NECTAR IN A SIEVE

To those who live by the land there must always come times of hardship, of fear and of hunger, even as there are years of plenty.  This is one of the truths of our existence as those who live by the land know: that sometimes we eat and sometimes we starve.  We live by our labours from one harvest to the next, there is no certain telling whether we shall be able to feed ourselves and our children, and if bad times are prolonged we know we must see the weak surrender their lives and this fact, too, is within our experience.  In our lives there is no margin for misfortune.

Still, while there was land there was hope. . . . 

Nectar in a Sieve, written by Kamala Markandaya, is reminiscent of The Good Earth and Grapes of Wrath.  There are similar themes: extreme poverty, a connection between the people and the earth, the strength of a woman's patience when faced with unavoidable circumstances.

Rukmani's story begins and ends with the memory of her husband and her surviving children. She herself is not extraordinary, but she survives, living each day as it comes, and enduring hardship because it is just a part of life. She leads no rebellions, does not try to improve her lifestyle except to achieve what is needed to survive, and here is a strange dissonance between Rukmani and the men in her life, who understand some truth that she cannot grasp.  Both Kenny, the white doctor, and Rukmani's sons strive for more of something--whether that is money, health, or some notion of justice or equality.  Rukmani doesn't understand this need for more; she does not contemplate Kenny's politics, but rather his character; and she sees not what could be, but what is, and does the best she can with what she is given.  She accepts that a husband is the center of a woman's life, just as she accepts the choices made by her children, her husband's adultery, and the tenuous security of a farmer's life.  In a life full of upheavals, there are only two significant losses that she cannot seem to overcome: the loss of the land, which is the home built for her by her husband, and the loss of her husband.

It would be interesting to know how Markandaya felt towards her character, as someone who was educated at University and lived her later life abroad as an outsider.  I wonder if she feels like Kenny, who is frustrated by what he calls "ignorance" yet at the same time is drawn with an inexplicable love to a people he cannot make his own.  Was she writing to explore political themes, to share the perspective of people like Rukmani with the Western world, or to explore Rukmani's character?  Probably all of it at once.