Probable Title- A Psychological Ghar Wapsi in “A Season of No Return”: Space and Identity in Gurdial Singh’s Eponymous Short story In this paper I argue, the character of Kauri in “A Season of No Return” (written in nineteen sixties by Gurdial Singh) undertakes a real as well as a mythic journey from the village to the city. In her psycho-geographical journey, Kauri negotiates the rejection of the “village” which is outliving its utility - a part of Kauri’s self. She struggles to embrace the city space, which symbolizes for her the “nonvillage”. In order to substantiate my argument, I will expound the thoughts and actions of Kauri as narrated in the short story “A Season of No Return.” In addition, I attempt to view Kauri’s internal conflict in the light of Ashis Nandy’s formulation of the journey as a metaphor for “an expedition to the borders of the self” (Preface; x), elaborated in the book “An Ambiguous Journey to the City” in which he theorizes the formation of the self in modern India through a re-reading of Freud’s psychic apparatus of the Id, Ego and Super-Ego. In my reading of Ashis Nandy’s “An Ambiguous Journey to the city”, the village is seen as a repository of both Id and the Super-Ego- “primordial passion and authoritarian conscience”- and the “self” associated with the city is seen to be organized around an ego “so autonomous that it yields agency to nothing outside itself.” Nandy argues that the individualism at the heart of the self associated with the city, sheltered at its center “not the classical potentially emancipatory ego but an overtly gilded ego.” In this sense, Nandy is not imposing the Freudian psychic apparatus in toto to expound the selves associated with the city and the village, but rather problematizes it. He propounds that the autonomous Freudian Ego is replaced In light of Ashis Nandy’s argument. and posit that this physical manifestation of the loss of the village enables the revelation of the mythic journey from the village to the city. (Preface.by a new primordiality. a neurotic condition emerges in her. I attempt to propose that in Kauri’s tussle between the village and the city at the level of her imagination. viii) In the short story. the daughter-in-law can be seen as the representative of the “self” who identifies with the city to such an extent that it constructs an autonomous ego in her . I would argue that Kauri indulges in a “controlled regression” to the village.by her desire to view everything . Through Kauri’s thoughts and action in the short story. which “yields agency to nothing outside itself. who Santokh married of his own will. which can be read “as a form of play with visions that chalk out another possible point of departure for the city. Kauri had a blurred vision of “the foreign land” as a space “thousand miles away” (380). the central character of “A Season of No Return” is geographically uprooted from the village to the city in order to take care of Santokh’s (her son) wife during her pregnancy and to simultaneously learn about her daughter-in-law. ix) In effect. However. Kauri becomes “restive” and indifferent towards her daughter-in-law’s sweet words and to all the luxury and material comfort that is provided to her. Kauri. “A Season of No Return” following Nandy. the urban space “appeared to be some kind of a paradise” as her son and daughter-inlaw took care of all her needs. Reluctantly accompanying her son.” (preface.” This autonomous Freudian Ego located in the city is replaced by Id (“crackpot rationality and objectivity”) in the daughter-in-law . with the passage of time. Initially. I detect the symptoms of melancholia as formulated by Freud.“the crack pot rationality and objectivity of the modern public self” located in the city. However. we can see how Sanotkh’s distancing from his father is a pyschogeographical journey that he embarks upon.the “authoritarian conscience” embedded in the village.” (377) However. in the process of making the decision to marry a woman outside their “biradari” and thereby disregarding the decision of his parents. in much the same way as the id demands an instant gratification of the desires from there and doesn’t engage in a dialogue regarding the same. As if you have ever sought my advice on whatever you’ve done so far? Don’t you worry about me! I could always go to the gurudwara and eat at the langar. Kauri’s confinement in the enclosed government quarter. pranaam! It’s six o’clock. Santokh disassociates himself from the Super-Ego.” (380) As guilt is one of the dominant mechanisms through which the Super-ego keeps an authoritarian conscience alive. the commercial attitude of Santokh and the daughter-in-law and the imposed clockwork life relegates . In addition.rationally and objectively so much so that the conversations between her and Kauri are only at the level of material needs or of chores related to rearing Kaka. This is evident when Santokh’s father sarcastically comments on his decision of taking Kauri to the city: “Bhai. Kauri’s husband can be seen as the Super-Ego for Santokh. It should also be noted that does Kauri wish to respond to the daughter-in-law’s arbitrarily imposed routine. This disassociation can be seen not only at the level of dismissing his father’s wish but also in his act of pyscho-geographically displacing Kauri for his own personal benefit. you