The phrase 'New Woman' has come to show women's growth into a new awareness of their place and status in family and society, and to be conscious of their distinction. The new woman has been attempting to claim and establish her rights as a human being and is committed to struggle with men for equal treatment. Because the introduction of education has developed her sense of identity, she decreased to lead a sacrificial and shadowy creature's passive life. She seeks a level of happiness and satisfaction instead.
The idea of 'New Woman' is the product of the reaction to all individual stereotypes. In the patriarchal culture, she questions all forms of abuse of women. She wishes to live as a human being who is autonomous and self-reliant, not as an oppressed and marginalized individual. Her path is from subservience to self-affirmation and from declaration to liberation, and she declares her justice and freedoms.
It was the need for a new identity that started women a century ago on that passionate journey, that vilified, misinterpreted journey from home. That was an act of rebellion, a violent denial of the identity of women and it was then defined. It was the need for a new identity that led those passionate feminists to forge new trials for women. (Friedan 80)
Sarah Grand, a British writer and public speaker, invented the word 'New Woman' in 1894. Sarah Grand was the pseudonym of France Elizabeth Clark, a founder of the Suffrage League of female authors and an active feminist. This term, 'New Woman,' soon became a popular catch-phrase in English newspapers and books, and by being intelligent and educated, independent and self-supporting, is a departure from the stereotypical Victorian woman.
In post-independence India, The New Woman began to emerge, mainly because of the impetus given to women's education. A sense of individuality among women was nurtured by the spread of education and made them aware of their rights. They are inspired by economic freedom to realize their own ambitions. A number of women's organisations, founded in different parts of the world worked both for social changes and women's education. The English language offered a shared means of communication for women from diverse linguistic backgrounds to work for a common purpose. On the surface, feminist movements emerged and they came into conflict with the traditional moral standard. Over years, the age-old picture of the woman seems to be steadily distorting and eventually fading off into a new picture.
Nevertheless, the New Woman is a chronic development from the present Indian society and not just a blind replication of the West. As the nation moves forward to keep up with the rest of the world, the evolving New Woman is a result of the inevitable change taking effect on society.
The New Woman's quest in the Indian English novel for an identity of her own is well presented. In respect of the 'space' in which she moves and the 'voice' she is given to speak for herself, her independence is established. The influence of the National Revolution and the advancement of modern education is so immense that in the post-independence Indian novel, the portrayal of women reflects a noticeable shift to modernity and continues to evolve. Some of the characteristics associated with the new image are sincerity, eloquence, boldness, exuberance, frankness and passionate argument. The word women's empowerment has come to be synonymous with the struggle of women for equality and social justice. It is fundamentally a wider idea that heralds a change for women from unequal to equal, subordinate to good, passive to active capacity and agency. The purpose of empowerment seems to question subjugation and reform the framework that works against women.
In a country like India, the search for identity is more socially focused and less private. In English, most Indian novelists tend to lack enough toughness to follow the search for identity to its ultimate end. Mostly because of their unreadiness for the shock of self recognition, they struggle to make a clear statement of their identity. Identity, its conscience and search are no longer limited to the person level, and a community, an institution, a class, a career or even a nation may be affected by the identity crisis. Speaking of different facets of identity, Sudhir Kakar comments:
An individual’s sense of identity is neither completely conscious nor unconscious, although, at times, it appears to be exclusively the one or the other. At some place identity is referred to as a conscious sense of individual uniqueness, at others, to an unconsciousness striving for continuity of experience, and yet other places as a sense of solidarity with a groups’ ideal. (Kakar 16)
The rise of women novelists in India has greatly affected the patriarchal society's change of attitude. The female psychology, her difficulties, her misery and finally her liberation, have been quite efficiently depicted by these women writers. For their representation of an emerging woman, women writers such as Rama Mehta, Jai Nimbkar, Githa Hariharan, Arundhati Roy and Manju Kapur are notable. They envision a woman's desires, aspirations, wishes and weaknesses. She is, in her job, an individual with free choice. She is on her journey of self - discovery from a stupid and vulnerable individual to a self respecting and self-confident person. Therefore, these writers tried to create a new picture of a woman. The prototypes of the woman depicted until the 1960s was that of a woman who suffered and was subservient. In pursuit of her identity, the passive and male appendage develops into an aggressive and self-willed woman during the 1970s and 80s, albeit slowly. Fiction from the 1990s highlights the progress and fulfilment of a woman.
Rama Mehta (1923-1978), one of India's influential women authors, was born in Nainital. She had the privilege of serving in the Foreign Service of India and was one of the first women to be chosen for that prestigious position. Upon marriage, she was obliged to quit her position. She became a top sociologist, novelist and lecturer. With her Sahitya Akademy winning novel, Inside the Haveli, Rama Mehta became very famous. In synthesising tradition and modernity, her importance lies in picking the best from both and not choosing one in complete disregard of the other. In doing this, her protagonist acts as an agent of transformation. She presents many generations of living together in an environment of shared respect and acceptance; the master's and his servants' families live under the same roof, offering due courtesy to each other. Her representation of the young educated woman is idealistic and optimistic, as is the typical family life of Hindu society. Her woman synthesises the two attitudes toward life, new and old, effectively.
