The Hero's Walk

“But this son of his had only ever been a disappointment.”

Sripathi is speaking here about his son, Arun. Ironically, Sripathi is disappointed in Arun when there is plenty about Arun that could make a father proud: Arun is working on a doctorate; he is passionate about life and bettering society and the world. The irony extends beyond just this, however. Sripathi is disappointed in Arun because Arun isn’t going about working in the conventional way, and his not having a job is chiefly not making Sripathi’s life easier, which is the main reason Sripathi cares whether or not Arun has a conventional job. Furthermore, Sripathi, without realizing it, is perpetuating a sad family tradition where the parents are simply disappointed in their children when their children decide to take a different path in life than the one their parents laid out for them. Not to mention, Sripathi enjoys writing letters-to-the-editor about social injustices and the like, and so it is ironic that he condemns Arun’s behavior when what Arun is doing is very similar, just more proactive.

“Control, he whispered to himself. If he could control himself, he could deal with anything in the world, including this.” 

Sripathi is talking to himself and advising himself on how best to deal with Maya’s death and the new stresses that this brings into his life. It’s pointless, however, because Sripathi has shown little self-restraint up to this part of the novel, and as the novel progresses, Sripathi loses even more control than previously.

“Now that you have received your sacred thread, now that you have entered the world of knowledge, you will appreciate this gift of time. A valuable gift that goes as soon as it arrives. So learn to use it wisely, and you will be content.” 

This was advice given to Sripathi during his coming-of-age ceremony, and unfortunately, it wasn’t advice that Sripathi took to heart. He squandered a lot of his time, especially the time he had with his daughter, Maya. He took it for granted that she would always be there, that he could take his time to forgive her, perhaps even waiting until his deathbed, but her sudden death forces him to realize that the lesson about appreciating time is one he must still learn.

“Love was an extravagance that she could ill afford. If she spent it on the boy, she would have none left for herself, none to use as ointment on the wounds that Narasimha inflicted on her.”

Ammayya is remembering her past in this quote, after her husband’s death when she became a widow and cared for two children. This quote illustrates well the victim role that Ammayya assumed for most of her adult life, and it began even before Narasimha died. Furthermore, it helps illustrate the tradition of psychological neglect that the Rao family inflicted on itself, because Sripathi had a mother who didn’t seem to care for him, and he in turn acts the same way toward his children.

“Sripathi hoped that the ancient disappointment he had inflicted on his mother would be lessened by his daughter’s achievements.”

Many of these quotes reinforce one another, and this quote reinforces the importance of the previous one. Sripathi is well-aware of how disappointed Ammayya is/was in him, but he did not realize that he was doing the same thing to Maya that Ammayya had done to him. He believed that Ammayya would take pride in Maya, and through Maya would forgive him (Sripathi) for letting her (Ammayya) down earlier, however, Sripathi had a very specific idea of how Maya’s life should go in order to make up for his mistakes. Just like his mother, who wanted Sripathi to bring her honor and an easier life, so too did Sripathi want that of Maya.

“This tragedy has given you the chance to redeem yourself. Take it with both hands.” 

Raju admits that he believes Sripathi behaved harshly towards Maya, but now with Nandana, he has a chance to make things somehow right again. Sripathi was feeling down, and so he went to his friend Raju’s, who is a very positive man in spite of having experienced some tragedies similar to Sripathi’s. In fact, one could argue that Raju’s life has been more difficult than Sripathi’s, having lost his wife, his sons abandoning him, and having to care alone for his handicapped daughter. Raju stands therefore in a firm position to advise Sripathi about life.

It was also Sripathi’s nervous first step into a modern world where daughters went away from home to study and worked to support themselves.” 

One of the smaller themes in this novel is the transition between traditional Indian society and culture, and modern, international culture. When Sripathi was young, he dreamed of the sorts of economic freedoms that his children’s generation are coming to know, but he was still firmly attached to many of the traditional ways, especially the idea of family honor and familial duty, which had very strict stipulations on what one must do. When Maya broke with tradition, it through Sripathi’s worldview into chaos, and he was unable to deal with it, though he increasingly learns that he must find a way to come to terms with the changes, because he lost his daughter and might lose the rest of his family if he can’t find a way to change his ways.

