Janamtip [life imprisonment] by Ishwar Petlikar

 Hello everyone,

  In this blog you can find interpretation of Gujarati novel "Janamtip". It can be add in the area of feminist literature.

The setting of the novel is rural villages. Central characters are Chanda and Bhimo. 

This novel starts with chapter named "ધણીપણુ" owner, the title itself is reflecting petriarchal norms. First their newly married life described in vivid way. The struggle of farmer's life and their lifestyle depicted in it. Chanda will come with lunch but she gets late and in the reaction of this Bhima beats her with stick. By this action we can clearly see dominance nature of him. Without getting affected by his action Chanda rebelliously replys" તારા જેવાથી બીજું થવાનુંય શું હતું? "  For Chanda writer says that," બ્રહ્મહાએ ખોળિયું તો પૂરેપૂરું સ્ત્રીનું ઘડિયું હતું, પણ જીવ ભૂલભુલમાં અંદર આદમી નો મુકાય ગયો હતો. "

       Writer satires on schools and teachers of villages. Parents sends children the school because they have fear of punishment. He also criticised upper officers for not regularly visiting the schools. They only come to check that teacher takes the test or not. (Just for amble) " એકમાત્ર માસ્તર સાહેબ અહીં રહેવા પૂરતો જ પગાર મળે છે બાકી શિક્ષણ આપવાની પોતાની ફરજ માનતા નહિ. "  Teachers decided to become famous by not punishing the students, doesn't matter they come or not. Not only that students must have to sit for longer time when officers visit the school but also sit with empty womb. 

      In addition, malnutrition and lack of food which is basic need of people still unfulfilled by the government. લોકો કહેતા એ બધું સરકાર માટે ખરીદાય છે, પૈસા ઉપજતા પણ ખાલી નોટોમાં જ.  Widening disparity between elite class and poor class reflects here. Discription of protagonist's caste was similar to uncivilized and half savage people. Chanda was virago in nature that's why no one is ready to fight against her. 

         Moreover, Chanda is famous for tide the bull.(સાંઢ) Not a single man of the village has courage to tide it, but Chanda with her wit successfully tide him. However,  after this she has faced trouble in finding a man to marry because of her this action. She chooses Bhimo. The novel shifts to from past to present simultaneously. In the present she was harassed by Punja. 

       In addition, childhood innocence, child labour, educational corruption reflect in it. Mindset of criminal plays vital role in doing criminal acts. War, inflation, weekness of Government to reach everywhere provide background for the story. " આ તો ગાયને દોહીને કૂતરાને પાવાનું છે. "  Misbehaviour of officer with even responsible person with reference of Deva depicted in it then what about poor people? 

       Regional literature is full of discription of day to day life struggle in this you can also find same thing. Self-realization of Chanda and deeply rooted patriarchal mindset even in women reflects in women character. They are not able to accept their own freedom. Their conditioning plays vital role that they think they are mede to beaten by male. "આખલાને નાથ્યો એ રાંડ ધણી ના કહ્યા માં રે?"  If we look at regional literature, moustache is connected with reputation. 

    "વધતો વિજય દયાને ગળી ગયો, બંધનમાં પડ્યા પછી વિરત્વ  શું કામનું? " Like incident of binding bullock, humanity dies. Power and Caste based discrimination unfold in many scenes of police and constable with common people. Fatherly love of Chanda's father made him accept all her misbehavioural and unacceptable things. Even mythical reference of Manthra provided here. 

By beating, a man eventually becomes like a cow and after that there is no feeling, no soul. In the later part of novel Chada took all the responsibility of the house and farming. However, as a single mother and solely handle the family in it. While her husband and father-in-law were in prison. 

In the conclusion, it can be put into a feminist literature. Character building of Chanda greatly depicted here. From egoistic young girl to slef-depended and responsible daughter in law, she learnt to survive as a woman, while working as man. Like the title of the book Janmtip- she accepted lifetime improvement of fulfilling family responsibilities as mother,  daughter-in-law, Sister-in-law, and as a ruler of the house. 

Thank you for the visit.