Inside the Haveli reveals how an educated town-bred Geeta finds herself stuck in the patriarchal world of the Haveli with liberal thought. It also reveals her search for identity and how she frees herself and turns herself into a modern Indian woman from the traditions and old norms. The life within the haveli is governed by a strict set of rules and by a set interrelationship. While the protagonist gets annoyed and furious at the loss of her freedom in the beginning, she later internalises the order of the haveli.
A true and genuine account of the status of women in the state of Mewar is portrayed in this novel. It interacts with the psychological conflict faced in India by the majority of modern women who are educated. Rama Mehta portrays a young woman's struggle in a conservative world to hold on to her identity. She raises a real-life crisis quite gently for Geeta, an educated girl based in Bombay who is forced to adhere to her customs in the haveli after her marriage to Ajay. She doesn't adhere to conventional stuff. It is said to have been, “Geeta, the protagonist of Inside the Haveli was a version of Rama Mehta, and Geeta’s experiences were, much of the time, fabrications upon an edifice of her own responses to Udaipur.” (Lal 83)
This novel spans a total of fifteen years, with three parts covering five years each, beginning with Bhagwat Singhji and ending with Ajay Singh becoming the new head of the family in the closing years of Sangram Singhji 's lifetime. The instrument of confrontation gives the novelist a real challenge to explore social relationships.
Inside the Haveli is the narrative of the modern girl Geeta, who, after marrying a conservative family in the patriarchal haveli of her husband, attempts to scratch out an identity for herself. Being enthusiastic and lively and also used to mixing with boys who have studied in a college of co-education, she is hardly ready for the strict and conventional methods of haveli where women stay in purdah. Kamal Bhasin points out that,
Geeta’s journey from Bombay to Udaipur is a journey from an open society to a cloistered one. It is a story of her own acculturation and assimilation into a more traditional society, where she embarks on yet another journey to throw open the gates of the haveli to things hitherto forbidden. (Bhasin 116)
Geeta is an outsider who is not acquainted with Udaipur's customs. Her life in Haveli is destroyed by constraints and restrictions, but with almost an independent personality it is also firmly rooted there. It takes Geeta a long fifteen years to adapt to the life of the haveli and eventually become its owner. Women announce that, the very first day of her entry in Udaipur, “She will never adjust. She is not one of us.” ( Inside the Haveli 29) But fifteen years later, she shows them that she can adapt to a new world very well.
The haveli is home to cultural bearers-the modernised Geeta, Sangram Singhji and his son Bhagwat Singhji. Through the use of force, the protagonist can see that tradition is also upheld. The interpersonal interaction between individuals decides certain taboo customs. A jay wants to take Geeta for a drive once, but she tells, “No, I am not going out alone with you. The whole of Udaipur will be talking the minute we are out of the gate.” ( Inside the Haveli 207-208) As such, a woman with her husband cannot experience independence. She can't behave her own child openly either. In the presence of law parents, it is not considered permissible for a young mother to caress her infant. Such behaviour calls for deep social disagreement. However, Geeta's sporadic explosions prove that she is unable to surrender fully her individuality. When asked to refrain from expressing public affection for her newborn daughter, she cried out: “Stop lecturing me, I am fed up with all the pretence that goes on here … I hate all this meaningless fuss! Don’t tell me what I should do with my own child!” ( Inside the Haveli 32) The daughter-in - law is not to be in the same room as its dad-in-law or elderly patrilineal relatives other than in formal events. A girl in law only speaks with her elders when she is spoken to. She just has to shake her head or to nod it smoothly.
There is only minimal equality for women in the Haveli. You cannot go out exposed with your heads. Geeta's nineteen year old nightmare starts as Ajay Singh's bride, a university professor of physics, upon her arrival at the Udaipur railway station. The woman who comes to receive her exclamation of panic as she places her foot on the platform, “Where do you come from that you show your face to the world?” ( Inside the Haveli 17) The senior old maid in the car, Pari, pulls the sari of Geeta over the face of her and says, “In Udaipur we keep purdah. Strange eyes must not see your beautiful face.” ( Inside the Haveli 17) Geeta often has a suffocation in the veil and cannot breathe clean and fresh air. The cognitive perspective of Geeta and the way of life she knew and what she finds in Udaipur's haveli offer a clear impression of isolation and dissatisfaction.
Geeta is not permitted to sit with elderly people, to walk in the streets and go shopping, following by the form and protocol of the haveli. Only from the set the accountant carries to the haveli must she choose saris. She is forced to sit in a corner with her face hidden while her own daughter's birth is celebrated. Even after two years, there are fears in Geeta that a word or action could bring dishonour. It is anticipated that the daughter-in - law would display respect to Pari, by touching her feet in her husband's family. When it is over, she is mocked for not understanding how to properly touch her feet and overcomes it with bitter embarrassment.
