Having watched very powerful ‘Maa’
based movies the last three weeks, English
Vinglish provides a stark contrast showing the disempowered position of the
woman in families in India. It also allows for us to see a microcosm of the new
but very powerful metric that has a determinative effect on inequality in
Indian societies – English Education.
Shashi as a Mother:
She is viewed as
the primary caretaker of the family, who cooks and cleans. She comes from a
place of duty. All authority is clearly and unequivocally vested in the father
figure. I could not but help contrasting it to the role of the mother in Deewar
and Mother where the roles of the widowed mother derived so much more respect
and reverence from the children. I am not completely clear on whether: (a) the
absence of the father; and (b) the lower socio economic status of the families,
were causative or correlative to the place of the woman.
The daughter’s
visceral sense of shame in interacting with Shashi is also striking. This is
particularly magnified because of her differential reactions to her mother, as
compared to her father. I was therefore unable to write it off as being an
adolescent’s reaction to parental figures. There was clearly a sense of loss of
face that she felt in associating with her mother in school.
Shashi as a wife
I
was also struck by the relationship between Shashi and her husband being so
obviously unequal – even in their intimate space. The movie begins with the
husband sitting outside and reading the paper and Shashi bringing him his
morning tea. She stays awake late for dinner. She alludes to her husband having
married her because she ‘cooked’ well. The finances are completely controlled
by the husband and she has to secretly store the money she earns from her laddoos in her locker. His
micro-aggression while telling the son that skipping school would mean he would
only make Laddoos for a living was
particularly loud.
Shashi’s
relationship with her husband stands is stark contrast to that of her sister
and her dead husband. It did leave a strong reference for what the
encouragement of an intimate partner could have built for Shashi. There is
little wonder then that Shashi need the affection of her French classmate to
teach her sto love herself.
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