Inquisitiveness to Explore the Truth in Anita Nair's Lessons in Forgetting

Anita Nair asserts the irony of Indian society from different angles. Lessons in Forgetting (Nair, 2010) centres on two different characters, Meera and JAK. Meera, a forty-four-year-old cookbook writer, is the wife of an ambitious man named Giri, who abandons her and their children along with her mother and grandmother. JAK, Prof. J. A. Krishnamurthy, is a cyclone expert who, in his late forties, is relentlessly searching for the mysterious truth behind the fatal accident that befell his teenage daughter, Smriti, and left her in a lifeless comatose state.

Meera is a passive woman whose life revolves around her family and the Lilac House, where she has spent her life with her mother, Saro, and her grandmother, Lily, who was an actress years ago. The house plays an important role in her life, as it is the reason why Giri, her covetous husband from a lower-middle-class family, traps her into marriage and, years later, brings about the collapse of their married life when she firmly resists his persuasion to sell the house. His target being unfulfilled, one fine day at a party, he leaves her and their children. Meera realises that she and her children have been abandoned and understands that “she has been so blind” (Nair, 2010, p. 42). “Meera never dreamt big dreams. She had no desire for designer clothes, diamonds or expensive holidays. In those hard years after her father’s death, she learnt to worship at the altar of enough. That was all she ever hoped for” (Nair, 2010, p. 41). It was Giri who was the “god for her enough” (Nair, 2010, p. 42). But it is after reading his mail that she realises that “Giri had wanted more than enough” (Nair, 2010, p. 42). Though desperate, to support her family she very soon joins as an assistant to Prof. JAK, who had dropped her and her son, Nikhil, at their house when Giri left her alone at the party. Giri’s abandonment has thrown her life into chaos. To meet the financial needs and the responsibilities of her family, she finds a job and joins JAK as his assistant. Eventually, they grow close to each other without guilt. Even though they find succour in each other’s company, they maintain their own individuality and boundaries. At one point, when Saro, Meera’s mother, dies in an accident, it is JAK and not Giri who gives her the strength to tackle the situation.

Prof. Krishnamurthy, a cyclone expert in the USA who has been deserted by his wife, Nina, has two daughters, Smriti and Shruti. Shruti stays with Nina, and Smriti remains with her father, JAK, who returns to India to find out the cause of the accident that led Smriti to a comatose state. He regrets letting her go to India all alone. The novel also focuses on the parent-child relationship. Nair has employed a narrative technique that helps to explore the fundamental and crucial features of the parent-child relationship. Smriti wishes to study in India, and with the complete support of her father, she comes to India for her undergraduate studies. While studying in Bangalore, she becomes a volunteer with a social group, as she wishes to be a social activist. But the little girl knows very little about the dark side of the world she sets foot in. She meets her friend Shivu at the Stree Shakti Forum. He and his theatre company have been invited by the forum to conduct a workshop. Rupa, the coordinator of the forum, plans to stage a play on female foeticide. She wants the play to be taken even to small towns, including Dharmapuri, Salem and Madurai in Tamil Nadu. Stree Shakti has planned to have all its representatives there so that Shivu can train them. Smriti, too, takes part very actively in the play. She reaches Minjikapuram with her friend Rishi Menon. She is injured by a piece of broken glass on the beach. She visits the nearby hospital for treatment, and there she finds many pregnant women coming to the hospital to find out the sex of the foetus. She also learns that they are forced to have an abortion if the scan report shows a girl child. Smriti feels this to be illegal, and hence she starts collecting proof against it. Abandoned by her boyfriend, she thinks of dealing by herself with the case of the clinic that carries out foetal scans and foeticide. She meets Chinnathayi, whose daughter died at the nursing home during an abortion (Chanu & Selvalakshmi, 2017).

Smriti decides to collect proof against the illegal deed, and Chinnathayi promises to help her. But Rishi warns her, as the wrongdoers have threatened him:

These are dangerous people. This isn’t America and you are not Erin Brockovich... You can make a fuss about what’s happening once you are out of here. But it isn’t safe to stay on! (Nair, 2010, p. 295)

As she proceeds with her investigation, the wrongdoers send her a message in Chinnathayi’s name, asking her to come to the beach. She falls into their trap. She is physically abused by a gang and brutally wounded. Chinnathayi was a mute witness to the brutality, and all she could do was watch, muffling her horror by stuffing the end of her sari into her mouth and pressing her granddaughter Vana’s face into her side so that the child saw nothing and heard nothing. Brownmiller (1975) states that “in a sexual assault physical harm is much more than a threat; it is a reality because violence is an integral part of the act” (p. 40).

JAK’s meetings with different people to investigate the truth finally end with his meeting with Chinnathayi:

She moves deeper into the house. The man doesn’t cross her threshold. He stays resolutely on it. “I am Smriti’s father. Do you remember Smriti?” Chinnathayi takes a deep breath. “How is she?” she asks quietly. His expression doesn’t change. “It would have been better if she had died,” he says in a voice devoid of all emotion. “Yes, it would have been better if she had died,” Chinnathayi agrees, turning away. Her face is in the shadows. (Nair, 2010, p. 308)

Chinnathayi had seen those three brawny animals who, in their excitement, did not stop tearing at their meat despite Smriti’s screams. She was a mute witness to the human mind in all its twisted forms.

JAK’s search for the truth thus comes to an end. He confronts the truth in all its enormity. He realises that it is not just a teenage relationship but a larger social issue that Smriti chose to fight. But when women take a stand or raise their voices against the evils in society, they are silenced. He feels proud of his daughter after learning the real cause of her comatose state. To him, Smriti has attained the ultimate aim of one’s life by taking up a social responsibility, and thereby JAK attains a kind of relief and satisfaction (Davidson, 2016). Instead of taking revenge, he decides to forgive everyone (Chanu & Selvalakshmi, 2017). Meera consoles him and shows motherly affection towards Smriti. Meera’s agony seems to be nothing when compared to the tragic incident that JAK undergoes with his daughter (Chanu & Selvalakshmi, 2017). This picturises the element of life being torn apart and rebuilt. It also throws light on the major issues faced by innocent women in society.