EMERGENCE OF NEW WOMEN IN THE NOVELS OF MANJU KAPUR The purpose of this research is to study new women in the novel of Manju Kapur so taking into account the complexity of life, different histories, cultures and different structures of values, the woman's question, despite basic solidarity, needs to be tackled in relation to the socio-cultural situation. Women under the patriarchal pressure and control are subjected to too much more burnts and social ostracism. They are more discriminated and are biased in lieu of their sex. The lives women live and struggle under the oppressive mechanism of a closed society are reflected in the writings of Manju Kapur. We see the budding of new women in Manju Kapur's heroines, who do not want to be rubber dolls for others to move as they will? Defying patriarchal notions that enforce women towards domesticity, they assert their individuality and aspire self-reliance through education. They nurture the desire of being independent and leading lives of their own. They want to shoulder responsibilities that go beyond a husband and children. They are not silent rebels but are bold, outspoken, determined and action-oriented. All protagonists know they can not depend on others to sort out the domestic situation and proceed to tackle it on their own. But do these heroines blossom into new women in the real sense? Though they dare to cross one patriarchal threshold, they are caught into another, where their free spirits are curbed and all they do is 'adjust, compromise and adapt'. The conflict between the roots of imagination and sensibility is brought out well in the novels. Manju Kapur teaches English literature at Miranda House, Delhi University. Her first novel ‘Difficult Daughters' received huge international acclaim. This novel was published in 1998. Her second novel ‘A Married Woman' was published in 2002. Her third novel ‘Home' was published in 2006. ‘Difficult Daughters' was awarded the Commonwealth Writers Prize for the best first book (Eurasia) and was a number one best seller in India. She is married to Gun Nidhi Dalmia and lives in New Delhi. ‘Difficult Daughters' is the story of a young woman, named Virmati born in Amritsar into an austere and high minded household. The story tells how she is torn between family duties, the desire for education and ellicit love. This is a story of sorrow, love and compromise. The major portion deals with Virmati's love affairs with professor and emerging her as a new woman. Virmati is the eldest daughter of Kasturi and Suraj Prakash. Kasturi has eleven children. One after another she gives birth to children and thus the whole burden of household work increases over Virmati, being the eldest daughter. Due to her busy routine she does not do well in her studies and fails. She falls in love with Harish, a professor who is already married. He sublets in a portion of Virmati's house. Thus professor develops an intimate relationship with Virmati. Virmati's parents decide to marry her to an engineer, Inderjeet, but due to the death in his family marriage is postponed for two years. During this period Virmati passes her FA exam and denies for marriage. Professor insists Virmati on being firm. Now Virmati becomes mentally disturbed and goes to Tarashika and drowns herself. She is saved by the servants of her grand father. Everybody inquires the reason but finally she declares that she does not like the boy and wants to study further. So this marriage is settled with Indumati, the second daughter of the family. Now Kasturi has to go with Virmati to Lahore for getting her admit in college and Principal assures Kasturi that there will be no problem and she has her eyes fixed firmly on each student. Shakuntala who has been a source of inspiration for Virmati, visits her regularly. Professor's course of meeting to her has yet not stopped and during this period she becomes pregnant. She becomes restless and with the help of her roommate, Swarnlata, she gets abortion. After completing her B.T., she returns to Amristar and is offered the principalship of a college at Sultanpur, she joins it but here too Harish visits her and these meetings are observed by Lalaji, manager of the college. She is dismissed so she decides to go to Nariniketan but on the way she meets a close friend of Harish who is already aware of their intimate relationship. So he does not let her go and calls Harish. He performs all the rituals of marriage. Professor with Virmati returns home. During her conjugal life Virmati feels that it would have been better if she had not been married with Harish. After sometimes she gives birth to a daughter Ida. At the beginning of the novel this girl Ida narrates her mother's life. Ms. Manju Kapur's second novel ‘A Married Woman' is the story of Astha an educated, upper middle class, working Delhi woman. As a girl, she is brought up with large supplements of fear. She is her parents only child. Her education, her character, her marriage these were are her parents burdens. But like a common school going girl she often imagines of romantic and handsome young man holding her in his strong manly embrace. In her adolescence she falls in love with a boy of her age. Day and night the thought of him keeps her inside churning. She is unable to eat, sleep or study. In the meantime she is emotionally engaged with Rohan and they enjoy physical relationship. This relationship is finished within a few days as Rohan moves to Oxford for further studies and her marriage is settled with Hement who belongs to a bureaucrat family. They live in Vasant Vihar, a posh colony in New Delhi. They start their married life and soon Astha is fed up with it. Astha starts teaching in a public school after much resistance from her husband and in laws. During her stay in this school she participates in a workshop on communalism which is being led by an intellectual artiste Aijaz Akhtar Khan, the founder of "The Street Threatre Group'. Aijaz teaches history and during the holidays he performs plays in school, slums, factories, streets, small town and villages to create sympathy and to generate social awareness. Although Astha had been a mother of a son and a daughter by this time. She is fascinated by the multifarious personality of Aijaz. But soon this relationship is over as the workshop finishes. After a few days Astha reads the news of Ajiaz's murder. Babri Masjid is demolished in Ayodhya and there is a lot of turmoil throughout the country. To establish religious harmony and social integration processions are organized by "The Street Threatre Group'. In one of such processions Astha meets Pipeelika and she comes to know that she is the widow of Aijaz. She feels great empathy to Pipeelika and a powerful physical relationship is established between them. This relationship is a challenge for her husband and family. They both live together and deep emotional attachment develops between them. Astha is on the verge of losing her conventional marriage. Pipeelika leaves India to study abroad and Astha returns back to her family. ‘A Married Woman' is beautifully, honest and seductive story of love and deep attachment, set at a time of political and religious turmoil. ‘Home' is the third novel by Manju Kapur. This is a fast moving story of an ordinary middle class family's life in Delhi. Banwarilal, the patriarch of a cloth business, lives in New Delhi neighbourhood of Karol Bagh. Banwarilal believes in the old ways and is the firm believer of that men work out of the home, women within. Men carry forward the family line, women enable their mission. His two sons unquestioningly follow their father but their wives do not. Both brothers carry their lives as well as business according to the wishes of their father. As the time passes Banwarilal dies and the whole burden of the family comes to Yashpal, being the elder one. He has one sister who becomes widow in her early life. She has a child named Vicky. They also join them in their house in Karol Bagh. At the beginning of the story Sona and Rupa both sisters are childless. They could not conceive for a long time. Sona keeps fast but it is of no use. Sona belongs to a rich family in comparison of her sister Rupa. Rupa's husband is an educated man. They pass their lives happily. After a long time Sona gives birth to Nisha and then to Raju. Nisha is physically tortured by Vicky, her cousin. She feels mentally disturbed so she is sent to Rupa's home for a change. Here she gets education well. After some time she returns to her home where no one pays much attention towards her study and she gets compartment in two subjects. She is guided by Premnath. She passes in it and enters in college for getting higher education. She meets a boy and decides to marry him ignoring his caste and creed but fails in doing so and later on she has to wait for a long time in spite of all her physical and mental attainments due to astrological reasons. It will be interesting to note the man woman relationship in the three novels of Manju Kapur. The emergence of new women in the realm of social, economic, cultural and racial aspects will also be probed in the novels of Manju Kapur.

