Abstract
This article studies the women in Rupa Bajwa’s debut novel The Sari Shop, set in Amritsar, Punjab, which showcases two different and opposed worlds existing uncomfortably side by side — the static life of shop assistants who patiently roll and unroll yards of sarees, and the world of the women customers who frequent the Sevak Sari shop. By juxtaposing these two unequal worlds — one where men dwell in extreme poverty and the other where men live comfortable lives in unparalleled luxury and splendor — the author lays bare the society of the twenty-first century India characterized by consumer culture, individualism, snobbery and hypocrisy. The paper brings into picture the alarming disproportion that exists within Indian society, touching on the theme of New Feminism and exploring how “liberated” are the women in 21st century India.
Keywords: Rupa Bajwa, The Sari Shop, New Feminism, postfeminism, urban India, consumer culture, class disparity, women, patriarchy
Feminism to New Feminism
Down the centuries, the feminist movement has evolved and diversified. The first wave feminists fought against the tyranny of men and demanded the right to vote and reforms in the arenas of property rights, labour, education, and divorce laws. The second phase of feminism became central concerns of the politics of the family, reproduction, and sexual liberation of women. The third wave feminism is not a movement defined by an age but one which is mediated by the terrains of race and multicultural alliances. The New Feminism is a category of post feminism that became prominent in the 1990s and focuses on a younger generation of women who express their desire to fashion new styles of feminism.
The Women in The Sari Shop
As varied as the sarees in Sevak Sari shop are the women in the novel. One category of women portrayed in the novel are the educated, well respected women who lead a life of empowerment and independence and of individual choice and sexual pleasure. They are governed by consumer culture, fashion, hybridism, humour, and most of them show a renewed focus on their female body. The other category of women is the ones who inhabit the lowest strata of the society and continue to live in conventional relationships where hope and violence are permanently entwined.
Rina Kapoor and the Post-Feminist Women
Rina Kapoor, the postgraduate daughter of the leading business family, tops the list of the liberated post feminist women of the novel. She breaks the tradition by not marrying into a business family but to a service class. She later firmly establishes herself as a novelist by writing a novel about a shop assistant. Mrs. Sachdev, Head of the department of a local college and a columnist of the Sunday Tribune, fits the bill of a typical post feminist woman — employed, socially well recognized, highly confident and independent.
The Underprivileged Women
Though the wives of the shop assistants, the author Rupa Bajwa paints the picture of the economically weaker counterparts. These women like the women of the elite class do have aspirations but their dreams are rarely fulfilled. They are always under the shadow of their husbands. The huge gulf between the world of the haves and the have nots become most evident through the way Kamala, the wife of Chander, is introduced — her face was deeply lined, though she could not have been more than thirty.
Kamala’s Tragedy
Kamala was never aware of her rights and had to start working as a house maid at a tender age of eight. She never expressed her mind and was badly beaten up by her husband and raped by the police men. She resorted to drinking as a way of protest against the mistreatment. Her misfortunes started with the closing down of Mr. Guptas and the Kapoors factory in which Chander worked. The only way in which Kamal tried to make her voice heard was hauling stones at Mr. Gupta’s and Kapoor’s house and shouting abuses at them. But no one listened to her.
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