Even two years after her marriage, Geeta's father-in - law, Bhagwat Singhji, and grand father-in - law, Sangram Singhji, are total strangers to her. She can't even see her husband in the afternoon, since he just comes at night to see her. Women's rooms are separated from men's, so it is called a breach of the custom for which she is harshly penalised when Geeta encroached in the men's rooms. She looks frustrated to understand that “Even after seven years I am a stranger to those that are mine, and I will always remain a stranger.” ( Inside the Haveli 103)
In the first two years of Geeta at the haveli are observed in subterfuges performed by women. On her visit to the forbidden men's rooms with the help of her maid, she sees through the translucent window that in their lavish outfit, Rajput men are charming, powerful and upright. She unquestioningly accepts the knowledge that men are amused by a singing woman who, on the propitious day of Vijay's birth ceremony, takes five hundred rupees an evening and sings only for men. Geeta states that the same men adhere to a gender discrimination code that disallows interaction with their wives and forbids women inside or without the threshold from being uncovered.
Geeta finds that men are treated as though they are gods in the haveli, whereas women are in a glass case like dressed-up dolls. Haveli's world revolves around men. “They were the masters and their slightest wish was a command; women kept in their shadow and followed their instructions with meticulous care.” ( Inside the Haveli 21) She protests against a fixed living pattern formed by the Haveli. It is becoming an open fight between tradition and modernity. As part of an inheritance, she must recognise the tradition. This is representative of the Indian woman's mentality, who must settle on her individuality and self-assertion. In the light of reason, the tension stems from Geeta's definition of life as something spontaneous on the one side and the conservative codes of patriarchy that it retains on the other as enshrined in law. Remarking upon the frustration of Geeta, asserts R. K. Asthana,
She is filled with a sense of rebellion against the rigid customs of her society which do not permit the females the right to be their natural selves, who must live uneducated and unenlightened like dumb-driven cattle. (195)
The duty of Kanwar Sa, Geeta's mother-in - law, is to teach the people of her family how to “… even an educated girl can be moulded.” (30) Geeta is conscious that men rule the haveli, where women only possess a nominal position. She is often blamed for not correctly conducting the ritual of touching the foot. She thinks that her mother-in - law's hand on her head is not a gift, but a pressure down a little further than she wants to go down and hit her foot on her knees. As both a daughter-in - law and a mother-in - law, Kanwar Sa retains the dignity and integrity of her role as the mistress of the Haveli. She is an understanding woman who, between the old Bhabha Sa and the young Geeta, reflects the middle generation. She still appreciated her husband's faith and encouragement, which gave her the reputation of a respectable mistress. She doesn't keep her son, Ajay, bound to her apron-string as a mother. When she hears about the likelihood of Ajay entering the University of Delhi, she leaves the decision to the young couple. She tells Geeta, from this viewpoint, that,
... he would rather sacrifice his happiness than cause us a moment’s pain. The men in the haveli are like that. Your father-in-law refused the Prime Ministership of Bikaner because he knew I would not be happy living outside Udaipur. ( Inside the Haveli 173)
Geeta's parents often inspire her to express her mind, not to stay back or hide her feelings by offering intimacy. But she discovered that nobody ever shared their emotions in Haveli. In an intricate interchange of formal expressions and sentences, they concealed their feelings. There is a large team of servants in the Haveli, both men and women who mingle openly and their women do not cover their faces. But the women of the aristocracy must wear purdah. Geeta's mother is conscious that there is a cultural difference between the two families. Geeta is used to free mixing of boys after having studied in a co-educational college, while the upper class women, including Ajay's mother, remain in Purdah in Udaipur. Geeta recounts the provocative words of her mother, “Keep your head covered; never argue with your elders; respect your mother-in-law and do as she tell you. Don’t talk too much.” ( Inside the Haveli 16)
In choosing Geeta as Ajay's wife to carry on the customs of the haveli, Geeta's in-laws took a very bold decision. The initial response of Geeta to the haveli is an extreme one. She probably hates the criticism; in terms of her environment and the evident lack of dignity it has created in her, she notices in women. Her initial dizziness never fully vanishes. She feels like the daughters and daughters-in - law of her age in other Havelis are trapped, who
…seemed like little canaries in a cage who sang and twittered but seemed to know no passion … they followed the traditions of their families at the bidding of their elders, but they lacked the same faith or commitment to it. It seemed to Geeta that they were waiting for the day when they would be freed from their confinement. ( Inside the Haveli 87)
