Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham

However, she also gains the realization that she is too young to give up her journey towards acceptance and moving forward. Back in Toronto, as she walks down the street she hears the voices of her loved ones. They whisper that it’s her time and to “be brave” (396). Shaila drops the “package” in her hand on a bench, and keeps walking forward (396). Mukherjee uses the voices of her family to encourage her to drop the “package” (396). This can represent the grief and suffering she holds onto. Through letting go, Shaila can finally start walking toward a life of healing. Furthermore, she understands her family is always watching over her, and she must keep moving forward for herself, as well as them.

Anupreet is a young Sikh woman who is vulnerable to the violence that has increased between Sikhs and Muslims. She has just recently escaped a violent attack on her that left a cut across her face, and her parents are fearful because in spite of the scar on her cheek, her beauty attracts a lot of unwanted attention. Her father arranges to have Anupreet work as a maid to Mrs. Darnsley and her daughter as a way of keeping her safe.

During the story, Chai paints a picture of two extremely close sisters who have been put to the test. The pair has been relocated, put to work, and expected to mature quickly in their harsh new world. Nea is the narrator of the story, and she shares: ”We used to say that we’d run away, Sourdi and me.” (72) The sisters would whisper their secrets back and forth at night, and lock themselves in the bathroom together and hide away together. As children the girls were inseparable but soon the age difference comes between them. Sourdi finds comforts in her first romance with a dishwasher, Duke, and slowly but surely Nea is left by the wayside. This distance is increased when Mr. Chhay is introduced and Nea quickly realizes that her sister is being severed from her life: “It was the beginning of the end. I should have fought harder then. I should have stabbed this man, too.” (75)

Rukmani is told that she will have a grand wedding and is going to be married to a rich man, but instead she is “married to a tenant farmer, who was poor in everything but love and care for me”. (Markandaya 8). Rukmani went from a very nice house with her parents to a poor farmer’s house to spend the rest of her life. In the prime of her life, she is having trouble becoming fertile. Rukmani visits a white doctor named Kenny and asks for treatment. After a couple years, Rukmani has six children, one girl and five boys. Rukmani is overjoyed with her fortune. The calm in the storm soon passed, and Rukmani started to face adversity. One of her sons are killed, another dies of starvation, and three go off to work. Rukmani’s only daughter, Ira, turns to prostitution to save her starving brother, but does not succeed, and the landlord of their farm wants to collect rent. Rukmani’s life could hardly get worse. Soon, monsoons come and replenish the land, and their crops are plentiful. Rukmani could have chosen to give up, but instead she fought hard to provide for her

Afterwards, she started looking for a summer job because she needed something to preoccupy her time and hopefully get her some money for future college. However, she didn’t expect getting a temporary job at a circus and becoming fast friends with a tiger, named Dhiren or Ren for short. Kelsey first met Ren at the circus, she also met many friends but she felt a great bond and connection with Ren and always visited his cage time to time. Then suddenly Mr. Kadam, a kind man from India offers to take the Ren from the circus and includes Kelsey in the offer. She was negotiating if she would go or not, then finally she takes the deal. Nevertheless, Kelsey does not even think about what she’s getting herself into. Arriving in India on a long plane ride, Kelsey gets lost with Ren, who she was in charge of looking after while Mr. Kadam went to set things up at the “conservatory”. She couldn’t leave his side, hence, chasing after him. While running after him she had saw a man, back-turned, that sort of looked like Mr. Kadam. She decided to ignore the fact that it was impossible

Ani met nice people that helped her when she was hurt and running away in the forest. They helped her get a job as a goose girl where she hid in plane site. She made friends with her coworkers, they did not know she was the princess and she pretended to be from the forest. They trusted her and admired her talents with animals, she found the real family she had always wanted.

