Ghachar Ghochar- an analysis.

/**SPOILER ALERT**/

Have you ever read a book that you have completed in one or two sittings but had its hangover for over a week? Ghachar Ghochar is that book for me!

About the book-

Ghachar Ghochar was originally written in Kannada by Vivek Shanbhag and is translated into the English language by Srinath Perur. This novella is written in the first person and the genre of this book is psychological fiction. The story revolves around the urban lower-middle-class, a joint family that suddenly becomes self-sufficient. The story starts with the narrator sitting in a coffee shop, recollecting the rags-to-riches tale of his family and what changes money brings to their lives, and ends in the same coffee shop with an open interpretation.

Characters- An unnamed narrator, Amma(narrator’s mother), Appa(narrator’s father), Malati(narrator’s sister), Chikkappa(narrator’s uncle), Anita(narrator’s wife), Vincent(an oracular waiter at a coffee shop), Chitra(narrator’s old acquaintance), an unknown lady.

Genre- In Psychological fiction or psychological realism, the character’s thought process is more important than their actions.

/**SPOILERS AHEAD**/

My analysis-

Money played an important role throughout the book. The author has shown the financial tensions in the middle-class family. The attitude of family members has changed as they become rich and there was a kind of hierarchy within the family, Chikkappa being the sole earning member of the family has the top position in the hierarchy!

“wealth shouldn't strike suddenly like a visitation, but instead grow gradually like a tree.”

“it’s not we who control money, it’s the money that controls us. When there’s only a little, it behaves meekly; when it grows, it becomes brash and has its way with us.”

The author has portrayed the narrator’s repulsion from the feminist women as they don't fit in with the unwritten rules of the family. From Chitra’s views on women’s treatment to his wife’s questions and argumentative nature always disturbed the narrator. The narrator is the dependent member of the family who does not have his own opinions is stuck in the subtle rules of the family.

“it is one of the strengths of families to pretend that they desire what is inevitable.”

Ending-

The story ends with the words Ghachar Ghochar which means entangled, messy; the ending really was ghachar ghochar.

“Sir, you want to wash your hand. There’s blood on it”, said Vincent at the ending part of the book which froze the narrator as well as the readers. Vincent from starting was considered an oracular being, someone who might know something, and his words always had invoked some unknown emotion in the narrator. The mention of blood by Vincent, the newspaper cutting in Anita’s wardrobe, which mentioned the death notice, and the discussion on murder during tea; all point towards the murder.

In my opinion, there can be two victims- Anita and the lady that came to meet Chikkappa. Anita, because- i) she hasn't called since she left. ii) every time, the family justified the neighbor’s murder by saying that the husband wanted to get rid of his argumentative wife! iii)when the narrator couldn't wave goodbye to his wife, he was kind of sad as if it were the last goodbye! That unknown lady, because Chikkappa wanted to get rid of her, Amma and Malati had a gruesome fight with her, and as mentioned by Anita- Amma doesn't want Chikkappa to get married ever as it will question her authority!

Now, if the murder happened, then under suspicion is the narrator’s family. The sadistic and cruel nature of the family has been portrayed in the book occasionally- from the pleasure, the family took in ant killing to justifying the murders during their tea-time conversation. Following excerpts are the pieces of evidence-

“We had no compunction towards our enemies and took to increasingly desperate and violent means of dealing with them.”, “I took pleasure in seeing them shrivel into black points when burning coals were roll over a group of them.”, “initially we did things only when we were alone, but in time we began to be openly cruel to ants.” said the narrator, talking about their enemy, ants!

“We might have changed houses since, but habits are harder to change.”

“These days it’s become very easy to murder.”, “He was caught because of his overplanning.”, “If only he had planned a little better…”- some ‘normal’ gossips of murder within the family.

The impulsive and aggressive behavior of Amma and Malati, and Chikkappa’s friendship with gangster-kind-of-person, Ravi also adds to the suspicion. From Amma’s bursting into unprovoked invective towards the unknown lady to Malati’s behavior towards her inlaws, from Malati using Ravi to threaten her in-laws to Chikkappa’s boasting about Ravi’s idea of murder, are some of the shreds of evidence.

The narrator’s dumping Chitra because of her independence, open mind, feminism clearly shows that he doesn’t like his wife’s argumentative, interrogative nature, and he too (like his family) desired to get rid of her.

These were my interpretation of the novella, you might have a different analysis as our beloved Vincent said, “Sir- one story, many sides.” ;)