Geeta turns out to be a passive and powerless wife with her freedom and boldness shattered, quietly carrying the time-honored customs of the aristocratic family in Udaipur. More closely related to the devoted picture of a satisfied and soothed wife is her diminishing image. When Ajay receives an enticing offer from the University of Delhi, Geeta expects that at least there is an opportunity for her to flee from the suffering of her life to return to a wider world. But there are factors that make it hard for Ajay to leave Udaipur, even though he likes to use the opportunity to please her. He is his parents' only son, so it is not right to seek a job outside of Udaipur. And as such, the oppression of the traditions and precedents of the haveli again breaks all her dreams. In the heart of Geeta lies a hope that her life in Haveli is temporary. Together with her husband, she intends to go to Delhi. But when he reveals that he has declined the proposal, her dream destroys. He continues to stay on with his will in Udaipur because he feels responsible for his parents. Geeta shares her annoyance at remaining within the restricted, gendered space of the haveli when he tells this to her:
I know the men have no problems in this world of Udaipur; you are all pampered. You lead your lives and think women are mere chattels … In fact, I don’t even see any point in being here. I may as well go and stay with my parents. You won’t miss me; there are hundreds of people to take care of you. ( Inside the Haveli 53)
He tells in a calm voice when she no longer hides her frustration at Ajay for refusing the proposal:
…but surely you know how important you are to me … do you know, Geeta, I could never have been content in Udaipur had you not adjusted to the ways of the haveli. I would then have really run away from here … I am really proud of you, but that’s little consolation to you. ( Inside the Haveli 54)
As part of her life, Geeta accepted the haveli, but rejected the stress and delusion of the haveli. Suppressing is its formality. She seems isolated from the world of democracy, and in Geeta's heart, the desire to be in the outer world weighs:
But there were many times when she felt the crushing weight of the walls that shut off the outside world. The chatter of the maids, the gossip that floated into the courtyard, were amusing distractions, but not sufficient to be really satisfying. ( Inside the Haveli 88)
Inside the Haveli, Geeta can not articulate her fear and rage. She does not, at the same time, embrace her life here as fate. Given the utter lack of anonymity, she feels cramped. She knows that no secrets remain. With all the walkways associated, it is one household. This new woman, that is, has become aware of her path. To free herself from the claws of unfair traditions and norms imposed on her by the supremacy of men. Geeta wants to rebel and fight, but her formal education has practically eliminated the pain and reinforced empathy from her childhood, her urbanity and her initial humiliation due to new environment. Her mother-in - law gives Geeta gentle yet strong directions:
Binniji, keep your face covered; by now you should be able to move around without uncovering your face … Do not talk too much to your young cousins-in-law, it’s not becoming. You know, the women are critical because you are still clumsy. I want to show them that … was not wrong in selecting you as the wife of my only son. ( Inside the Haveli 30)
She also acknowledges the wishes of her recently arrived daughter-in - law in the life of Haveli. She tells, with her patience and gentle encouragement, “Binniji, I know you don’t eat properly when there is confusion around you. As soon as the women sit down to eat, you come upstairs. I will have your thali sent up.”( Inside the Haveli 31) The shift in Geeta is initiated by this kind of care and love, by the mother-in - law and the support of the maid servants.
Lakshmi, the maid servant of the Haveli, is a contrast to Geeta. She came here as a poor, ugly girl whose parents gave her to the Haveli. She got married to a servant, Gangaram, in the very same Haveli. After the same stormy night, both Geeta and Lakshmi gave birth to their first children, their daughters. Gangaram, Lakshmi's husband, mutters after his daughter, Sita, is born. He knows he's a girl because Sarju, the midwife, didn't risk the rain and the storm to scream, “It is a boy; it is a boy. Give me money.” ( Inside the Haveli 7) An older maid, Khyali, attempts to console him, “God takes care of all those He sends into the world. Girls are a burden, I admit … but what can one do once they are born? So far, I have been lucky. But who can tell of the future?” ( Inside the Haveli 7-8)
The body guard, Heeralal, who gave her some gifts, is courting Lakshmi, although she is not interested in him. She flees from the Haveli, irritated by her husband's unfair allegation. She abandons her baby, Sita, in a fury, and never returns again. In harmony with modernity, despite what misery she has to face, she rises in an open rebellion against it. The Kyali and Pari sent by Kanwarani Sa finds Lakshmi renting a wretched room. She strongly refuses her offer to return to the haveli when Pari asks her to return to the haveli, and also prefers to endure the agonies of a vulnerable woman as the price of liberation from the oppression of the husband and the boredom of the haveli.
Even by ignoring her maternal impulses, Lakshmi is ready to shape an independent path. When Pari tried to console her by asking her that “We all have to accept fate. There is no escape from that”; ( Inside the Haveli 12) the decision of Laxmi is, “Let my child starve, let her die, but I will not return to the haveli.” ( Inside the Haveli 82) She's still plenty of concerns about a poor man 's marriage and about the society that demands a lot from her. Nothing could have persuaded or reconciled her to her destiny. She leaves her child, Sita, who is now the liability of Haveli and Vijay's play-mate.
