Roots and Shadows

by Shashi Deshpande

In Indu’s ancestral home, that she had escaped from so many years ago, nothing seems to have altered. Yet all is different. Akka, the rich family tyrant, is dead and the family is on the threshold of great change. And the key to their future now lies in Indu’s hands. This novel provides a penetrative insight into the joint family revealing its strengths and weaknesses, its props and parasites.

Genres: Womens

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Novelist and short story writer, Shashi Deshpande began her career with short stories and has by now authored nine short story collections, twelve novels and four books for children. Three of her novels have received awards, including the Sahitya Akademi award for `That Long Silence'. Some of her other novels are `The Dark Holds No Terrors', `A Matter of Time', `Small Remedies', `Moving On', `In The Country of Deceit' and `Ships that Pass'. Her latest novel is `Shadow Play'.Many of her short stories and novels have been translated into a number of Indian as well as European languages. She has translated two plays by her father, Adya Rangacharya, (Shriranga), as well as his memoirs, from Kannada into English, and a novel by Gauri Deshpande from Marathi into English.
Apart from fiction, she has written a number of articles on various subjects - literature, language, Indian writing in English, feminism and women's writing - which have now been put together in a collection `Writing from the Margin.' She has been invited to participate in various literary conferences and festivals, as well as to lecture in Universities, both in India and abroad.

She was awarded the Padma Shri in 2008.

List of books by Shashi Deshpande

Dark Holds No Terrors (1982)
That Long Silence (1989)
A Matter of Time
Moving On
Small Remedies
Shadow Play (2013)
The Narayanpur Incident
If I Die Today
In the Country of Deceit
The Binding Vine
Ships That Pass (2012)
The Intrusion And Other Stories
3 Novels : A Summer Adventure, The Hidden Treasure, The Only Witness
Come Up & Be Dead
Collected Stories (Volume - 1)
Collected Stories (Volume - 2)
Writing from the Margin: And Other Essays

Reviews

[Versha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indu thinks of herself as a revolutionary. Who hates to be under somebody’s surveillance, especially Akka’s (a domineering elderly lady) so she decides to escape from the cocoon which Akka has built so that she could live independently and make decisions of her life on her own. Subsequently, she falls in love with Jayanth who is from a different caste and goes ahead and marries him without consulting her elders and now has a job of her own as a journalist.

But does she really think she has made the right choice for herself? Or is she faking it to show people that she has? Though she shows herself as a revolutionary but is she really that? or is it all a sham?
These questions keep pondering in her mind once she goes back to her roots- her hometown, after knowing she has been made the heiress of all the property by Akka before her death.

Indu cannot fathom the reason behind Akka’s decision which has not only shocked her but has shocked the whole family. Was Akka taking revenge on her for Indu’s past behaviour or does Akka wanted to test Indu and make her realize why was the way she was? At times Indu feels like a confused soul some of her acts do not make sense. When she talks randomly about her past decision, her marriage, her family and her future it does seem like blabbering but it also makes a lot of sense and also makes us think. As always I loved Shashi Deshpande's insightful writing and her keen observation of human behaviour.

Here are some of my favourite quotable lines from the book…

"Neither love nor happiness comes to us for the asking. But they can speak upon us when we least expect them...."

“I have, I think, realized that it is not in me, the material of which revolutionaries are made. I no longer have any desire to mould people, to change them, to reform society. There is only one thing I know I can do... I can write. And I yarn writing now…”

“That’s how it is. We flatter ourselves that we’ve escaped the compulsions of the past, but we’re still pinioned to it by little things.”

"It's this kind of living, I thought. Living too close, too entangled with one another. SO that if you move, you're bound to hurt someone else. And if they move, they hurt you. So many diverse pulls, so many conflicting feelings. And yet, surprisingly, it was a family. How long it could continue to be one.."

https://varshasbookshelf.blogspot.com/

[Rushil · Rating 2 out of 5]

This has got to be one of the worst books I've ever read. It feels like it's been written by an author who only recently discovered the Thesaurus and went into overdrive with it.
The book is a first person narrative of a sellout journalist who has to keep reminding herself that she's strong and different. What she really is is a really weak protagonist who makes you want to strangle her.

