Vol. 1, Issue 2, Part D (2015)

Inside the Haveli, a sensitive regional novel by Rama Mehta sumptuously delineates how an educated urbane girl Geeta with progressive thinking regarding women finds herself a prisoner in the oppressive environment of the Haveli, and how she struggles to liberate herself from the old conventions and transforms herself into the image of new Indian woman. Subordinating every wish and every desire at the altar of the Haveli, she incarnates into the role of a teacher involved in a literacy campaign. But her incarnation and her flight for emancipation is influenced by her cultural, social and psychological milieu. Her husband’s support, her father-in-law’s consideration and her determination help her to stand steadily amid the rough winds. Inside the Haveli is thus an invaluable work of the psychological study of the Indian women’s psyche from a feminist perspective.