The achievement of Lakshmi in following the ideals of respect and virtue is only small. She does not come back in spite of a lot of pressure to return. Sita, who is ignorant that Lakshmi is her mother, avoids her. Lakshmi, covering her face, lives in embarrassment. The girls in school throw stuff at her and harass her. She is refused identity and motherhood, and when girls at school regard her as a mad woman, her marginalisation is finished. She was forced out of society into the realm of the insane, living in a state of death in life. The bitter fate of Lakshmi is a frightening message to all the women in the Haveli. They are conscious that since it would result in social unrest, her return would be risky. It is likely to break her daughter's commitment in this situation. Her daughter, Sita, has a special place in the hearts of the women who belong to the Haveli. Lakshmi tries to escape the Haveli's constraints. Through fear, she stayed silent about the driver Heeralal's requests, and the rumors exaggerated the link even beyond the facts.
Geeta is unable to determine what to do in the haveli. She notices several maids talking with her, spoiling her time with gossips she's not interested in. She does not find a compatible partner to share mutual interests, to spend time productively, and to effectively involve herself. Books are available for reading, but the curious maids interfere do not permit her to read comfortably. She is kept away from the kitchen, from other tasks, from any decision. She utilizes her education as an instrument and creates a way to get out of this uncomfortable position. Without any bias, she begins teaching classes to women. “Geeta has to make a Herculean effort to adjust to the traditional values in the Haveli though she ushers changes in the Haveli itself.” (Rawat 41)
Geeta‘s daughter asked one day, “If I can go to school, why can‘t Sita?” ( Inside the Haveli 95) Daughter of Maid, Sita continues to torment Geeta, and after lot of thinking, she says Pari, “…Sita must go to school.” ( Inside the Haveli 98) Education for girls and women is not viewed in Inside the Haveli as necessary for their growth. Geeta thinks of bringing Sita to school, which is a groundbreaking concept and faces the Haveli's universal opposition. Pari is opposed to Geeta's view. At the implicit irony, she seems angered, but stays unmoved in her determination. She tries to bring about an improvement for her mother in - law and the servants in the haveli, which is ridiculous. Bhagawat Singhji, her big hearted father-in - law, favors her idea and Sita is enrolled to school. When the girl starts attending school, including those who initially disagreed of the initiative finally start to applaud her.
In the context of the situation of the haveli, the case of Geeta's plan to send Sita, a motherless servant girl, to school is the most significant source of tension between the old and the new order. As Haveli has so far declined to educate servants, particularly girls, this poses catastrophic results. The in-laws of Geeta understand her modern values and grant her ample freedom inside the haveli to preserve her place in a satisfactory way. In the past, the relatives who used to condemn the school also realised the advantages of education in their servants' lives and began to praise Geeta. Sita is chosen to marry Shivram, a learned village boy, since her in-laws would like “... to find a girl in their caste who has gone to school.” ( Inside the Haveli 186) Geeta's mother-in - law shares her belief that, without responding to the naive women, she had made Sita's future vibrant. Even Pari acknowledges Geeta when she says, “Binniji, you have made Sita’s life.” ( Inside the Haveli 188)
To Geeta, Ajay is very supportive and empathetic. He enables her to get used to the ways of life in Haveli and also assists her in her efforts to reform the traditions of Haveli. At the very same time, he also needs to adhere to the practices of Haveli, and he is very good in playing this difficult position. He says her, “I am really proud of you …” ( Inside the Haveli 54) And he provides all his assistance to her. The increasing obsession of Geeta for the haveli leads in custom to greater and greater subservience. Geeta is wearing a Purdah now. The veil, the required wisdom of women who are refused power over others or even influence over their own fate, is her deception:
She came to love the veil that hid her face, this allowed her to think while the others talked. To her delight she had discovered that through her thin muslin sari, she could see everyone and yet not be seen by them. ( Inside the Haveli 23)
Commenting on Rama Mehta, Anita Juneja says,
She creates a sense of curiosity in the mind of the reader whether this Bombay bred girl would succeed in facing the trials and tribulations, whether she would be able to maintain the modern values and whether she would be able to carve out her own identity in this new and entirely different world of traditions. (The Predicament of Indian Woman in Difficult Daughters 63)
In her room, Geeta teaches small children as well as grown-up women. Since she embraces the lectures “… they gave Geeta a great deal of joy.” ( Inside the Haveli 162) She is concerned about the servants of the Havelis who are dumb, uneducated and pious. Because they're at the hands of their masters, she pities them. Mehta stresses that, “… upper class educated women must provide the leadership to those born in less privileged conditions. For this they may need to sacrifice some of the modern principles of liberation that they could have grabbed for themselves.” (Lal 101) Kanwar Sa is not pleased about this development when she begins educating Gokul's nephew, Ravi, who is accompanied by other boys and girls from the servants' quarters. She's worried it's going to give the Haveli a bad reputation. It risks greater conflict between Geeta and the haveli's mistress because it makes the haveli a subject of criticism for Udaipur's entire world of haveli. The mistress is supposed to break into severe dispute with her daughter-in - law on account of her sense of commitment to the importance of patriarchal reputation.