The concept of new women in Indian society varies from the one in the west and therefore Manju Kapur has tried to evolve her own stream of emerging of new women grounded in reality. She has her own concerns priorities as well as her own ways of dealing with the predicament of her women protagonists. Her novels make a significant contribution in this direction.

CONTENTS :

1. Concept of New Women : Tradition and Modernity. 2. Life and Works of Manju Kapur. 3. New Women in the Novel 'Difficult Daughters'. 4. New Women in the Novel 'A Married Woman'. 5. New Women in the Novel 'Home'. 6. Conclusion.

Research Methodology I have resolved to do research on the works of Manju Kapur. I have taken recourse to the following methods: ? Eliciting the literary material of the novels of Manju Kapur. ? The study of various literary journals published in India and abroad as incorporated in the corpus of the bibliography. ? The study of various news-papers and magazines to conceptualize the idea of new woman.

Bibliography (A) Primary Sources: ? Kapur Manju - ‘Difficult Daughters' Atika Roli Books, New Delhi, 2001. ? ----------------- ‘A Married Woman' Roli Books Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi-48, 2002. ? ------------------- ‘Home' Random House, India, 2006. (B) Secondary Sources: ? Beauvoir, Simon de. ‘The second Sex' tran H.M. Parshley, Harmondsworth 1971 Pan Books, London 1988. ? Grimke, Sarah ‘Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the condition of Woman Burt Franklin ‘ New York, 1970. ? Millett, Kate, ‘Sexual Politics' (Garden City, Double day, , New York 1970). ? Klein, ‘Viola The Feminine Character' Routledge, London 1989. ? Box, ‘An Indian Writing in English', K.N. Sinha, The University of Bihar, Muzaffarpur. ? Brunton, T.D, ‘India in Fiction : The Heritage of Indian ness' critical Essays on Indian Writing in English, Nork, Desai Amur Karnataka University, Dharwar 1968 ? Bhatnagar, K.C. - ‘Realism in Major Indo - English Fiction' Prakash Book Depot, Bareilly 1980. ? Chaman Nahal, ‘Feminism in Indian English Fiction' Indian Women Novelists, R.K. Dhawan: Prestige, (New Delhi) 1991. ? Dhawan, R.K. ed ‘Explorations in Modern Indo - English Fictions', Bahri Pub, New Delhi 1982. ? Iyenger, K.R.S. ‘Indian Writing In English', Sterling Pub, New Delhi 1984. ? Gokak, Y.K., ‘English in India Its Present and Future' Asia Pub House Bombay 1964. ? Forster, EM - ‘Aspects of Novel' Penguim Books, London, 1979. ? Kalimnni Kova, Elena, J- ‘Indian English Literature:A Perspective', Vimal Pub, Ghaziabad 1982. ? P.P. Mehta : ‘Indo - Anglion Fiction : An Assessment', Prakash Book Dept, Bareilly 1968. ? Naik, M.K. - ‘Aspects of Indian Writing in English', New, Macmillan, Delhi 1979.