A Matter of Time  (English, Paperback, Deshpande Shashi)

A poignant tale set in Karnataka, of three generations in a family enmeshed in turbulence, indifference and oppressive silence, A Matter Of Time is a hopeful tale of unexpected relationships altering the course of life.

Summary Of The Book

A powerful tale of a family of three generations of women and their relationships with the men in their life, A Matter of Time begins as a family saga where Gopal walks out of his house and abandons his wife Sumi, and his three daughters Charu, Seema and Aru. Not only does he do so without any explanation whatsoever, but Sumi does not seem to be interested in asking for one. This indifference is highly unsettling for her daughters, with Aru holding herself to be responsible for her father's actions.

The story unfolds as after this incident, Sumi and her three daughters return to their ancestral village, where Kalyani, her mother has been living in an estranged silence with her husband Sripati who hasn't spoken to her in thirty five years. As Kalyani rebuilds a relationship with her daughter and granddaughters, she opens up to them memories long faded and emotions pent up long since. In this atmosphere, all the characters make sense of their lives and Aru understands the roots of her father's desertion and her mother's indifference. Throughout the novel, other relationships are also explored that play into the larger theme of the novel.

The novel is replete with nuanced details about the scenery and rural Karnataka really comes alive to the reader. It is also a philosophical journey of the characters, including Gopal and Sripati, who deal with existential crisis and loss in their own unique, personal ways. A Matter Of Time is weaved in with philosophical underpinnings of the Upanishads, Camus and Joan of Arc, to name a few.

The narrative technique uses both the omniscient (third person) and intimately personal (first person) voice, with the plot moving forward with unexpected turns.

About Shashi Deshpande

Shashi Deshpande is a renowned Indian novelist.

She has also written If I Die Today, Come Up and Be Dead, The Intrusion and Other Stories and The Binding Vine.

Shashi Deshpande was born in Dharwad in 1938, Karnataka, and is the daughter of the dramatist Sriranga. She was educated in Mumbai and Bangalore and holds degrees in economics, law and journalism. She won the Padma Shri Award in 2009. Her first publication was a short story collection in 1978. In 1980, she published her first novel titled The Dark Holds No Terror. In 1990, the novel That Long Silence won the Sahitya Akademi Award.