of

Raman and Shagun, the separation in them is seen clearly by their indifferent

activities at home.

Arjun spends most of his time in his friend’s house, and Roohi is taken

care of by her father at night, and she sucks her thumb desperately. Roohi

reflected the brokenness of the family in constant loud wails that grated on all

their nerves. This shows the emotional imbalance in Roohi. She also screams

hysterically sometimes, affected by nightmares in sleep and crying fits. The

maid Ganga in the house comes running to Shagun in the garden and tells her

that Roohi had been screaming hysterically for fifteen minutes; not even Sahib

(Raman) could quieten her; she had better hurry back.

The differences between Raman and Shagun can be witnessed clearly

by the children. When Raman comes home in the evenings, Shagun moves out

of the house. The reason why Roohi is affected by slight nervous disorder is

because of her father’s (Raman) illness. Her father’s illness had upset the child

so much that she began to have nightmares, she explained to the bemused

parents.

Raman is forced to lie to his children when they ask for their mother.

He says Shagun has gone to take care of their grandmother. Arjun can see

through his father’s lies. Arjun and Roohi’s education also gets affected
 23

because of these problems. Roohi’s teacher complains to Shagun that Roohi

has become quiet and absent-minded in class. Arjun’s math and English marks

go down when he is in the custody of his new legal stepfather, Ashok Khanna,

who is not as caring as his biological father, Raman, who can teach him both

subjects. Arjun also forges his mother Shagun’s signature in the test papers in

which he has scored low marks and hands them over to the teacher. The moral

psyche and children’s psychology are at stake because of the divorce issue

between Raman and Shagun.

In the divorce and custody paper, Raman accuses Shagun and Ashok of

“exposing him to threats to the minors’ psyche. The minors’ psychological

well-being; she herself was an evil moral influence”. The children, who are

exposed to such emotional imbalance in their early childhood, are at the risk of

being affected by a psychological disorder called Parental Alienation

Syndrome, and it has also been proved medically. They develop hatred

towards one of the parents, especially those who are no longer in charge of

their custody.

The story focuses on the shattered lives of the children, the bitter legal

battle, and the price of freedom. At the beginning of the story, it is seen that

Raman is in his traditional role of father and husband and the head of the

family. Kapur offers an excellent example of a fragmented marriage and its

consequences on children who are treated like pawns in a game of chess.

Before her marriage, Shagun wanted to become a model. Whenever Shagun

meets Ashok Khanna, the dream again raises in her mind.

After breaking the marriage, the children remain quietly in the

background until the novel’s second half. It is then that the disastrous effects
 24

of the bitter fight for the custody of studdles being and the tyranny of blood

and their trauma, torn between two mothers, two homes, and two countries,

ensue. While the parents are embroiled in a legal battle for custody of the

children, they do everything they can to make the children feel worse. Their

son is a replica of Shagun in being selfish, cruel, and indifferent to anything.

The children find their own ways to tackle the crisis because they are

confused and feel divided. Loyalty swarmed around them, throwing them into

tough, emotionally disturbing situations with their parents being the worst of

all. The father realises that marriage to Shagun, whom he had loved blindly,

had been a big mistake. One who has children too would also pay a heavy

price. The novel asks questions on who will get custody of the kids. It

becomes the question for Raman and Shagun.

The novel is a true story of modern marriage that exists around us.

This is true in today’s world. The writer indicates that children are God's gift

in every parent’s life. The modern world does not think so. The parents seek

their own will. The parents have an affair with someone else. But they do not

look after the interest of their own children. It is the riveting story of how love

can disintegrate into an obsession towards possessing children, body and soul.

It's a chilling story. Critique of the Indian judicial system. Kapur’s

narratives deal with the marriages that collapse, social hypocrisies, and the

battle for children mixed with anguish, oppression, violence, possessiveness,

and disintegration. Modern family life can be stressful, and with various

pressures on families, it’s not always easy. Ultimately, parents want what is

best for their child, and a strong parent-child relationship can help lead to

better outcomes for children. Ishita is a stepmother of Roohi and Arjun. Ishita,
 25

a childless divorcee, marries Raman after his divorce. She is a perfect wife and

mother to Raman. Parents are a child’s first teachers and role models.

