Incomplete narratives of Ladies Coupe: An Analysis of major social issues that hides within the major plot

   Anita Nair's Ladies Coupe restructures some thematic elements handled by Indian English Literature. Apart from being a best seller from a female Indian author, it handles various themes that Indian audience can relate to. It points towards the plight of women in married life, struggle to capture one's own identity and problems of being independent of domestic shackles. The author raises many important questions through the thoughts of the protagonist Akhila like: "Can a woman stay single and be happy, or does a woman need a man to feel incomplete?""Can a woman live by herself?" (21)"Can a woman cope alone?" (22) "What is it about marriage that makes it possible for a man and a woman to mesh their lives, dreams and even their thoughts in such a complete fashion?"(10) Though these are relevant queries in a woman's life, Anita Nair mentions yet later doesn't develop some major issues faced by women; in her novel. Anita Nair itself admits this with the dialogue of a character named Marikolanthu. In the novel, Akhila fed up with her monotonous single life, decides to go to Kanyakumari to escape from her unsatisfactory situations. She gets pestered by several thoughts and listens to the stories of five other female passengers in ladies coupe to find an answer to her questions. Just before Marikolanthu shares her story with the protagonist Akhila she says:

"... you all have led such sheltered lives, yes, even you. I heard each one of them tell you the story of their lives and I thought, these women are making such a fuss about little things. What would they ever do if real tragedy confronted them? What do they know of life and the toll it takes? What do they know of how cruel the world can be to a woman?" (209)

   This is the exact argument that this paper extends. Ladies Coupe is a fine work but what it leaves behind are some issues that the author didn't develop but should have. These issues include the story of Sarasa Mami, Jaya, Padma, Kate and Vivien, the sexual misbehaviour of Hasina's father Naazar towards Sheela and the discrimination faced by Marikolanthu from other fellow passengers.

               Ladies Coupe written by Anita Nair was published in 2001. The novel portrays the story of Akhila (Akhilandeshwari), a 45-year-old spinster who belongs to a Tamil Brahmin Family. Suffocated by social rules and prejudices she takes up a journey into Kanyakumari one fine morning to seek her independence. In between her journey she meets five women : Janaki; an old mother and a content wife, Margaret Shanti; a chemistry teacher who brings her over active dominating husband Ebenezer Paulraj under control, Prabha Devi; who finds her confidence by learning how to swim and gets the inspiration to lead a successful married life, Sheela; a 14 year old girl who misses her grandmother and views the world in a different way and Marikolanthu; a low caste single mother, a rape survivor and one who encounters the power of feminine intimacy the most. The huge success of the novel connects to the issues faced by women in a post-colonial sphere. The patriarchal rules restrict them even though globalization expands their opportunities. The lack of inspiring figures and role models in their lives forces women to retreat back into the four walls of their home and traditional upbringing. Mothers and sisters become puppets of such patriarchal notions and turn hostile to their rebellious ideas. Lack of support from family, expected dedication and devotion from oneself to the regulations of morality and other gender issues weaken their spirits and tie them down to the gender roles. The less control she has over her life, the more unhappy she becomes. The transition from an obedient daughter to an obedient wife and from then to an obedient mother is a tough process. Some accept it happily, others tolerate whereas others struggle. Life after marriage seems to be like a gamble. If you are lucky you'll get a good partner or else you are expected to endure the burdens.  "What does she feel? What does she want? What is her opinion? What can she do? What has she accomplished?" are a set of questions ignored by a conservative community. Even seeking care from a female friend is viewed with suspicion by the society.  Kamala Das writes in her autobiography My Story that she was rebuked by her mother for hugging her female friend for more than a certain amount of time.