do whatever you wish to. For instance. Maaji. “A Season of No Return” opens with the daughter-in-law entering Kauri’s room with a cup of tea in her hand and repeating “the very same words in her characteristic sweet voice which Kauri had been hearing for the past one year. Please have you tea. the narrator informs that the daughter-in-law does not wait for Kauri’s response. Sigmund Freud in his essay “Mourning and Melancholia” (1917) posits that mourning is “the reaction to the loss of a loved person. Moreover. [that Kauri did not know]…what sound sleep was. melancholia is the pathologic manifestation of mourning and he catalogues its mental features as: “profoundly painful dejection. These symptoms enlisted by Freud can be detected in Kauri from the outset of the story: It had been “almost a week now. . the reader learns that Kauri has been assigned to devote her full time and attention to kaka. inhibition of all activity. the daughter-in-law’s room. She constantly “mourns” the idea of community that the village symbolized for her. and the bathroom or just stared blankly at the walls. Melancholia also has an influence in the somatic realm: the subject is unable to consume and digest food and encounters difficulty in sleeping (insomnia). the subject is unable to identify what “about it” evokes a painful dejection. in melancholia the subject fails to identify the “object-loss” and even if the “object-loss” is identified. cessation of interest in the outside world. During the grandmother’s engagement with Kaka. or to the loss of some abstraction which has taken the place of one. her grandson who is handed over to her daily at “exactly thirty minutes past six” by Santokh. thereby.” (243) According to Freud. is the first medical condition that can be detected by the reader. However. and a lowering of the self-regard…” (244). the reader is provided a window to the inner working of Kauri’s mind and actions: And while talking to him.Kauri to the margins of her “self”. she repeatedly stole a glace towards the kitchen. As the story progresses.” (377) Insomnia. loss of the capacity to love. her ears attuned to the sound of the footfalls. ” Perhaps it was the first time in three months that Kauri had not responded with her usual warmth saying. Freud claims melancholia also has an influence in the somatic realm of the subject. It felt as through their neighbor’s son was firing shots with his gun.“With great difficulty.“not having had a wink of sleep the previous night” (385). she managed to finish half the . Her act of mourning the loss of village life and the discomfort with her entrapment in an absurd circularity plays out in Kauri’s actions when she is given the bottle of milk by the daughter-in-law and simultaneously reveals her inhibition towards this daily task: “ [The daughter-in-law] repeated the same sentence she has been spouting at that hour for the past three month now. “Please Maaji. child.the fear of being left alone in the enclosed government quarter. give kaka his feed. “something cross(es) [Kauri’s] mind that she decide(s) not to respond.” Another instance which unveils Kauri’s vexation and restlessness is when Santokh returns from his office with a few friends: “She could constantly hear the sounds of the peeling laughter and the tip-tapping of her daughter-in-law’s chappals coming in from the living room. 378-379) The reader is also provided with a glimpse of Kauri’s “cessation of interest in the outside world”: when the Gujarati woman. 378) Kauri’s “painful dejection” can be seen as a result of her anxiety. her neighbor greets her from the verandah.(That strange moment a strange dread could be seen lurking in her eyes. “Give it to me.but also faces difficulty consuming food.” (385) As noted above. This claim holds true in Kauri’s case as she is not only unable to sleep.) Suddenly she felt a wave of nausea sweeping over her… (A Season of No Return. This was enough to make her restless all over again.” (A Season of No Return. Kauri’s desire to return to the village.a space where “people would make either new acquaintances or renew the old ones. There was constantly a feeling of restless that lurked in her.” However. the park outside the gurudwara enabled Kauri to reconstruct the sense of community. which is informed by the “loss” of the sense of community located in the village. please take me back to the village. she consecutively indulges in a “controlled regression” to the village. From her conversations with the woman from Jalandar in the park. rearing kaka to talking to the maid. It’s a controlled regression as This can be seen in her regular visits to the gurudwara where she could meet several Punjabi women. her unconscious attempts at recreating the village in the city space were not effective. This constructed space of the park in the civic society serves as the “mahaula” of the village. Several times she voiced her desire to return back to the village: “Kaka.” (381) However. Thereby. her son always shunned her desire with the same rhetorical question: “are you being inconvenienced here in anyways?” (382). Kauri achieved relief only temporarily.