They are responsible for shaping up the child’s behaviour and

implementing positive verbiage in them. Children listen, observe, and imitate

their parents, so it is important that they should be good role models that the

kids would want to follow. Parents must themselves be an example of good

behaviour for their children. Children are very smart and observant. Divorce

badly affects children's psyche and future.

Arjun stops going to school because of the shame that his mother is

divorced, and he is the kind of single parent. He sees other children enjoying

their holidays, arriving at school functions, or going for outings with both their

mother and father. Shagun is not a perfect mother, and her role is replaced by

Ishita in taking care of Roohi by giving her motherly love. Ishita could

understand the exact role of a mother, and she performs it well. She can’t leave

Roohi for a second and is not ready to send her to Shagun when the court

custody turn comes. She is more curious about protecting Roohi than her

father, Raman. Roohi and Ishita have a better understanding that even Roohi

never thinks about her real mother, Shagun.

Roohi learns good manners from Ishita and is melted by her care and

love. The ways the two children, Arjun and Roohi, are brought up get reflected

in their behaviour. Arjun cannot move friendly even with his real father easily,

but Roohi can easily attach with Ishita and others. Children could be moulded

easily in an earlier stage.

The delicate stage should be occupied wittily by parents to shape them

mentally and emotionally. When parents fail to do that, then their children’s
 26

lives take different directions. Kapur discusses Ishita's shattered marriage due

to her inability to bear children. Her husband divorced her due to her

infertility. After all, divorce brought on by infertility is a significant concern

today. Some people commonly marry in order to have offspring who will

continue their family line. A woman is considered unfit for marriage if she

cannot have children.

Two and a half more would be given six months later when the final

proceedings were over. The interim six months was a period meant for the

reconciliation process. What process? though Ishita dearly, there was never a

chance. In India, settling a divorce with money is a terrible social practice.

How can we make money to compensate for the people who are

broken? Money is not the best way to find balance. Furthermore, when people

attempt to compensate with money, can they rely on the appropriate criterion

for the amount of money that the husband provides to the wife? In the case of

the divorce of Raman and Shagun, Shagun was not in favour of any financial

settlement. She said, don’t make it harder. I have left you the best part of the

marriage. Surely my freedom is not too much to ask in exchange?” In the case

of the children, in another account of a marital conflict, Shagun herself made

the decision to separate from her husband, but since she was a homemaker and

involved with Raman's boss, she was unable to negotiate a financial settlement

with Raman.

This division between husband and wife is shown in both storylines as

the structure of interpersonal relationships in Indian society and the distinction

between divorce among couples with children and nulliparous couples. It all

starts with anomalies that occurred shortly after their marriage; Shagun
 27

married Raman, although she didn't like her union from the beginning. She

wanted a self-sufficient life and admired the women who worked for

modelling agencies.

Her innermost desires are nurtured when Raman's boss, Ashok

Khanna, gives her a chance to work in an advertisement for their business,

fulfilling her childhood dream. “He thought of this opportunity as a gift,

knowing the excitement it would provide. When he first knew Shagun, she had

wanted to be a model, but her mother was strongly opposed to a career that

would allow all kinds of lechery near her lovely daughter. “Do what you like

after you marry, she had said, but after marriage there had been a child.”

Kapur also throws light on the other characters involved in this upheaval. Due

to Shagun's marital conflict, nobody has suffered more than Shagun's mother,

Mrs. Sabharwal. She regards Raman as the kindest and most caring son-in-

law. Having gone through the agony of separation, she could not choose the

best side for herself. She attempts to persuade her daughter to reconsider her

decision and occasionally tries to defend her daughter Shagun during phone

talks with Raman.

She tried numerous times to convince Shagun. “You know, counselling

is not such a bad idea, went on Mrs. Sabharwal carefully. „After all, it is a

question of your whole future, along with that of your children’s” (94). Shagun

was well aware of her mother's true motivations for persuading her. Raman

had been very good to her mother and had shown her much love and care.

Shagun once referred to their relationship as lovebirds. When it came to

Raman's parents, they were proud of his academic achievements. They were

looking for a relationship where the bride would be lovely and caring to
 28

Raman. Marriage problems usually begin when people expect the bride or

groom to do somewhat impossible things.

