Saturday, October 11, 2008

Relational challenges


Anita Desai (born 1937) has been touted by "British Writers'" A. Michael Matin as "one of the preeminent contemporary Indian novelists," even referred to by many as the Mother of the Indian psychological novel genre. Her meticulous depictions of modern Indian life, combined with an elevated level of linguistic skill that frequently enters the poetic realm, have secured her a place of honor in the pantheon of Indian authors.


After reading Winterscape in the book titled Home and Away by Anita Desai, I found that the writer has posed many questions which are worth considering.
In the story Winterscape, Anu, who is the younger sister of Asha, gave birth to Rakesh, whose blood mother and father was known as Masi and Masa to Rakesh. Her husband died when Rakesh was five and so she stayed with Asha and together, they brought up Rakesh.

Asha who is is married at 15 to a rich husband has no children of her own. She informally brought Rakesh home and is known to Rakesh as Ma. Her husband died when Rakesh was one and she brought up Rakesh and paid for his studies in Toronto, Canada.

From the story, Asha has shown competency in forming relationship for she only sees rich men as capable husbands.The perception of her husband being able to support her throughout her life shows positive stimulus discrimination (actions based on how the person is unique from others). There is the use of the filtering theory here.
Anu went through emotional states when her husband died. She was depressed. She felt lonely and bored being alone. Also, there is a great change in Rakesh's life. In fact, Rakesh who is not being brought up by his biological parents found it hard to accept the ungenuine relationship with Asha. There is intimidation and uncertainty in Rakesh's relationship with Asha. Although there is proximity in terms of physical distance between Rakesh and Asha, however, there is a lack of dyadic primacy (series of exchanges between two persons) which shows that of a mother and son.

In the end, Rakesh (an Indian) grew up and married a white lady, Beth. Beth was told of Rakesh's story and both of them and Beth's sister, Susan have learnt from Rakesh's unpleasant experience. Now that they have given birth to a baby, they vowed not to give their baby away to a relative or even an unrelated person.

Rakesh, who later knows of his true mother, decided to meet up with her one day by inviting her to his country, where he and Beth stayed, before their marriage to get Beth's parents to know Rakesh's mother. The story then revealed the communication problems which have surfaced due to cultural differences between Beth and Anu.

At the surface level, I think that overcoming East-West cultural differences and acclimatizing to a new place is not easy, however understanding others' culture helps in communication. It is difficult to socialize with other cultural groups if one does not understand their language and cultural beliefs. What do you think?

However, beyond the stated, I think that the writer wants to show us that one should bear the reponsibility which is in this case refers to Anu's responsibility of a mother.
Would it make a difference if Rakesh were to have just one mother instead of two? In my view, I think that Rakesh's relational needs (lacking of a true mother and son experience) are not met and this causes great harm psychologically and socially. What do you think?

2 comments:

Zed Ngoh said...

wow, sounds like one the the really complicated family dramas that we see on TV.

it's interesting how you mentioned Asha getting married to a rich husband at 15. this might not have been done due to her looking for a rich husband. we remember that arranged marriages are quite common in India back in those days.

at the end of the day, it is heart warming to see the reunion of the family, but we must appreciate of the fact that we are born in to a country where selling children is no longer seen. don't wait till you lose what you have before learning to cherish it!

k r i s t y . w said...

Yes, it is difficult to identify with other cultures if you have nothing in common with them. That is why people still tend to stick largely to people of their own upbringing and who share similar world views and philosophies.

However, for communication and networking/business purposes, one should always make an effort to understand the cultures of his/her partner so as to help foster an environment of understanding and empathy. Just because we might not always hang out with people of every culture doesn't mean we can't develop a tolerance and mutual respect towards them.