“the moments when her nostalgia for home would grow into a nagging obsession” she would resort to the act of dreaming about her village in the night: “The open courtyard of the house and the children frolicking about there…their hands dripping with fresh cow dung…bursting into loud guffaws as they chased each other. She made a special bond with a woman from Jalandar with whom she would share all her grieves and sorrows. In addition.” (A Season of No Return.parantha… a sudden pain stabbed her back and she lay down towards kaka’s feet.” (380) Although Kauri’s actions and thoughts expose her melancholic condition. 382) . However.an agricultural community which lived a pure way of life that was close to the nature.org/revivalvillage/) and propounded a vision of progress for the agricultural community. Now. This was supposed to go hand in hand with India’s emergence as an industrial power. finally decide to send Kauri back to the village: “In a composed manner. she follows the instrumental logic which gives force to the nuclear family in the cityspace. The depiction of the village life in Kauri’s dream then.to the urban city lifestyle which replaced Gandhi’s dictum with grim instrumentality and precepts of reason. Kauri would become a burden to the family if she doesn’t serve her role of babysitter in the household.both spatially and morally. these ides of the nation state did . When Santokh and his wife. ‘What is the way out now? … Even I can see the problems it’ll create. can be seen in stark contrast.Kauri’s dream brings to the forefront the “open” space of the village that was rooted in Gandhi’s ethical and cultural dictum. Wedding the tenets of Gandhianism with Nehruvian socialism.” This “replacement” occurred due to a new conceptualization of the time-space in the modern entity of the nation-state. following the establishment of colonial rule and the emergence of Indian nationalism in the nineteenth century.mkgandhi. the nationalist movement sought authenticity and identity through the self-sufficient rural communities (http://www. a development that was supposed to happen with assistance from the British and Russian nation-states. he was trying to explain it to his wife. This instrumentality can be seen in the relationship of Kauri and her daughter-in-law where the earlier filial bond of mother and daughter-in-law (albeit governed by the patriarchal positioning of saas-bahu in a Hindu household) has been replaced by new labour equation. but we’ll engage in a maid. as opposed to the joint family in the village space. However. I would like to end this paper with some . the very moment of secession encouraged an identity politics which sought to see linguistic choice tied to regional identity.org/wiki/Punjabi_Suba_movement. I have tried to read the incomplete psycho-geographical journey from village to the city as an interpretative framework to understand Kauri’s behavior in her son’s urban residence.a desire for progress and an alluring lifestyle. This was accompanied by an urban industrial vision.in/books? id=qJaHAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=1950s+punjab&source=bl&ots=ebR6 N7455E&sig=njtNb8k6fMQWAkHexhLoYWGwXxg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEw iP47PK18LLAhXPJI4KHWvIAZs4ChDoAQg9MAc#v=onepage&q=1950s %20punjab&f=false) was synonymous with the rise of the Akali Dal party and it took place in the around the time as the writing of this story.not match with the political realism of the nation after independence.google. https://books. Even though. its historically noted as a much less violent struggle as compared to the Khalistan movement. She mourns to reunite with her mental and physical home. this very desire for modernity brought with it a state of individual alienation and cultural uprooting in the couple.wikipedia. which in the context of Punjab entailed a coping with the task of rehabilitation post-partition and also the emergence of the Akali Dal which claimed a separate state identified on linguistic majority.the village to such an extent that it pathologically manifests itself into fever. This separatist movement known as the Punjabi Suba movement (https://en. In the preceding paragraphs.co. Kauri in contrast to Santokh and the daughter-in-law can be positioned as psychologically homeless in the city space due to her inability to embrace the “civic virtues” and in her constant failure at recreating a village community in the city. which can be seen in Santokh and his wife. if not the “controlled regression” that Kauri indulges in negotiating the selves associated with the village and the city.questions emerging from the limitations of my methodology.how do we psychoanalyse the manifest content of Kauri’s recurring dream of children playing with cowdung in an empty courtyard. what primordial passions thrive in the space of the village. which will be replaced with the urban primordiality of rationality and objectivity? Finally. what systemic changes need to be brought about which undoes the binary between village and city apart from the Liberalizatio-PrivatizationGlobalization measures which give birth to the problematic concept of the glocal or even global village? . when we have just one re-telling of the dream in the scope of the narrative? Is it the repressed desire to access the non-productive communitarian space of the village which finds wish-fulfillment in the dream world? Even if I read Nandy’s division of psychic apparatus in the selves associated with the village and the city.
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