These actions gradually weaken the rope of a good relationship, which

eventually wears out. The same thing happened in Raman's marriage. Shagun's

expectations were entirely at odds with her reality. People make mistakes,

whether due to circumstances or any hidden motive. A mistake can happen

when a person manipulates the other one, their mind, and provides a false

sense of hope for someone’s future.

The characters in this novel are in a similar situation. When we talk

about Raman, who is an outstanding and diligent individual, his family asks

him to marry Shagun without knowing Shagun's true-life aspirations. Raman's

parents tried their hardest to find Raman an excellent match, but marriage is a

highly complex phase of one's life. One must concentrate on discovering what

one genuinely likes and hates. Raman spent the next five years in IIT, then

another two years of even greater toil at IIM, Ahmedabad, to finally land a job

at India’s Think Tank with a six-figure annual salary. I will ask Bhabhi to look

for a bride, said Mr. Kaushik; she has done such a good job with Rohini. Fits

in perfectly. Such lovely children too”. In the case of Shagun, she expected

more than just being a typical housewife. As Mrs. Sabharwal starts enticing

her and represents an illusion that even she was unaware of, Shagun marries

Raman.

In the beginning, Kapur describes how Shagun's mother convinces her.

In the second scenario of a shattered marriage, Ishita and SK loved and cared

for each other until SK expected a kid from his wife, Ishita. Ishita was forced

to divorce after failing to meet his expectations. Though the marriages were
 29

shattered in both cases, it also demonstrated that life allows people another

chance to restart their lives. Raman's loneliness is relieved when he meets

Ishita, while Shagun finds love with Ashok Khanna. It may seem fine for a

while when people find happiness with someone else outside of marriage, but

the legal and judicial processes for securing a divorce are pretty strict.

Divorce after becoming a parent has a significant impact on children's

lives. It mentally breaks them, making it difficult to comprehend what is

happening around them at a young age. Arjun and Roohi, Raman and Shagun's

children, were in a similar situation. Amid his parent’s drama, Arjun found it

challenging to breathe. His mother once duped him into avoiding his father,

Raman.

The novel showed the consequences of each character in both

favourable and unfavourable circumstances. She has demonstrated two

storylines in tandem with a spectacular convergence at the divorce point in

both. Even though it started beautifully, as the story continued, we gradually

heard about their hardships. Ishita's life focuses on working for an NGO, being

a devoted stepmother to Roohi, and being a wife to Raman, whereas Shagun's

centres around Ashok and Arjun. Finding their love again not only heals the

shattered characters but also offers us a context in which to understand that

divorces give marriage a second chance.

In both cases, through all the chaos and turmoil, the novel ends with a

new pair of husband and wife. Some spaces will never be filled, like Roohi's

absence in Arjun and Shagun's life and Arjun's absence in Raman's life. The

novel ends with something like bargaining of love and emotion

Chapter III
 30

Conclusion

In this novel Manju Kapur delves into the profound psychological

impact of marital discord, divorce, and child custody battles on her characters.

The novel portrays how these conflicts lead to shattered lives, affecting not

only the adults involved but also the children caught in between. The

emotional turmoil experienced by each character underscores the devastating

consequences of broken relationships and the ensuing legal struggles over

custody.

Throughout the process of divorce, the children, Arjun and Roohi were

the people who had to suffer the most. The eldest boy could understand the

domestic changes that took place and was constantly worried about the

society’s eye on him and his family. The youngest couldn’t comprehend the

fact of two mothers, two fathers, two countries and ultimately two families.

After years of struggle, the custody of the girl was given to Raman and Ishita

whereas the boy was in boarding school and was older enough to decide his

legal guardian on his own.

This novel is an excellent example of a broken marriage and its

consequences on children who are played like pawns in a game of legal chess.

The disintegrated family has separated or divorced parents where children

under the pretence of legal rights and parental ego battles are shuttled between

those two individuals, who in the very first place were supposed to give them

a happy, carefree and contended childhood.

