Women Through ‘His’ Reminiscence: Githa Hariharan’s The Ghosts of Vasu Master

Abstract

GithaHariharan excellently expressed human emotions through the life of Vasu Master. After the retirement he starts jotting down observations, memories and thoughts about teaching. Vasu Master begins to relive incidents from the past and discovers in his own halting but in an imaginative way, the nature of teaching, teacher and pupil. This process of self-discovery is speeded up by the arrival of Mani and this is a sort of self ?discovery. He takes this up as a sort of challenge, and in the process of teaching Mani about the values of life, actually relives his own memories-right from childhood. The novel definitely reminded us of the Panchatantra stories-the usage of plants and animals to explain a point to children. Here, Vasu Master uses the same philosophy while teaching Mani. Vasu Master doesn?t live only in the present but his past also haunts him. He tries to understand his present through memory and dreams. The novel is concerned with well-being on all levels: soul, mind, and body.