               Anita Nair introduces Sarasa Mami and Jaya through the eyes of Akhila and her mother. Akhila feels that the fate of Sarasa Mami and Jaya could have been their alternate fate if Akhila hadn't got the job of her deceased father. After the death of Subramani Iyer, neither Akhila, her family nor her community helps Sarasa Mami to get through her poverty. Even the protagonist of the novel Akhila shows her negative side when she and her mother ignores the ex-family friend Sarasa Mami and her prostitute daughter Jaya when they see them across the road waiting for the bus. The fate of the family is itself an answer to Akhila's question of whether a woman can cope alone. A woman can but for how long? The strong will to work hard alone cannot feed a stomach. Without the help and support of society, mere resolute cannot sustain a woman. Sarasa Mami and her family lived happily when her husband was around. Along with Jaya, they had two other daughters and a blind son.  Life wasn't hard even though it wasn't fair as well. The death of her husband turned their world upside down. Anita Nair exposes the double standards when Akhila's mother refuses to criticise Sarasa Mami.

"If it had been anyone else, Amma would have used her tongue like a scythe, chopping brutally at their reputation, their character, their lack of shame, and end with her favourite- 'If I was in her place, I would have fed my children poison and killed myself. Anything is better than selling one's honour.' But Sarasa Mami was a Brahmin. And it was easier to forgive a Brahmin, no matter how serious her crime, than rest of the world that was made of flesh- eaters and gravediggers.... May be Amma found it easier to accept what Subramani Iyer's widow did because it could have happened to her." (80)

               One truly feels bad for the fate of Sarasa Mami after the death of her husband. She sold all the pieces of jewellery she owned and begged for jobs in neighbouring households as a maid. "When there was nothing left to sell and hunger gnawed at their wilting honour and shook the respectability out of their bones, she sold her eldest daughter Jaya" (80). The society which accused her family couldn't realise the pain she had to go through when she had to clad her daughter Jaya in the only Kancheepuram sari she owned. The dress she wanted to wear when she climbed the stairs of heaven was turned into the attention-grabbing dress of a prostitute. "Sarasa allowed her dreams to roll out of the folds of the sari. Mothballs that dissipated into nothingness when touched by air." (80)

Sarasa was turned down by her neighbours by providing her with a handful of rice. Only enthusiasm was to mock her and not to help her. Her fate was even passed to the house they lived in. After an altercation with the neighbourhood, Sarasa's family ceased to exist for the community. The shame was passed to the new tenants as well when her family was forced to leave the neighbourhood. To lose honour in an upper-class society is double the pain.

   Even Akhila and society had only questions to ask them rather than lending support.

"What did Sarasa Mami think of when she helped Jaya with the sari?... And Jaya? What did Jaya think when her mother asked her to bathe earlier than usual one evening? Did she feel a cloud of butterflies dance in her stomach..? What do the dead think of the havoc wrought by their absence? At first, the whole neighbourhood watched in horrified silence. Then they talked in voices that quivered righteous indignation of the slur Sarasa Mami was inflicting by this brazen behaviour. On Subramani Iyer's good name. On the Brahmin community. On womanhood. Wasn't there a more honourable way to stay alive?" (81)

That's all that happened, more talk and less deed. Anita Nair could have given Jaya or Sarasa Mami a chance to narrate their story in the novel too. But in such a society they have no place in the "ladies coupe". Even in such a space; what Akhila defined as a mother rocking her children to sleep, they would still be shunned. There is a lack of a place for "certain" women even within the womanhood. This is substantiated by the case of Marikolanthu.

   When other fellow passengers including Akhila see Marikolanthu for the first time, they make a deliberate attempt to turn away from her.

"They stared at her. She wasn't one of them. It wasn't that she was dressed poorly or that there was about her stink of poverty. It was simply the expression on her face... Besides, they were sure that she didn't speak English as they all did. That was enough to put a distance between them and her." (18)

   As a reader its hard to believe the author's words here. Marikolanthu wasn't discriminated against her facial expression. Her impoverished look and dressing sense created the first gap between them. All the other fellow passengers were dressed "neatly". They didn't even try to understand whether she actually knows any English. They just assumed. Hence it wasn't just the male community that behaved cruelly to Marikolanthu . She points it out later to Akhila before sharing her story.