The novel narrates the story of Raman and Shagun, a married couple

with two children, eight-year-old Arjun and three-year-old Roohi, who

enjoyed a privileged life. Soon Shagun meets Ashok Khanna, Raman’s boss,
 31

and they immediately fall in love. When Raman discovers their love affair,

Shagun has to decide what she wants to do, or what she can do. She asks

Raman for a divorce but he turns into a vengeful person. In another

part of Delhi is Ishita whose marriage collapses because she cannot have

children of her own. She tries to find some satisfaction and a sense of identity

in social work but she abandons it when she meets the divorced Raman. Since

she is drawn to him, she believes she can be happy as a step mother. In the

second half of the novel, the story focuses on the custody of the children, the

bitter legal battle and the price of freedom.

At the beginning of the story, we see Raman in his traditional role of

father and husband, of head of the family who goes out to the world to fight

and make money, who has to be looked after when he comes back home, but

also does not care much for his own wife or children. His professional career

is more important than them.

He seems to be married to his job and company. His parents would

never question him. They assume that a woman’s selfhood, status,

respectability and realization lie in wifehood and motherhood. The household

functions as a producing and reproducing unit. The husband produces and

goes out into the public sphere and wife gives life to children and takes care of

them at home in the private sphere.

Amid the demands of the four grown-ups Raman, Shagun, Ashok and

Ishita in this tale of broken marriages, the children remain quietly in the

background until the novel’s second half. It is then that we begin to see the

disastrous side-effects of the bitter fight for their custody, the tyranny of blood

and their trauma, torn between two mothers, two homes and two countries.
 32

The shattered lives of the children are due to the extramarital affair of the

parent, the in-law’s treatment of a woman who cannot conceive, and the

changing parenting scenario in middle-class Indian homes. Shagun, the green

eyed, beautiful wife of Raman, falls in love with his charismatic, handsome

boss, Ashok Khanna, who has never been in love before and is determined to

possess the woman he now loves. It does not matter to him how, but he goes

about conquering Shagun’s mind, body, and soul like a seasoned, persuasive

marketer.

He represents everything that a woman of today would find difficult to

resist. The pace of the story gains momentum as their affair begins to become

more fiery, daring, and passionate. Shagun has no regrets about lying to her

husband or to her own mother. The extent of her selfishness and ability to be

cruel is visible in the choices she makes. For example, she leaves her kids with

her mother to go off for weekend trysts with her newfound lover. Yet she

convinces herself all the time that she is a devoted mother to her children. She

goes to all lengths to brainwash her children against their own father, knowing

that this would be useful to negotiate her terms of divorce when it is finally

time.

The story skirts our closest to the society’s traditional norms and

conventions. Manju Kapur demonstrates her intrinsic level of detailing with

tiny social observations, such as how Shagun’s mother does her best to coax

her to remain faithful to her husband, and in retaliation, Shagun threatens to

completely stop confiding in her mother if this is how she is going to take

sides. It is evident that marital life in India is fast disintegrating and being

shaped by foreign elements such as extramarital affairs, materialistic pursuits,

 33

and so on. As a parallel story, the plot swerves to the troubles of Ishita, who is

the daughter of Raman’s mother’s friend and neighbour. Reflecting the dismal

marriage scenario that prevails in most middle-class Indian families, Ishita’s

problems begin when she is unable to conceive. Her mother-in-law and sister

in-law, who doted on her and acted as though they were all dear friends,

changed overnight when they realized that Ishita is medically pronounced as

unable to have children.

The Men extramarital affair of the parent, the in-law’s treatment of a

woman who cannot conceive, and the changing parenting scenario in

middleclass Indian homes. Shagun, the green-eyed, beautiful wife of Raman,

falls in love with his charismatic, handsome boss, Ashok Khanna, who has

never been in love before and is determined to possess the woman he now

loves. It does not matter to him how, but he goes about conquering Shagun’s

mind, body, and soul like a seasoned, persuasive marketer. He represents

everything that a woman of today would find difficult to resist. The pace of the

story gains momentum as their affair begins to become more fiery, daring, and

passionate.

