Man-Child in Dire Need of Desertion

Short story review

Photo by Tom Pumford on Unsplash

The refusal to admit that you are not the soothing balm, but the cause of the complex festering wound, indicates a critical potential mother-in-law.

The boundaries of parental love are concrete, yet intangible. When breached, often the matriarch delivers the discernible blow even though she will cast blame upon This Anju!¹ Set in Bombay, this tale pokes fun at self-described traditional boy-moms.

Oblivious as to how far she sticks her nose, the unnamed protagonist is overly fixated on each of her three sons, but dotes on Sanjay, the eldest. A bohemian with a growing cocaine habit and a presumed mental illness, his laziness is unmatched yet endears him to his mother.

Of good family stock and naturally beautiful, Anju quickly becomes the apple of Sanjay’s, his brothers', and his father’s eyes. Her Americanized education should be another feather in her hat, but because she is of high caste and single, she is deemed an unfit ‘pretend Indian’.

Sanjay's blemishes include being gainfully unemployed and a repudiated philanderer. If others are jealous of either flaw, Anju is appalled and takes the initiative to remedy both. This modernity doesn’t just raise his mother’s hackles; it somehow suggests that she is less than adept. A decree to never return without humility leads to honest confrontation, followed by Sanjay’s and his younger brother's familial exit.

Controlling, self-righteous with the ability to wield guilt like enormous influence isn’t the statutory definition of all matriarchs. However, most are steadfast in love, and this story is a demonstration of unconscious competition to restore emotional closeness.

Written by Ginu Kamani, an Indian American known for celebrating dual identities, this is an account of the circumstantial evolution of sadness, anxiety, and loss of purpose some mothers experience after their children reach adulthood.

Contemporary readers will appreciate the author’s use of rich and ironic prose to portray a vehemently defiant mom being forced to navigate class, attitude, and the other haunting qualities tied to collective change running parallel to traditional expectations.

This anecdote, a newfangled rift on claiming domestic territory, uses dialogue and vivid depictions of the presumed consequences of Westernized influence. Readers who have ditched an emotionally immature manchild may be less critical after learning that some mothers realize its detriment after the nest empties.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Additional shorts by Indian American authors:

Sisters, by Anjum Hasan

Gulf Return, by Deepak Unnikrishnan

A Longer Design, by Rheea Mukherijee

1. Part of the Jugalee Girl short story collection