Much of the book goes like this:

Random character: The Beatles were an awesome band.

Indu: (thinking) Ah 'awesome'. That's a word Naren would use. When he wanted to describe something that inspired awe. He really did like that word. Like that night I had sex with him. I'm so strong. Women are weak. Cattle. They suck. Old uncle told me some crap once. I'm so strong. What's this? I'm crying. Already? I did that two pages ago! My writer really is failing at portraying me as a strong female. Phantasmagoria. That's a big word. Time to make this story make less sense. 2 day time skip. Then flashback to 11 years ago. Come back to the present. Live out the two days. Whine whine whine.

The only saving grace is that the author really is a good observer of human behaviour. Some of the conversations really make you think.

[T S · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh God, I dislike this. A lot.

[Rahul Raj Chukkath · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was having a hard time to complete this book regardless of its very less pages. A feminist text which wants to convey its very idea through pretty much every lines uttered by the protagonist (first-person narrative), or every scenes in which she appears. The vocabulary of the writer struggles a bit hard to fit with her writing styles. And I'm quite bad that I didn't know the literary references she mentioned. This tradition-vs-modernity book is my entry to Deshpande's oeuvre. Hope her masterpieces would satisfy me.

[Naveena Prasad · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an Indian, the way Deshpande described family, relations, fallout and the familial ties seemed very familiar to me. I felt like I was sitting between a group of my family members and seeing a whole drama playing in front of my eyes. And with that I could also ser how women for years have suffering within the four walls of the kitchen and the tight strings of loveless marriages.

[Prasoon · Rating 1 out of 5]

DO. NOT. READ. THIS. BOOK.

Holy mother of God!

The only reason I could finish this book is because I had to take an exam! I could barely digest the random difficult words. Fancy words have their place; I love fancy words in Victorian classics - they add to the charm. But this book was written from the POV of an Indian woman in the 60s in a town setting - using terribly difficult words that just do not fit was a pretty idiotic thing to do, IMHO.

But to top it off, the story was such an incoherent piece of blabber! I had to repeatedly backtrace my steps so many times - the author would just go off on a tangent without any explanation. Narration would get mixed up with author's personal, convoluted thoughts. Ugh!

Too many characters that don't add anything to this random, horrible, whine of a story. And man, such hypocrisy! The lead character, Indu, takes hypocrisy to a new level. Of course, this isn't what the author intended to portray - it just became that way.

But then again, who am I to say anything. I am just a kid who doesn't understand greatness when he sees it -_- Oh well, you can decide for yourself.

[Luna Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I told myself my body had "burgeoned into a flower of exquisite felicity"

"Love is a fraud, a hoax, they tell you it the greatest thing, the only thing in life And you believe them and fall into the trap...And become humble and dependent

Such a beautiful comfortable trap my dear, Naren said"

"As a child, they told me I must be obedient and unquestioning"

"As a girl, I must be meek and submissive, Why? I had asked Because you are FEMALE .you must accept everything. even defeat, with grace because you are a GIRL, it is the only way they said for the female to live and survive"

"Men lives but women survive"

What do I want in life ? isn't it a lie that I want all the things I want when I really know what I truly want?

No one understood Indu like Naren and me and no one saw through me like Indu did.

Not much of a marvellous story but has elements that cling to your heart and make you sigh in understanding or reciprocating the emotions of the protagonist.

Loved it, Indu was a character I could relate to a lot. The book makes us wonder whether we are far from ur roots or hiding in the shadows.

[Maria Arpitha · Rating 3 out of 5]

its an interesting novel...................

[Prakash · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read it as part of a course syllabus.

It is surprisingly good with complex characters. 3.5/5

[Parthsarthi Mishra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it as part of my curriculum in college.