Shagun has no regrets about lying to her husband or to her own

mother. The extent of her selfishness and ability to be cruel is visible in the

choices she makes. For example, she leaves her kids with her mother to go off

for weekend trysts with her newfound lover. Yet she convinces herself all the

time that she is a devoted mother to her children. She goes to all lengths to

brainwash her children against their own father, knowing that this would be

useful to negotiate her terms of divorce when it is finally time. The story skirts

our closest to the society’s traditional norms and conventions. Manju Kapur
 34

demonstrates her intrinsic level of detailing with tiny social observations, such

as how Shagun’s mother does her best to coax her to remain faithful to her

husband, and in retaliation, Shagun threatens to completely stop confiding in

her mother if this is how she is going to take sides. It is evident that marital

life in India is fast disintegrating and being shaped by foreign elements such as

extramarital affairs, materialistic pursuits, and so on.

As a parallel story, the plot swerves to the troubles of Ishita, who is the

daughter of Raman’s mother’s friend and neighbour. Reflecting the dismal

marriage scenario that prevails in most middle-class Indian families, Ishita’s

problems begin when she is unable to conceive. Her mother-in-law and sister

in-law, who doted on her and acted as though they were all dear friends,

changed overnight when they realized that Ishita is medically pronounced as

unable to have children. The Mint syndrome among middle class families. An

example: Ishita’s mother-in-law holds detailed discussions with the doctor to

dig deep into understanding the medical cause of this condition. Everyone’s

curiosity is satiated when the doctor clarifies that it is Ishita’s fault and that

this happened because she had contracted an illness in childhood that had

damaged her system.

In Ishita’s story there is nothing shocking but what is clearly absent is

her in-laws lack of sympathy or understanding to the girl who could have been

seen as daughter instead of daughter-in-law. And thus, Ishita’s husband who

had proclaimed never ending love to her becomes the obedient son to his

parents. The coldness, the cruel indifference and finally the rejection of a wife

solely because she cannot bear a child is portrayed in a heart-rending way.

Even domestic pets are treated better than a daughter in law in some Indian
 35

families. A divorced, socially isolated Ishita finds the courage to volunteer and

teach underprivileged children. She loves children and they love her back.

Gradually, she finds hope in the process, her own sense of individuality

In the second attempt Ishita marries Raman and thus returns to the

status so rudely snatched from her, the status of wifehood and motherhood

which endows her with legitimacy. Her marriage to Raman elevates her to her

husband’s social position. Ishita’s union to Raman empowers her and gives her

strength to fight for the household’s common target: the custody of his

children. Some women like Ishita, Raman’s second wife, may be fully

satisfied being guardians of her family. But Shagun’s spirit, like that of so

many other women, is different. She has never been able to guide her life.

Everything has been decided by her parents, family and cultural customs.

More appreciative was the insight into the difficult situation divorce

puts the children in. Through Arjun and Roohi, we are shown how a perfect

childhood can get messed up and how the care takers egos and their personal

desires can take a tool on the innocents. Some of the most well chapters were

those involving the kids and how the adult’s fiddling with their mind cannot

only coerce them but as well leave a lasting impression that eventually make

them into adults with troubled emotions.

Ishita cannot dominate the boy who is older and capable of discerning

her dishonest behaviour, but she can control the little girl, Roohi, to whom she

gives a new name, Roopa. This new name represents that the child is hers and

not Shagun’s. To a certain extent the readers feel compassion for the barren

Ishita who still suffers from the reminiscences of her past frustrations and

social ostracism. As she is under society’s constant supervision, she needs to

 36

demonstrate to herself and to the others that she is a good loving mother for

Roohi. Entrapped in such suffocating family her egoistic love compels her to

break whatever democratic ethical agreements set.

As a victim of the norms of patriarchal normative households, Ishita

turns into the worst oppressor: She never speaks to Shagun; nor does she make

the effort to understand her as a mother and woman who also wants to be

happy. Roohi’s custody constitutes Ishita’s last chance to cure her past

frustrations and be accepted as a good mother and exemplary wife among

those dictate or abide by patriarchal socio- cultural norms. The children

undergo psychological trauma which is not revealed directly. Because of the

unstable relationships, homes and mothers, Roohi is the first one to get

affected. She is in a confused state and unable to tell her mother’s name (i.e.

biological or step-mother) in her school interview. Whereas Arjun is having a

hard time with his father’s position replaced by Ashok Khanna. The children’s

happy childhood days have become full of scars with broken family memories,

which eventually would make them adults with troublesome emotions.