"... last night, all of you shut me out from your conversation simply because you thought I didn't belong. You looked at my clothes, my face, and decided that I was not your kind... It is true. I don't belong with you. Not because I am poor or uneducated." (209)

               Not all women can easily share her stories. The cruelties inflicted upon her can't be shared smoothly unless you are a survivor of similar circumstances too. Women are supposed to keep many secrets. Some with talent vent out their feelings through literature. Rest of the others heap piles of grief one above the other and suppress their emotions. Fear grips them hard and they fail to share their anxiety even with their parents or friends. This happened with Marikolanthu and also to Sheela.

   Sheela's story doesn't mention the incident for more than two paragraphs. But As a reader, it is that incident that grabs the attention rather than her dead grandmother. When her grandmother says that she doesn't like the way Naazar (Sheela's friend Hasina's father), looks at Sheela and put the arm around her, Sheela recalls the incidents were Naazar did more than that.

"Naazar was her friend's father and her father's friend. One Sunday when Sheela went to their house, rushing in from the heat with a line of sweat beading her upper lip, Naazar had reached forward and wiped it with his forefinger. The touch of his finger tingled on her skin for a long time. Thereafter Sheela mopped her face with a hanky each time she entered Hasina's home. Another time, the bows on the sleeves of her blouse had came undone and as Hasina and her mother watched, Naazar knotted the bows. Slowly and meticulously. Sheela felt her breath lodge in her throat and she saw the hurt in Hasina and her mother's eyes, shame wrapped itself around her. Sheela never wore that blouse again. "(66)

Sheela thought her mummy was too trusting and naive. She could never share this incident with anyone due to fear. Not even to her grandmother. But she trusted grandma's judgement when she accused her father's friends of being too friendly.  There should have been a space for Hasina or her mother to tell a story as well. The story of a husband who takes advantage of small girls in front of his family.  Does society realise the pain of a daughter and a wife when the men of their family succumb to pervert nature? What else do they possess other than trust issues, pain and helplessness?

   The other stories left out to narrate was the one between the two English women Dr Kate and Dr Vivien who took care of Marikolanthu. Even at a naive stage, Marikolanthu defends their relationship.

" If Missy K was afraid to sleep alone, the sensible thing to do would be for them to share a bed. I would have thought nothing of two women sharing a bed. It was the most obvious thing to do when there wasn't a man around. For the women to stick together." (230)

Later she says" Now I knew what it was they sought each other for loving - mouths, fingers, arching toes, curving tongues..." (251) What did they feel for each other? How did they meet? Why did they split up? What went wrong? What did Dr Kate feel when Vivien went back to England? What did she feel when she had to destroy the rose bushes she grew for Vivien? What did she feel when she had to move to Bangalore?

               Padma should be given a chance too. Yes, even Padma. Though readers feel anger towards her character and enjoy when Akhila gives a tight slap to her face; one cant but notice how she merely acts as a puppet to the patriarchal society, just like her mother.  Padma lives with her sister and her children than with her husband most of the time. What was her story? Why did she ridicule her sister so much? Was her urge to stay with Akhila a way to compensate the loneliness and alienation she felt from her husband or a mere urge to suit her needs? Did she protest the space for a love relationship and separation for Akhila because she saw her mother in Akhila?

   The stories narrated are indeed inspiring, heartwarming, funny and sad. But the left out narratives leave many gaps in a reader's mind. Why wasn't there more seats in "ladies coupe" to accommodate such stories too? Though it isn't popular as marriage issues; isn't prostitution, child abuse and broken lesbian relationships issues that matter too? All the narratives pointed at male figures who were controlling and restricting. In some cases, it women willingly succumbed to the wishes of men and forces other women to join them as well. A sense of sisterhood breaks down when women turn hostile to other women. If a daughter doesn't get the support even from her mother or sister, the fate is indeed miserable.