Response to Earth

The scene in which Pappu, Lenny’s friend, is married off was not too shocking to me as it might have been for many of my classmates.  Even in my family, child marriage was commonplace only a couple of generations ago. My great-grandmother, my mom’s maternal grandmother, was married off at the tender age of twelve. My grandparents and parents accept this as a matter of fact, something that was necessitated by the structure of society back then. The only stories I have heard about my great-grandparents were that he had taught her to read and write and that he, as a civil engineer, was the sole source of income. While I am not shocked too much by the concept of child marriage, I am shocked by the huge difference between Pappu and her husband. This age difference also greatly bothers Shanta and Lenny as well, as we see Lenny ask Shanta why people do such things. The child marriage scene represents how childhood could be taken away in just a moment and this in turn, represents, how India must face growing pains as a fledgling country after independence.

When Lenny first hears about her friend getting married, her parents express shock. However, her father consoles Lenny by telling her, “Don’t look so worried, mama! We won’t marry you off until you’re sixteen at least”. Being married off at a young age without any consideration for education or a career seems to be an inevitable event in young Lenny’s life, at least then. The question of when was the only moral issue. Even so, while Pappu’s marriage was shocking to the Sethna family, Lenny was still sent off to attend the wedding. Only when the groom is finally revealed, do Lenny and Shanta express disgust. Lenny asks Shanta why Pappu was being married off to an old man. Shanta only comments “Fear makes people do crazy things”. In this moment, Lenny is further disillusioned with child marriage and finds that she cannot trust the adults in her life to make rational decisions for her. Similarly, India must inevitably wean off of British administration and make decisions for itself. In the process of this transition, it will go through growing pains and sometimes “do crazy things”. Even as it gets independence, just as children are forced to follow the marriage path their parents have set for them, India is also forced to follow the borders that the British have set out for them. These borders may not serve needs of India and limit its opportunities, just as early marriage does for children.

Even though Pappu is unhappy about getting married, she finds ways to feel superior to Lenny. When Lenny comes into the bedroom to wake her up, Pappu asks “Lame-Lenny, will you ever find a husband?” to which Lenny retorts “Of course I will, stupid!” Pappu, instead of crying out for help to Lenny, resorts to attacking her and presenting her situation as something to be desired. Pappu does not seem to have the agency to express herself, as her childhood is stripped away from her and is instead lashing out at her friend, who also faces the fate of an early marriage, instead. This is a parallel to India’s different religious groups who are tearing each other apart, even though they all have the same common goal of finding and establishing their homeland.

While child marriage is a terrible institution that was officially legally abolished in 1929 it serves as a metaphor for India’s troubles after and during independence. India was and is a fledgling country that is trying to chart its own fate after British administration. It has had a tumultuous history as an independent state, including but not limited to, conflict with Pakistan. While these different groups had lived together mostly in peace as one nation until Britain, former friends and neighbors were at each other’s throats once they were pushed beyond childhood.