Crisis of identity is a very big problem of an individual. People in this

materialistic world go in search of all things including identity. If there is no

individual identity for a person, he cannot live in this society. The plight of

Arjun and Roohi is very miserable. When Shagun applied for divorce and she

decided to live with Ashok. As Ashok got a new job in the United States, she

decided to leave for US. Before leaving for US, Shagun and Arjun lived with

Ashok. Arjun has no interest with the new house he lives. He remembered his

father and his support for him in his studies. In the new house, Ashok never

cares for him. Arjun hated the atmosphere existed in Ashok`s house. Arjun felt
 37

reluctant to attend his regular school. Shagun and Ashok decided to join him in

boarding school. The judge said that Arjun should be allowed to go to

boarding school and the father will have access in the weekends.

Raman took care of Roohi. He found difficult to bring her without

mother. Later he played well the role of father and mother. Separation took

place between brother and sister. In boarding school Ashok has been

introduced as his father. When Raman visited him, Arjun was not happy to see

his father. Thinking disturbed him that his friends will mock at him by saying

that he has two fathers. Thus, two children got affected in their personal life.

Roohi, two-year girl, may not express her feelings through words, but her

behaviour clearly reveals that she suffers because of the fight between parents.

Arjun grown up boy understands the problem between his parents and cries

within himself.

On the other hand, Ishitha married to Suryakanta. Their married life

was happy, until they met gynaecologist because Ishita has not conceived in

their five years of married life. Ishita got her divorce because of her husband’s

conventional approach for her barrenness. She was insulted for her infertility.

After her divorce she was living with her parents. Ishita was more worried

about her identity. She considers herself as a burden to her family. Change

came to her life when she met Raman. Ishita had close attachments with

Raman and Roohi. Ishita and Raman had ex in their life. They never seemed to

be guilty about what they did because Raman doesn’t want to be faithful to his

unfaithful wife and Ishita doesn’t want to remain loyal to her husband who

never loves her. They both decide to marry. Roohi had close attachments with

Raman. Ishita took care of Roohi like her own mother.

 38

Arjun started to stay in Ashok`s house because of her mother’s

compulsion. Arjun was found to be so different in his character. He never

showed his interest in his studies. He was so adamant and violent in his

behaviour. He hated Ashok and he longed to see his sister. Though there was

age difference between him and his sister he loved her so much. He started to

cry saying that he hated going to school. Ashok and Shagun decided to send

Ashok to boarding school. Ashok and Shagun went to the United States. In

holidays Arun was asked to visit US. He visited twice and Roohi once. After

returning from US, Arun was much worried by saying that mother was there

alone in US. Roohi also cried by saying that wolf will come and kill her

mother. Raman understood that this story was told to facilitate such a

separation. Because of Shagun’s dream of Living a modern life, her children

suffered a lot. Shagun can enjoy only with Ashok. But she couldn’t enjoy with

her children. Fought for the custody of both children.

Manju Kapur's Custody deals with the disturbed city life of two

families due to marital disharmony, rigid court proceedings, unwarranted child

custody, social evils and injustice. It reveals the desires and disturbances of

two female characters-Shagun and Ishita, who are in constant search for new

space in their troubled lives. They try to lead happy life with their husbands,

but could not sustain themselves for long. Consequently, they get divorce from

them and are remarried with their men after a big struggle in their lives. Manju

Kapur has created almost all her women characters with the same rebellious

notions as occasionally perceptible in the fast-changing society of modern

India. Here lies the greatness of Manju Kapur in creating new space for her
 39

characters, especially for her female characters after divorce in this novel, and

reflecting new outlook on life with vitality, love and inspiration.

The story belongs to the liberalized India where the young have finally

been able to dream and strive for professional and personal success. The story

arc couldn’t happen to the protagonist’s parents who wouldn’t have had these

opportunities and more importantly never been able to take on the guilt of

breaking a marriage and make young children suffer in the process. So, the

story begins with a professional and ambitious Raman working hard to build a

career with an MNC firm selling carbonated soda water to the masses. His

young and beautiful wife, Shagun, is distracted and lost twiddling thumbs

when she is not taking care of her two young children Arjun and Ruhi. The

temptation of Raman’s suave and expatriate boss, Ashok, propositioning her is

too much for her to handle. She is swept of her feet by the whirlwind romance

and decides to hitch her star to Ashok’s global wagon.