Cora Lee had many children. As a child she was obsessed with baby dolls. Every Christmas she would get a new baby doll. Until she was 13, when her father said she was too old. Beginning in her sophomore year of high school, she started having babies one after another. Cora Lee neglects her children as they get older since she can only take care of them while they’re babies. Kiswana catches one of Cora Lee’s children eating out of a trash can and takes him to his mom to tell on him. Kiswana then see how filthy Cora Lee’s apartment is. Kiswana offers her to come and bring the children to a play. So Cora Lee cleans her children up and they all go to the play with Kiswana. Cora Lee is touched by seeing how much her children enjoyed the play and from that day to vowed to be a better mother.

An analogy has been drawn about how she was in the past and how is she now. She was a carefree person, demanding love in her life, wanting to take care of her children and become a house wife and now she works as a schoolteacher, has become a responsible person concerned about her husband and child, struggling for her son’s life, bearing tantrums of her sister-in-law and living in a small house in a small city. On the other hand, Komal, sister-in-law of Anjali is a character shown who seems to be frustrated from her life from the time she has lost her husband. The book has depicted another face of an Indian woman, who lives her entire life following the customs that the society has decided for a widow. Anjali tried to make her first marriage successful by taking care of small things like making her husband, his favorite cardamom chai and best of meals while Prakash’s second wife Indu was never concerned about any of his likings and gave priority to her own personal

When Aanakwad brought the new baby out of the trees that autumn, the older girl was like a second mother, even waking in the night to clean the baby and nudge it to her mother's breast. Aanakwad slept through its cries, hardly woke. It wasn't that she didn't love her baby; no, it was the opposite—she loved it too much, the way she loved its father, and not her husband. This passion ate away at her, and her feelings were unbearable. If she could have thrown off that wronghearted love, she would have, but the thought of the other man, who lived across the lake, was with her always. She became a gray sky, stared monotonously at the walls, sometimes wept into her hands for hours at a time. Soon, she couldn't rise to cook or keep the cabin neat, and it was too much for the girl, who curled up each night exhausted in her red-and-brown plaid shawl, and slept and slept, until

First, this novel showcases acts of caring for family and friends, during a rough time for all the Indians bringing them closer into one community. The protagonist Sabine displays acts of caring among her friends and family. For instance, near the end of the novel, Sabine helps her mother’s friend, Lalita, despite having a sour relationship with her. Sabine saves Lalita from being arrested by lying to a military officer, thus making Sabine a more confident and brave person. Sabine faces her fear of the military and gains the power she

Djinda didn’t think her mother needed her anymore, her feet tapped against the wooden floor and headed into the kitchen. Her mother had received all these old appliances from an aunt who had died when Djinda had barely been one; she hadn’t been in any contact with any other family members – only her father. Djinda didn’t know her mother’s father but her father often told her he was a bad man; he could hurt her given the chance.

Finally, Jayanti’s first exposure to the world outside her Aunt’s house and the events that lead after, changes who she really is,

After Rukmani and Nathan’s marriage ceremony, when they got on the bullock cart to go to there future home, Rukmani was saddened by the “disgrace” she had suffered by marrying “beneath her”. But later she is glad that she married as she did because she has come to love Nathan and she believes she couldn’t have had a better husband than him, who cared for her so much.

Sonia was angry and upset at her husband, father and most of it was aimed her brother. All of them had let her down in one form or another. After being introduced by a woman who had injured herself walking the Camino she told me “if anyone should walk the Camino it’s you.

Anil’s life takes her to Colombo where her work has her partnered with Sarath Diaysena. He has been asked by the government to help Anil identify skeletons. Her interactions with Sarath create questions of trust in her mind. Anil becomes suspicious of Sarath after a discussion with his landlord about Sarath’s wife. Sarath explained that his marriage had ended in tragedy with his wife’s death. As Sarath uncovers mysteries that are a result of violence, more mysteries cloud around his personal life. From experience, part of his distrusting and odd behavior came from the unexpected death of his beloved wife, who also held a small secret. At the time of the erupting conflicts, she committed suicide.