Book review paper of Ghachar Ghochar.

The narrator is the main character of Vivek Shanbhag’s novel Ghachar Ghochar. His family nickname is “Kurkure” (108), but his proper name is never mentioned in the narrative.

Besides being about domestic relations, Vivek Shanbhag’s novella Ghachar Ghochar focuses on the acquisition of wealth, how monetary collection can change people for the worse, especially their moral foundations. This work acts as a parable at times, in that the reader can imagine what happens to the narrator to be a universal condition. This is made possible by the narrator’s status of an Everyman. Those who stand to monetarily inherit tend to feel a sense of entitlement about this promise of wealth, and the narrator (acting as an Everyman) holds this belief, that he deserves his family’s wealth. He considers the possibility of losing this inheritance to charity as a waste and crazy idea. This demonstrates money’s power over the narrator; he finds identity in his family’s wealth.

Hierarchy is essential to the world that is the setting for Ghachar Ghochar. The narrator discusses extensively the power dynamics of his family, with emphasis on a ranking of the various household members based on status and authority. This ranking is established by a combination of the individual’s contributing household income, gender, and tradition. Therefore, the top-ranking member of the family’s hierarchy is Venkatachala because he is both a male and the sole earner of monetary income for the entire household. The second highest in rank is Appa, because he is male and the patriarchal figure. On the other hand, the lowest ranking individuals are a tie between Amma, Malati, and the narrator. Amma and Malati are female and therefore not expected to earn income for the family; however, the narrator is a man but does not earn any income through his own work, so he fights tradition and as a result is not ranked higher than his female relatives in terms of importance in the family.

The narrative of Ghachar Ghochar demonstrates how women in society are mistreated and their tormentors are allowed to get away with inflicting such mistreatment based on their victim’s gender. Shanbhag does not shy away from expounding upon the great amount of domestic abuse against women that occurs in society. Shanbhag’s characters are anything but outraged (exempting Chitra and Anita) about this widespread maltreatment.

In Ghachar Ghochar, the narrator’s family is dedicatedly observant of tradition; they live their lives with traditional principles in mind. For example, they observe and do not question traditional gender norms. The narrator’s mother Amma does the housework for her entire family and believes that this is naturally the role that women are meant to serve; thus, she expects her daughter Malati to contribute to housework as well. On the other hand, the narrator is a male and thus is not encouraged in any way to do housework.

Perhaps the most traditional aspect of the narrator’s family is their status as a joint family. Such joint families are common in Indian culture. The joint family by definition contains both people related through common ancestors and their wives and unmarried daughters. The narrator’s family maintains such a household with six people living under the same roof. Within this arrangement, there exists a well-defined hierarchy that determines the status of each family member within the context of the entire household. Because of the patriarchal society in which they live, Venkatachala and Appa hold higher status, while Amma and Malati automatically have less power based on their gender.

The remainder of your question calls for your personal opinion and experience.