Hey all,

Recently I have read a short story by a great writer ‘Gurdial Singh’ who is a Punjabi writer and a deeply rooted one too. Our generation might not be known to him and his many famous works but this short story named ‘The season of no return’ was in my course and therefore I was made to read and analyse this story and give my interpretations on the same. 

So, the story features a female lead named ‘Kauri’ who is a mother of two sons and lives in a village but we get to see that one of her sons’ lives in a city and therefore asks his mother too to accompany him to the city as his wife was pregnant and the situation at the village house was not so viable. So, Kauri being a mother accompanies her son Santokh to the city. Also, it is mentioned that Santokh married out of love and not all of his family supported his marriage with the girl as they thought her belonged from a low background. Here, we get to see how people have this set mindset and orthodoxy wherein they are totally against love marriage and also do not support it they demean the wife too without any proof. This also highlights the fact that how people belonging to a low caste and low origin are mistreated and demeaned. Though she was a reputed teacher in a university. Irrespective of her Calibre she was judged based on her choice. We also get to see that how she is not even given any name by the write and only the males in the story are provided with names. Even kauri means a part of something. Meaning woman being a part of her husband and her not having any individual identity. Again showing the patriarchal mindset of the writer too.

Also, we get to see how kauri was never asked of her opinion when she was taken to the city. It was her husband and her two sons deciding of her. 

So, basically through this story what I understood is that the idea of patriarchy and male dominancy is so deeply engraved in the minds of both women and men that it is difficult to bring the change in such a deeply rooted orthodoxy. Also, women play a very pivotal role in this too and it’s time they start thinking and working. 

Thank you.