When her mother-in-law is attacked and must take the burden of criticisms and grievances on her account from other havelis, Geeta is indeed very sad. She feels that the classes need not continue. In her attempt to educate and train women from other havelis, Bhagwat Singhji acknowledges Sita being sent to school, supports his daughter-in - law to tailor her by giving her two sewing machines, covering the expenditures from his personal account. Geeta also appreciates Manji Bua Sa for bringing innovation into the Haveli:
Do not be afraid. It is time things changed. Once we, the old, are dead, the havelis will no longer survive. It is no good living on in the past; for the sake of our children, we must look to the future. ( Inside the Haveli 115)
Her father-in - law and her mother-in - law both endorse Geeta's attempts and support them. All her old opponents are starting to increasingly acknowledge her effort to disseminate education among the poorer sections. Her contributions are appreciated by Ajay. He felt it was time to join the Haveli for fresh concepts, he says her,
… you and not thought enough of your life in the haveli. This life in purdah is not meant for you … you must always have confidence in me that I will support you in whatever you decide to do. ( Inside the Haveli 52-53)
The casual school of Geeta is similar to the existing schools outside of the Haveli. The highborn child is enrolled to a fancy school, where an average one, Sita, goes. Through the narrator, on her single idea, Rama Mehta demonstrates that education is essential for girls and women, and through various types of school courses, society must accept the consequences. Kanwar Sa, for her daughter-in - law, is all gratitude:
I should be grateful. An educated girl like her could so easily have been a total misfit here. What could we have done, Pari, if she were insolent, or worse, indifferent? No, she has never raised her voice to me, and in her own way she is proud of the haveli. ( Inside the Haveli 144-145)
Afterward, Geeta begins to give sewing and embroidery lessons to those illiterate women who find it difficult to learn the alphabet. With a compassionate appreciation of their hardship, she becomes conscious that even the poor require fun and cheerfulness from their bored and tedious lives for periodic relaxation. With excitement, she starts her programme, which lets her father-in - law scream, “I am proud of Binniji. Tell her to let me know if she needs any help.” ( Inside the Haveli 158) and the final announcement of her mother-in - law silences any opposition, “Once your father-in-law gives his approval to something then I am not afraid of what the world says.” ( Inside the Haveli 173) The school in Haveli is the result of the complicated sentiments of Geeta regarding culture, modernity, misery and prosperity. As she is conscious of the inconsistency between her urge to adhere to a societal norm of a daughter-in - law 's feminine indifference and her mission of supporting those in need through her lessons, her self-assertion has improved. Ambiguity fades and, for her true female self, she sees the bright light of day with knowledge and exploration. The opinion of Ramnavmiwale is that,
Geeta achieves security through reconciliation. The ethos of the novel is neither the victory nor the defeat but of harmony and understanding between the two opposing ideas of modernity and tradition. (Rama Mehta's Inside the Haveli- A Feminist Perspective 39)
Four generations of the family had already met Pari, lived in the joys of births and marriages, in the grief of the Haveli 's deaths and miseries. The new daughter-in-law also understood that the same esteem must be accorded to Pari as one owed to a parent. Pari is a servant by name alone, and she never seeks to be anything more. The other servants, however, understood her place and viewed her with distinction. They took her instructions as if they were the mistress's commands. In Indian culture, the practice of child marriage prevents women from getting educated. During their infancy, they are separated from their parents and compelled to endure with their in-laws. They have to seek widowhood if their husbands die for some cause. Wearing decorative skirts, jewellery and engaging in any festival are not permitted. The situation of child widows is much worse, since they have to take the burden of bigotry from society. As a widow, Pari recounts her pitiful condition:
As a young girl, I could not understand why I was forbidden to wear jewellery and coloured saris like the other women. A widow’s presence on religious occasions was considered inauspicious. That hurt me most: I loved the gaiety that goes out with festivals. But later on, I understood. No one was to blame for that, it was a custom of Udaipur. It was my fate to be a widow in this life. I had to learn to accept that. ( Inside the Haveli 116-117)
One day, aided by her maid, Dhapu, Geeta looks sneakily through the lattice of a window and looks at the glorious images of her husband and father-in - law in the men's prohibited rooms. She's feeling mesmerised:
… Mewar seemed safe in the hands of these stern looking men, all of whom seemed so composed, so determined and so refined. A glow of pride and affection filled Geeta. These were good people, gentle, kind and chivalrous. Looking at the men below she forgot her daily irritations; she felt proud to be the young mistress of the haveli. ( Inside the Haveli 40)
His mother grievously informs Geeta when Ajay refuses the proposal of teaching at Delhi University;