Shagun’s widowed mother is initially torn and has an underlying

sympathy for her blemish less damad (son-in-law) who has done his duty by

her and the family. However, when the relationship blows apart with Shagun

joining Ashok her filial devotion asserts itself and she decides to support her

daughter.

Raman’s parents too are devastated – their bahu (daughter-in-law) had

been handed over everything in life on a Golden platter. For her to abandon a

life of duty and propriety to consort with a lover at great cost to the family and

kids is beyond their comprehension. They rally around Raman to ensure he

doesn’t go to pieces and of course the kids need to be rescued.

 40

Battlelines established the novel drags on as divorce and custody are

never easy to obtain unless of course it is by mutual consent. Intransigent

partners aided by those who know how to bilk the System means that the

matter drags on for years. De facto Shagun is able to take ownership of Arjun

who is almost a teenager and Ashok pulls strings in his old’ boy network to

send him to prestigious boarding school that is his own alma mater. A subtle

truce develops between Arjun and Ashok. Raman hangs onto his young toddler

daughter, Ruhi and soon marries Ishita, a young and infertile divorcee, who

regards Ruhi as her own daughter.

Raman and Shagun battle on with their characters being drawn in

shades of grey. Instinctively in the Indian milieu Raman and Ishita’s cause is

viewed with more sympathy since it was Shagun who walked out on her

marriage and even her children to begin with. Ashok too is quite a remote

character who seems to be besotted only by Shagun. What he does for Arjun is

more from a sense of obligation than any genuine affection for the boy. He

never develops a bond with Ruhi and in way seems to be the first one to accept

the division of kids that was a happenstance that eventually gets converted into

the established position.

Manju Kapur scores as she showcases the battles and its scars with a

great sensitivity and underplays the story to avoid melodrama. Without having

watched it I can vouch that the Hindi soap that spinned off this story must

have gone ‘over-the-top’ to create easily identifiable ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’ so

that the sob story can proceed with full gusto and tears.

She also makes the most obvious point – it is the children who pay the

price of the tragedy. Arjun is growing up and feels the social humiliation at his
 41

school and it affects his studies and even personality. Ruhi is far too young but

she feels the emotional trauma as Ishita and Shagun battle hard for her

affections and the filial connect. The Indian Courts are stuck in a time-warp

and warring couples can indeed battle for years on trot with scant regard to the

impact it has on the psyche of their young ones.

Children of divorced parents lack stable mind and will always be in a

state of depression. As they are raised by single parents, their depressed state

keeps them aloof from others. In the failures of these marriages, it is the

children who suffer mostly for no faults of theirs. Those children do not

mingle with other children easily either in school or in family side. It is

difficult for them to come out of the hectic state. They will entirely be in a

destitute state when they are left in other’s care. The time spent by the

abandoned child within child’s protection services impacts the child’s

development very often bringing conditions that generate complex trauma.

Proper care and motivation are mandatory to make them strong, and to move

ahead in their life with confidence. They ought to be treated in a friendly

manner to bring them out from depression and solitude state.

The personal clashes and deviations between a husband and wife not

only distress them, but also the people around. The best illustration for that

is the couple Raman and Shagun in Custody. It highlights clearly the wife’s

sense of suffocation, the husband’s fear of abandonment and the pendulum

shifting of children from one home to the other, with painstaking sincerity.

They prepare to separate mutually and also insist their children to accept the

reality and adapt with the situation by choosing either father or mother.

Being ignorant to the situation, the children struggle in between their father
 42

and mother and spend their time here and there according to the court order.

In this struggle and often changing lifestyle, their behaviour, attitude, mind,

mood change and they cannot live with their parents happily and fail to get

their true love fully. Much research over many years found that children

who experience the divorce of their parents… are at higher risk for an

extensive variety of negative outcomes. It is these marriages it is the

children who suffer mostly for no faults of theirs. Arjun and Roohi are too

young to realize the happening between their parents Raman and Shagun.