“He had become more aware than ever that the world was full of unseen things, old memories and thoughts, longing and nightmares, anger, regret, madness. They floated turbulently around, an accumulation of whispery yesterdays that grew and grew and grew.” 

For the longest time, Sripathi was living with the illusion that he was in control of all of his surroundings, but Maya’s death shattered all of those illusions and Sripathi must realize that some things in life are beyond anyone’s control. This loss of control frightens him, it causes him to become increasingly superstitious, and eventually leads to an emotional breakdown.

“It had been a brief but full life. And Putti, born eight years before her niece, had nothing to show for her own existence.” 

Putti’s life juxtaposes with Maya’s. Even though Putti is older and still alive, Maya lived a fuller, richer life that included higher education, friends, a career, love and marriage, and a child, none of which Putti, in her isolated existence, has come close to experiencing. Maya’s death resulted in the upheaval of every one of her family’s lives. For Putti, Maya’s death taught her how limited life can be, but also how full it can be, and her death helps Putti resolve to break away from her mother’s egotistical clutches and begin living the life she wants to live. 

“Sripathi missed old Dr. Pandit, his willingness to listen, his involvement in a patient’s family, his entire life—for as he was fond of saying, a human being is not merely a ticking body, but a sum of all that happens in the world around him.”

Not all of the old ways were bad, in the case of Dr. Pandit, the man took better care of his patients than his son, who has a more hands-off approach than his father. Dr. Pandit’s words remind Sripathi that just as much as others influence his life, he too influences the lives of others.

“You will lose that crusading innocence as your hair turns grey, and you find yourself responsible for lives other than your own. It will all slip away, one by one, your dreams vaporized by the fierce sun of reality. A house, a scooter, your child’s education, the doctor’s bills, food and clothes and shoes […] All these will drown you, and before you know it you will, like me, sit at the edge of your youth and ask yourself, Why did I let it all go?” 

Ironically, Sripathi is thinking this about Arun’s possible future if Arun doesn’t change his ways and heed his father’s (Sripathi’s) advice, but Sripathi is describing his present and future if he doesn’t change his ways. Moreover, the advice that Sripathi consistently gives Arun about how he should live his life, are the things that caused Sripathi to find himself in his current situation.

“And Nirmala had replied, in too good a mood with the excitement of the approaching festival to be truly angry, ‘Ravana had a big ego. Like you. A hero is humble.’” 

Because of the novel’s title, the reader is wondering what the hero’s walk is and what heroism means in the novel and to what extent it fits or impacts the characters. The story of Lord Rama and Ravana defines heroism by way of allegory, and as Nirmala points out, one of the characteristics that makes Rama a hero is his humility, which means that for Sripathi to achieve heroism, he must learn humility.

“Putti had thought how wonderful it would be if humans were as easily deluded. Or did the cow know that her calf was dead and willingly submit to the comfort of the illusion that Munnuswamy had created with hide and hay.” 

Religion is a theme that appears often in the novel, specifically how religion affects the characters’ actions with the world around them, and specifically in dealing with Maya’s death. In this case, Putti’s contemplations about the cow and the fake calf allow one to see a parallel between religion and death, and whether or not one’s beliefs become a distraction for having to come to terms with a loved one’s passing. 

“He envied her her madness. In the secret corridors of her mind, Mrs. Poorna wandered around eternally hopeful. She had found relief in the delusion that her child had only gone out to play and would return any moment. He wondered whether it was comforting to be lost in madness. He longed for such oblivion from pain.”

Mrs. Poorna’s situation goes hand-in-hand with the previous quote about the cow. Mrs. Poorna offers a possibility for those who cannot psychologically manage the death, or in this case disappearance, of a loved one. Mrs. Poorna has convinced herself that her daughter will return any day, though she disappeared years ago. 

“What else were heroes for but to swat troubles away like so many flies?” 

This quote suggests that Bollywood has a huge influence on the idea of what a hero is. Sripathi is stuck in the movie theater and is watching a movie while he waits for the curfew to lift. The heroes in pop culture symbolize an ideal of heroism that is unrealistic, and thus, the hero’s walk and what makes a real hero must be something different than big gestures and superhuman powers and abilities.

