Shobha De holds a unique place among Indian feminist authors. Apart from being a novelist, she has been a regular columnist for several newspapers. Her novels deal the life of modern and elite class women, the glamour and dark realities of cosmopolitan culture of Mumbai including Bollywood, patriarchy, gender issues, manwoman relationship, lesbian and homosexual relationship, and livein-relationship. In most of her works we find a very candid portrayal of the most intimate side of women’s life revealing their plight in the present day society. De’s heroines soar above the patriarchal limits by asserting their rights regarding their sexuality. In the novel, Second Thoughts Maya, the protagonist symbolizing the recurring image of an orthodox Indian woman, gets disillusioned in double folds- firstly, she could not pursue her career in fashion designing and secondly, she could not enjoy the intimacy and pleasures of a married life. She always says ‘something is missing’ in spite of enjoying all the basic needs and comforts in her life. Her plight compels her to say yes to the friendship offer of Nikhil but soon she gets disillusioned with her boyfriend as well. Thus, Maya is neglected and criticized by her husband and exploited and cheated by her lover but using her feminine sensibility she learns how to live happily with her love-less, cold husband. The present paper focuses on how patriarchy operates in the current society, how it limits the career opportunities for an aspiring woman, and how it tries to strangulate pleasures and sexuality within the marital line and domesticity. The current paper also delves into the protagonist’s agony, inner conflicts and other psychological conditions and above all her female sensibility through which she normalized her life in this male dominating world.
Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Kamla Rai College, Gopalganj, Jai Prakash University, Chapra, Bihar