Binniji, listen to me ... I want to tell you that Bapu Sa should not think of us this time. We are old and our work in the world is over. But you both are young and the future is open to you. Bapu should not let an opportunity like this pass. I am a mother. I want to see my children happy and fulfilled. You alone can make him see this, you must not let him give up something that will bring him respect and satisfaction. There are times when you must not think of the haveli. ( Inside the Haveli 173-174)
Geeta is amazed, pleased and warmed to the heart. She is exhausted, lays her head in the lap of her mother-in - law, and cries like a child helplessly. Kanwar Sa is called upon by the wife of Daulat Singhiji, who belongs to the wealthiest Haveli in the place. She shares her desire to see the marriage of her only son to Vijay. Her response is an angry rejection when Geeta realises the intent of Daulat Singhji's visit to the Haveli. To her husband, she reveals her feelings of resentment:
I have put up with enough in your family, and I am not prepared to bend any more. I won’t ever agree to this criminal act of deciding who Vijay will marry when she is still a child... Don’t I know the smooth velvety language of the havelis. Well, Ajay, let me tell you that I don’t care what family Vir Singh comes from or how much money he has buried in the ground. I will never agree to engage Vijay to a boy who is still in college. ( Inside the Haveli 206)
When Geeta declines to join her mother-in - law for a polite and friendly return visit, she tells her that Vijay's marriage does not need to concern her:
As long as your parents-in-law are alive, you don’t have any problems … They’ll never marry her unless they are absolutely sure of everything. Don’t worry. Leave it to your elders to decide what is best for Vijay Bai Sa. ( Inside the Haveli 215)
Geeta objects fiercely against the notion of leaving her daughter's marriage decision to her parents-in - law. She confidently and aggressively tells her mother-in-law, “My daughter’s marriage is my concern. … Even if it were the son of the Maharana of Udaipur, I wouldn’t agree.” ( Inside the Haveli 215) In Geeta 's view, as a consequence of the proposal, there is significant disagreement. Geeta is left free to take her own call after the initial courtesy.
For her thirteen-year - old daughter, this early wedding proposal puts out Geeta's most aggressive rebellion against the customs of the haveli. The proposal that comes from the opposing haveli is a heated dispute between husband and wife over the proposal. In front of her husband, Geeta cries out, “Now I am really trapped and cannot escape … If I have ruined my life, the children are not going to ruin theirs.” ( Inside the Haveli 205) These grievances or comments refer to a woman who has stayed inside the haveli for fifteen years. The rebellion in her mind had been tempered by Sita's early marriage, her own internal struggle over her daughter's loyalty. Her father-in - law, however, insists on all facets of the dilemma and comes to the point of view of Geeta, and talks with uncommon ferocity:
…I have told Daulat Singhji that under no circumstances would I permit Vijay to be taken out of school. I am against early marriages. Girls must study; they cannot be kept ignorant. ( Inside the Haveli 248)
The candour and insight in his words are understood by Geeta. Via her father-in - law, she learns of Vir Singh's personal attributes and wonders of her own marriage. The easy and thoughtful dealing of this issue by Bhagwat Singhji enables Geeta to worry less apprehensively about the proposal than she had done before. The elders also suggest the marriage of a decent and prosperous Rajput family in Udaipur to the Scion of Vijay. For many factors, the match is appealing. Two equal-status households will be related by marriage in order to maintain traditions. This plan is to be seen by Geeta as a duplicate of her own position in Jeewan Niwas. As she examines her own life in the haveli, in a vivid array, her options, deceits and adjustments float to the consciousness. The scene between Geeta and Ajay on the topic of the marriage of their daughter is the only one in the novel that replicates private discussion; everything else is encoded by the practices of polite speech. The firmness of Geeta's 'new' opinion toward child marriage is re-established by her other self's interventions, which are drawn to the comfort of old ways beyond everything.
There are two things that make Geeta consider the suggestion of Vijay by Vir Singh. One would be that she knows that, as her mother did years before, all mothers start searching for appropriate partners for their daughters too early on. The other aspect is that the words of her father-in - law make up her mind, which informs her of the proposal's appropriateness and the assurance that Vijay will not marry until her education is completed. Therefore, though she does not agree to her daughter's marriage, Vijay, with a well-bred, trained young man from another haveli, she gains victory. She solves the issue of child-marriage with her resolve and modesty. Therefore, she considers the optimistic period of tradition and modernity a mutually beneficial combination.
Based on where she emotionally situates herself outside or inside the home, this divided conscience makes Geeta switch associations in the novel. Even though Manji Bua Sa, her cousin-in-law, encourages her to give her permission so that Bhagwat Singhji can die peacefully, it is to Geeta 's credit that Geeta does not sacrifice on sentimental grounds. Bhagawat Singhji surrenders to her the task of making the final decision. In a honourable and prudent way, he embraces the proposition.
