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Book Review: Lajwanti by Mulk Raj Anand

Lajwanti by Mulk Raj Anand is a short story – this story is famous for highlighting the plight of a married woman while coping up with the in-laws. Lajwanti means sensitive plant, thus the central character of the story ‘Lajwanti’ is quite apt to the title. The story opens with Lajwanti on the run in the scorching heat of Delhi. To her company, there is a bird Maina in the cage. Her struggle is to hike till Gurgaon and from there she will catch a bus to reach her father’s house in Pataudi. But her journey is not going to be easy one. First, it is unbearable to walk barefoot in such a scorching heat. Second, her brother-in-law Jaswant is chasing her on a bicycle. He is brute, vile and of course a bastard male chauvinistic.


Somehow, she manages to reach a confectioner’s shop and thinks of drinking water and resting in the shade. Well, soon, Jaswant catches her up and begins tormenting her. He spreads aloud that she is a badwoman and has run away from the house without informing any member of the family. He abuses her…bad woman…prostitute…!

The crowd around watches meekly, thinking it as a funfair. This shows that the world is ruthless toward the suffering of women. In between, Srimati Sushila Devi and her husband arrive at the scene in the jeep. The couple takes both to their bungalow. Srimati Sushila Devi is of the opinion that Lajwanti is unhappy hence she is trying to run away. Lajwanti’s husband is away at a college for his B.A. degree, and in his absence it is his elder brother Jaswant who tries to take the advantage of her. Moreover, she is extremely beautiful too. After a heated argument, Lajwanti is being dropped to the bus stop and Jaswant returns home in sheer frustration.

Upon reaching her home, she finds that her father is ignoring her like an impotent, and reckons her homecoming as an omen for disgrace. He persuades her and the very next day takes her back to her father-in-law’s home. After much bickering and humiliation, they accept her. On the other hand, Lajwanti is ashamed of her father who instead of helping her rather forced her to go back to the house where she bears the domestic violence meekly – there she burns day in, day out like a wooden log in the hearth. To her solace, she speaks of her pain and misery to that bird Maina.

Soon, her heart fills with the feeling that she is doomed. Thus, when the day was getting over, thinking of the increasing darkness, she jumps into the well to die of drowning. But she couldn’t because she knows swimming. When she is pulled out, she is partially conscious and in a wordless mutter says to herself, “There is no way for me. I am condemned to live…”  

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