Maybe I'm totally misinterpreting this...

Update: I couldn't find anything useful on Indian stereotypes. Period. Nothing.  

But, as much as I support women's rights, there is something that bothers me about the characterization of Pranab. Maybe if this was an even longer book (which means more work for me, yes, but still) I wouldn't have minded it as much, given that Kirchner spent the time to flesh out Pranab's character. nd Mreenal.

My problem (or at least at first) was the sudden blue-screen-of-death moment he had when he and Aloka started their new lives in America:

"The once-loquacious man had grown silent. His mobile face had become an expressionless mask. The boisterous laugh that used to ripple through the entire upper half of his body had subsided into an occasional sneering chuckle." (96) 

This is basically explained within two or so pages, and up until his epiphany Pranab's character basically goes into this overly-nostalgic shell that needs to cling onto the love of his life from eons ago. Really, it goes downhill. And then suddenly it becomes more about the fact that he can't face his problems like a man, or rather that he manipulated Aloka and Sujata: 

"Nina suppressed the accusation that burned in her heart. Pranab had maneuvered her granddaughters for his own selfish gratification. He tried to appropriate their property and use their innate strength of character to compensate for his own weakness." (245)

At the point of the events that had occurred, I don't think Aloka, Sujata, or Pranab had any true 'strength of character" in the first place. Maybe they all gained from it eventually but at this point no. I won't deny that in some sense Pranab was playing with the emotions of Aloka or Sujata, but I think he tried to make it pretty clear to Aloka without making her too angry that he simply loved Sujata more. 

I honestly don't know how Aloka couldn't catch on--I get that she's the perfect Indian wife and can't think for herself, but she's just unrealistically weak I guess you could say (Having her as Pranab's beneficiary in New York, however, is a nice change of pace). And the fact that she clings on the Pranab and drags her to New York with her just makes her seem a bit delusional if anything and ironically weak.

 Sujata on the other hand should have known the risks of the affair in the first place, yet she continued to do so because of her jealousy of Aloka-- being Pranab's sweetheart gave her an ego boost over Aloka. And Aloka for the longest time did not consider how privileged she was in comparison to Sujata, yet still tries to keep Pranab to herself. 

With all due respect to Kirchner, I feel like while it's nice to have the women of the story grow strong and powerful, I must ask-- is it really necessary to make the men look bad? I felt that throughout the book the younger women were also behaving immaturely for adults. As in it was not that convincing that they could be that immature.