After Shagun’s marriage with Ashok Khanna, her children are supposed to

call him as father. Shagun trains them for that, but it is challenging for them

to follow her words. Arjun is in chaotic state. He cannot perform well in his

studies. He hesitates to go to school as everyone knows the problem

between his father and mother. He decides to take the option of joining in a

new boarding school as no one there is aware of his family problem. He

can’t be open to his own father about the happenings. He longs for the days

he spent with his father and the subjects his father taught him. Shagun

leaves Arjun in an International school and visits him once in few months

which increase the communication gap between the two and she fails to

teach him life and to pour love on him. He feels stress free in the new school

but longs for his old friends and the old school. His new school offers him a

new beginning to a new life with the new parental care. He changes into a

silent boy who starts to skip visiting his father and behaves in a different

way with Raman being very quiet at a certain point. His life goes only

around the school and classmates. Parents’ role in Arjun’s life is least as he
 43

gets only financial assistance for his studies, few visits to a foreign country

where his mother and step-father Ashok reside.

Roohi is a kid to realize the situation. During Shagun’s affair with

Ashok, she considers Roohi as burden and leaves her in toddler in her

innocent stage. The child is rejected by her own mother in its childhood

itself. After Shagun’s marriage with Ashok, Roohi is like a ball moving to

and fro between the foreign country where Shagun resides, and India where

Raman resides. Roohi is reserved like Arjun, and innocent in understanding

why she often travels from one place to another. During her custody period

under her father, she meets Ishita, a young divorcee, who shows much

attention and care towards her. Ishita’s love gives Roohi a new feel and she

begins to admire her. Their bond and Roohi’s love for her father bring

meaning to her life. Ishita’s possessiveness for Roohi stops her to permit

Roohi to visit her mother after her custody period. Ishita too feels

completeness in her life after meeting Raman and Roohi and longs for a

family.

A child’s mental strength also includes courage, smart thinking, trust,

genuineness, creativity, perfection, loyalty, and so on which are gained

through parents in its learning stage. Parents are the inducing and hidden

power of a child. Their proper guidance will reduce their stress and fear,

giving them protection. When a child lacks this from its parents, it will

become zero in future and will suffer with anxiety, emotional and

behavioural disorders. Some children come up with their own effort being

stubborn in their goal. They are rare but they too long for parents’ love

personally.
 44

In Custody Shagun is not a perfect mother and her role is replaced by

Ishita in taking care of Roohi by giving her motherly love. Ishita could

understand the exact role of a mother and she performs it well. She can’t

leave Roohi for a second and not ready to send her to Shagun when the

court custody turn comes. She is very curious in protecting Roohi than her

father Raman. Roohi and Ishita have better understanding that even Roohi

never thinks about her real mother Shagun. Roohi learns good manners from

Ishita and melted by her care and love. The ways the two children, Arjun

and Roohi are brought up get reflected in their behaviour. Arjun cannot

move friendly even with his real father easily but Roohi can easily attach

with Ishita and others. Children could be moulded easily in an earlier stage.

The delicate stage should be occupied wittily by parents to shape them

mentally and emotionally. When parents fail to do that, then their children’s

lives take different directions

 45

Works cited

Armstrong, E. Shona. “The Aftermath of Custody in Manju Kapur’s Custody”.

Global Journal of Human Social Science H: Interdisciplinary, vol. 18,

no. 8, 2018.

https://socialscienceresearch.org

Balaji, A. Sharan. "Search for Love and Freedom in Manju Kapur's

Custody." Shanlax International Journal of English, vol. 5, no. 2,

2017.

https://www.shanlaxjournals.in

Jojappa, P. "Manju Kapur's Novel Custody: A Critical Study." International

Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention, vol. 9, no. 3,

2020.

https://www.ijhssi.org

Kapur, Manju. Custody. Penguin Random House India, 2010.

Keerthana J., and M. John Suganya.

"Parental Conflicts Leading to Childhood Trauma in Custody by Manju

Kapur." International Journal of Novel Research and Development,

vol. 7, no. 11, Nov. 2022.

https://ijnrd.org