‘Marriage: Freedom or Subjugation’: A Case Study of Paro’s Dreams by Namita Gokhale

The present paper searches to present a modest study of the novel of Namita Gokhale. It can be truly said that Namita Gokhale introduced herself to the world of English Literature through the novel Paro: dreams of passion and got recognition and appreciation as the best seller, as she realistically projected the elite class of Delhi. Her novel made her the talk of the town. It also aims at the exploration of the versatile personality of the author. Namita Gokhale is a world renowned Indian author and novelist known for her works in English language. She is a founder-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival along with the author, William Dalrymple, which started in 2006. Her writings often show a mixture of cultures expressed through the use of various languages. She has received numerous awards for her works. She is the author of several acclaimed novels like Paro - Dreams of Passion , Priya: In Incredible Indyaa , Gods, Graves and Grandmother , A Himalayan Love Story and Shakuntala: The Play of Memory . Her works of non-fiction include Mountain Echoes and The Book of Shiva . Her writings are unique and contributed a lot to Indian writing in English. The novel Paro: Dreams of Passion , created a stir by its frankness in the early 80s, and pioneered the sexually frank genre, which made her famous. It deals with the satire of Delhi’s upper class. Gokhale through her bold women characters talks about such society where

SMART MOVES JOURNAL IJELLH e- ISSN: 2582-3574 p-ISSN: 2582-4406 VOL. 8, ISSUE 5, MAY 2020 www.ijellh.com 126 woman is not free to lead her life in her own style. She depicts the double standard treatment for male and female, upper and lower class and the hypocrisy of the society. Therefore, Gokhale is known as woman activist and feminine writer. Her novel Paro: Dreams of Passion also deals with the same issues as it talks about the discriminations and identity crisis faced by women in society. She believes in frank narration of incidents and open heartedness.
Particularly, the novel has portrayed the urge, necessity and consequences of freedom if not taken care. In a nutshell the novel is about women's dream, emancipation and their struggle for existence.
After Independence, Indian women got the constitutional rights that changed their attitude towards family and society. Yet, today they find themselves in conflict with traditional and modern society that makes them alienated from self and society.
Gokhale wants to convey her readers that culture and society don't leave anybody however hardly one may try and aspire to leave them. Paro a born modern, can be thought as product of west, because of her convent education and not by birth, still she can't ignore the culture of the place she belongs and specially the attitude of men and women in the society.
She is living for instance her relationship with Avinendra, whom she wanted to marry, shows her modernity yet was unable to persuade his mother to accept her as 'bahu' (daughter-inlaw [1] Paro and Priya in the novel are given equal importance and thus people remember them after completing the novel. Paro is in search of love and thus gets involve into Culture and nature of people in surroundings has also caused pain and sufferings to women world thus restricting women's freedom. The double standard society with different norms for men and women in the name of culture has never allowed freedom to women. It elaborates how Priya suffers due to lack of communication with her husband makes her to revolt but disappointed by her brother and sister in law, she searches for her own identity and in the end her quest reaches to compromise and return to her husband. Being a woman in modern India means to be entrapped into the inescapable cage of "being a woman-wife-mother" …..Indian women do not appear to have their independent role in society [2] The study of the novel reveals how Paro and Priya find their ways of life. In this journey they do not compromise with the society but had always compromised for the happiness and peace of self and family. Thus, through the character of Priya, the author reveals that the happiness of family is the foremost criteria for any woman and can go to any extent for it. She also portrays the image of modern woman through the protagonist Paro who faces void and feels vacuum in her life. The novel Paro: Dreams of Passion explores the hardcore realities of the world and the consequences of freedom if not handled properly. The modern woman like Paro always draws attention from men wherever she goes, for whom morals are uninterrogated. Paro is well aware of her beauty. Hence says to Priya, "everyone" is in love with me (Paro). [3] Gokhale has described these women with harmony and meticulous interest as she occupies the space in the literary world. Through Priya's character, Gokhale also highlights the compassion inherent in women's nature. She falls in love with her boss BR, and cannot refuse to meet him later, though she knows pretty well that love will always remain unfulfilled, because his boss is married as well as insensitive, whose attitude towards her isto use and throw. Priya hates Paro as she says: "Gradually she (Paro) became an obsession for me. Subconsciously (I) Priya would find myself mouthing her words; phrases that were not mine. For example, I too would throw back my head in a deep throaty laugh, and my eyes would narrow in a pale shadow of her piercing gaze." [4] She always dislikes Paro throughout the novel, yet at the end she is shocked and shaken by her accidental death. She realizes a big loss and emptiness in her life by Paro's unexpected end. Our external relationships and our internal relationships are in fact the same relationships" [5] Most of the women characters in Namita Gokhale's novel violate the norms of society and refuse to accept that marriage bring happiness, as they consider it as a way of subjugation or surrender to man. Their sufferings bring them to conclusion that marriage and any human relationships are just fake and ridiculous. Gokhale's keen surveillance of woman's condition in the post-modern world explores the confused state of women's psyche with identity crisis.
Education has no doubt given wings and voice to today's women, but at the same time she finds that educated women in India have changed their beliefs in lifestyle therefore creating inner and outer conflicts and more dilemmas affecting their psychic conditions. She always fights against the social norms which restrain her freedom and Gokhale has done justice to the protagonists by giving them the freedom they fought and desired. Thus Namita Gokhale