The Hero's Walk

In Chapter 17 Nandana goes back into the scary Tunnel. Nandana shows bravery in accepting her friends’ challenge, which coincides with other possible interpretations of the chapter’s meaning. If going into a tunnel is an act of bravery, Nirmala’s thoughts of emancipation in the chapter are then signs of her having entered a tunnel to an unknown and unpredictable future. This also corresponds to Putti, since she too is emancipating herself from Ammayya. 

The significance of the hero’s walk arises once more; this time, it’s the name of a part of the traditional dance routine that narrates the story of Lord Rama and Ravana. The steps for Lord Rama are “graceful, dignified, measured,” whereas the steps for Ravana are meant to be exaggerated and pompous: “Exaggerate your walk, frown and stamp. You are showing off your strength” (282). This all lends credence to the hero’s walk being about strength tempered by humility.

Chapter 18, “The Way Home,” suggests literal and metaphorical connotations. Sripathi, in looking for Nandana, experiences disorientation and an emotional breakdown so debilitating that Arun has to bring him home. However, Sripathi’s way home is far more metaphorical than literal because it is during his disorientation and emotional crisis that he is finally able to cope with Maya’s death, which also causes a change of heart in him. When Sripathi awakens from his ordeal, he is finally in a state of mind to accept the changes in his life and move on. The way home does not only refer to Sripathi—it also has meaning for Nandana. While Nandana is away from her grandparents and with Mrs. Poorna, who believes Nandana to be her long-lost daughter, Nandana pines for home. In this instance, however, home becomes the place where Nirmala and Sripathi are, i.e., Big House, and home is no longer strictly Vancouver, which it had been previously.

Moreover, Mrs. Poorna asks a rhetorical question that relates to the observation Putti made concerning Munnuswamy’s cow and the dead calf: “She [Shyamala] tells me I am mad. Can you imagine? Is a mother mad to wait for her child?” (298). Mrs. Poorna is obviously mad, because she cannot accept that her daughter has been missing for so many years and that the chances of her being alive or ever seeing her again are incredibly slim. As a way to cope with this loss, Mrs. Poorna has assumed an unwavering hope that her child will return any moment, and this hope blinds her to reality, as one can see when she mistakes Nandana for her daughter. How cognizant of the situation Mrs. Poorna is, however, isn’t clear. She may be like Munnuswamy’s cow, accepting a surrogate rather than accepting reality.

In Chapter 18, the narrative style reverses. Previously the narrative of Sripathi or one of the other Rao characters always preceded the short narration for Nandana. Chapter 18, however, begins from Nandana’s perspective before it reverts to Sripathi’s. The meaning of this reversal is to indicate the two narratives coming together and initiating a unified narrative that includes a talking Nandana and a grateful, healing Sripathi, Nirmala, etc. (excepting Ammayya, of course, who is unchanging).

An important aspect about Nandana also comes up towards the end of the chapter. Earlier, Nandana seemed to struggle greatly in comprehending that her parents died in an accident, but it’s revealed that Nandana understood her parents were dead when the police showed up at Uncle Sammy’s door. Nandana knew and understood exactly when everyone else did. Nandana’s silence and desire to return to Vancouver was all part of her learning to cope with her parents’ deaths.

Chapter 19’s title, “What-What Will Happen,” is a tautology meaning what happens will happen, i.e., life will run its course and there is no way for a human to alter that course. This is an important aspect for the characters, especially Sripathi and Nandana, to realize that there are certain aspects of life beyond one’s control. However, this phrase has the opposite meaning for Nirmala. Nirmala has slowly been learning to assert herself, and in Chapter 19, Nirmala goes so far as to also be assertive for Putti, who obsesses now over Gopala Munnuswamy, but who is also incapable (for several reasons) to take the steps necessary to move closer to developing a relationship with him. Thus, Nirmala steps in for Putti and takes over the role traditionally left to Sripathi, who is the patriarch of the family, and arranges, with Mrs. Munnuswamy, to have the two married. Nirmala does not take this responsibility, or step lightly, but the title’s phrase acts as a conciliatory reminder that she needs to complete what she is doing.

Chapter 20 focuses on Sripathi, and the rest of the family (except Ammayya) looking forward to a new and brighter future not overshadowed by past mistakes and tragedies. Oddly enough, the previous chapter’s title, “What-What Will Happen,” appears in this chapter (spoken by one of the characters), indicating that the lesson learned by Nirmala in Chapter 19 now applies to Sripathi. Just as Nirmala was proactive in arranging for Putti and Gopala to marry, Sripathi decided to quit his job rather than wait for the company to fire him. Unilateral decision making on Nirmala’s part, and making a financial decision and worrying about the consequences later are both new behaviors for the two characters. At the end of Chapter 20, there is a moment of foreshadowing that coincides with another aspect of what a new day means for the Rao family. The Munnuswamys are visiting the Raos to discuss wedding preparations, and all the while Ammayya is spouting obscenities to try and offend the Munnuswamys enough that they will call off the marriage. Nirmala’s reaction is to simply close the door on her mother-in-law. Closing the door on Ammayya signals the family’s decision to no longer allow Ammayya’s poisonous negativity to influence them any longer. The ultimate door-closing naturally comes with Ammayya’s demise in the next chapter.