In a pit of her own contradictions, Geeta catches herself. She has to accept that all of the arrangements for Haveli have a sweet grace. She questions the customs which limit a woman's existence. She is not ready to face someone in the haveli with the decision making. Against her desires, no one can convince her. She faces a tension emerging out of the tension between her values and familial pressure. Gita is perplexed in the beginning by the strange environment of the haveli. In her, there is a deep feeling of isolation and anger and she fights against her traditions and customs. Slowly, however, as observations from K. Radha,
She finds herself in a milieu that is the very antithesis of all that she had been accustomed to. The novel deals with the slow stages by which Geeta who begins as a rebel finally comes to terms with the haveli and accepts its way of life. (Geeta and the Problem of Adjustment in Inside the Haveli 202)
Her wisdom lies in her cautious balance of critical thought and assertive decision-making with reverence for the customs and values of the haveli. She achieves in doing so. On the other side, Archana Parashar reiterates, “Geeta is not a rebel nor is she a radical feminist, but in her own quiet way she brings about changes in the lives of young girls in the family and outside.” (Parashar 14)
The right to assemble this form of oppression and rebellion against social ills is refused to women in the Haveli, who are oppressed and subservient to men. Geeta wants to make improvements in the Rajputs' social set-up and traditional way of life. The class-difference in Geeta's thought accounts for the difference. It is to her benefit that she can reach the correct balance between the old and the modern, the traditional and the western ways. In order not to get her daughter married too young and without finishing her schooling, she is very sure on her stand. At the same time, she is well aware of the realities of India, where the social pressure on a girl to marry is immense. She also does not yield on the topic until all of her conditions are first met. She starts feeling pride and love for the haveli slowly, in the place of anger and isolation:
I don’t want to leave Udaipur now. The haveli has made me a willing prisoner within its walls. How stupid I was not to see all that it holds. Where else in the world would I get this kind of love and concern? The children must grow up here. They must learn to love and respect this ancient house. ( Inside the Haveli 170)
Geeta is overwhelmed with appreciation for her in-law’s immense love and respect for her and it would not be ungrateful on her part to accept it. She also has all the praise for the maids' self-denying service to the Haveli. Their commitment to their kids is particularly remarkable. In the happiness of children, their love and commitment are such that they find happiness. Similarly, if they are ill, the servants' sorrow knows no bounds. She now acknowledges that certain rituals still have their own integrity. She battled her wars, won her success, and modified her traditions. She herself develops change and, by her actions, brings about a change. When she hears her little boy, Vikram, gurgling with joy as Dhapu bathes him, comfort fills her heart, “Where else in the world could children be enveloped in such affection … The servants go hungry if the children haven’t eaten, they go without sleep if a child has a slight headache.” ( Inside the Haveli 171)
With the head of the family more like 'a towering tree' that covers and protects the entire family, Geeta starts to understand the advantages of living together in a joint family. She acknowledges that individualism is not self-indulgence in the Indian sense, and there is the likelihood of independence for the individual even within the laws of the tradition of haveli. What is required is an acceptable alteration of customs, as there is no need for a complete break from tradition. Thus, by suppressing the discrimination against the education of women and children of the servant class, she cleans away the undergrowth of tradition. Viney Kirpal appropriately observes when he asserts:
There is a message in the novel for all of us who have grown away from our traditions – that in order to be modern it is not necessary to renounce one’s cultural roots and to adopt western ways of thoughts and behaviour. (The New Indian Novel in English: A Study of the 1980's 177)
The haveli is the center point around which their expectations, ambitions, hopes and fears revolve. With the death of Bhagwat Singhji, it is the duty of Ajay and Geeta to take care of the haveli and all of its members. Geeta is found moving from the confined, choking environment of the haveli to some winds of freedom as the novel progresses towards the end. When she hears her father-in - law asking the accountant to pay all the debts that Gangaram accumulated for Sita's wedding, Geeta understands what true grandeur meant.
The novel ends with Bhagawat Singhji's death. From the viewpoint of Geeta, Bhagwat Singhji's serious disease offers the last chance of catastrophe. By her in-laws, Geeta is not ill-treated. Geeta encourages the old family retainer, Pari, but tells her of her position and the traditions she will have to uphold and take forward. Geeta is proud of her inherited haveli, which the community orders within her household. In Srinivasa Iyengar's words:
In the end, she becomes the mistress of the haveli, feeling a pride in what is best in the family tradition and trying in other respects to make the haveli community of relations and dependent move with the times, making sure of each forward step. (Indian Writing in English 816)
Geeta is brought to purdah, but she incorporates new ideas in her turn, taking the winds of change into the narrow-isolated limits of haveli. As a result, she faces censorship from the older generation of women who are unable to grasp the need for women to be trained and advanced at all, and definitely not for maids. She starts to admire the customs and practises of her family, despite her open rebellion against the traditions of the Haveli, and with all her desire for independence and modernity, as she feels they have their own dignity.
Geeta acknowledges that her life is made more meaningful by belonging and self assertion, but she now understands that this should not be at the expense of one's beliefs and the best of one's traditions. In order to continue its age-long tradition, she takes over the burden of the haveli, but not before putting in her new ideas. As a new woman living inside the scope of culture, she carves out her own identity. She neither disrupts the integrity of her ancestry nor gives up the fundamentals of modernity by education.