“What madness existed in the world these days. She didn’t remember being afraid of anything as a child. Was it just a symptom of a world that had lost all morality, or was it a greater awareness of the wickedness that had always lurked beneath the surface of human life?” 

Illusion is an important theme in the novel. After Maya’s death, every character has to reanalyze their conception of reality. Everything appears in a different light. In this quote, Nirmala is awakening to a world more dangerous than she expected. This comes from the unexpected death of Maya, but also by the heightened responsibility of taking care of Nandana, who has, so far, grown up in a foreign country. Nandana does not share the same assumptions of the world that Nirmala does, and this makes Nirmala reconsider her surroundings, seeing them from the outside just as Nandana does.

“She remembered the police at Uncle Sunny’s door, and Aunty Kiran telling her that her parents were dead, and understood at last that they would not ever come to find her. That was why the Old Man had brought her to Big House. So he and Mamma Lady could take care of her for ever and ever.”

Early on after Maya’s and Alan’s deaths, it is unclear whether Nandana fully understands that her parents are dead and not coming back. In fact, it appears that for most of the time before Sripathi comes to Vancouver that Nandana is expecting her parents to come back any moment. However, with this quote, Nandana reveals she understood from the very beginning what happened, and that all the talk of her parents coming back was a coping mechanism.

“Now he was awake at last, and free of the dark, churning tumult that had filled his mind since the death of his beloved daughter.” 

This is the pivotal moment for Sripathi. He has undergone his emotional breakdown and survived (thanks to Arun), and through the deluge of the monsoon rains, he has cleansed his past.

“The familiarity of the ritual soothed her. If they could manage a half-foreign granddaughter, why not these people who at least had the same rituals?” 

It is not necessary for the Raos to break with all tradition in order to move away from the past into a brighter future, nor is it recommended. In this quote, Nirmala takes leave of Mrs. Munnuswamy after they have spoken of Gopala and Putti marrying. Things need to change, but there is also comfort and camaraderie in some of the old traditions. In this case, the tradition is the sprinkling of a vermilion powder in the parting of the hair when women say goodbye.

“This house was like a grindstone around his neck. There were too many memories haunting it—some good, it was true—but it was time now to create new memories.” 

Sripathi is ready to separate himself even more from the past by relinquishing Big House, which stands as a symbol of the old traditions and the old responsibilities and duties that are no longer apposite for the modern world. With a willingness to sell his family’s house, Sripathi shows the change that has occurred within him and his readiness to let go of the past and move on into a better future where he will be a better husband, father, and grandfather.

“He had lived with her for thirty-five years, and still he had not learnt her optimism. He looked always over his shoulder at the night instead of waiting hopefully for the next day.”

Sripathi realizes that all along Nirmala has been the one holding them all together while he sat in stubborn anger and egotism. However, since Maya’s death and his subsequent haunting of the past, and his emotional breakdown in the rain while searching for Nandana, Sripathi has reached a turning point in his life and he has opened his eyes more to those around him. Nirmala’s optimism becomes his optimism and a sign that he can change.

“Perhaps he and Arun were the fools in this world and Gopala was the wise man who used any means to survive. Did he ever feel a twinge of conscience?”

Even with all the changes that have occurred in his life and his family’s lives, Sripathi still faces an unknown future. Sripathi does not like the way Gopala and his father make their money, but he realizes, sadly, that his way hasn’t been working either. The juxtaposition of Gopala and Sripathi not only has implications for how Sripathi views the world, but also questions what sort of future India (or even the world) might have if men like Gopala, who dabble in illegal business, are the ones who can succeed whereas the law-abiding and simple men fall by the wayside.

“All her life she had been betrayed and humiliated. By her whoring husband who stole her youth, her self-respect, even the fortune that should have sustained her in old age. By her son who had run away like a coward from medical school and robbed her of hope. By Putti, who was leaving her for a milkboy. And by God himself, who had sent this filthy flood into her room alone.”

The above quote summarizes Ammayya’s negative worldview and shows how much Ammayya has always felt that she has been the victim of an unjust fate. Big House is filling with sewage and Putti is trying to get them to safety, and all Ammayya can think about is herself and how many bad things have happened in her life. She is completely unsympathetic with others around her to the point that she doesn’t worry about anyone other than herself.