Author :- Manju Kapur
Pages:- 239
Paperback
Book Blurb
Raman is a marketing executive with brilliant prospects at a multinational company; Shagun is his alluring wife. Along with their two adorable children- Arjun who looks just like her and Roohi who just looks like him-the couple seem to have the perfect life.
But when Raman's new boss - the older, urbane Ashok- enters the picture and Shagun decides her marriage is over, husband and wife become locked in a bitter battle over their children. While the children's custody is thrown into question, with them torn between homes, parents and countries, the childless Ishita is drawn to Raman and a chance at familial fulfilment.
Custody is a captivating story of love and loss. Gently satirical, it is told with quiet restraint, honesty and clear-sightedness, once again confirming Manju Kapur's reputation as the great chronicler of the modern Indian family.
Plot (According to my understanding)
After reading the blurb and studying the cover, I felt the book was all about the legal drama that engulfs a family which decides to part ways for whatever reasons. It outlines how the children and other related family gets affected by all of it and how these young children end up becoming mere pawns in the whole courtroom episode. The book deals with society's outlook towards an estranged couple and the kids specially. What I couldn't decipher was the role that a childless Ishita has to play in the story! Will she be the mother that both Arjun and Roohi deserved or does she have a bigger role to play in the overly twisted lives of the kids and Raman? And I surely got my answers after I read the entire book!
The Characters
Even though the family looks complete, happy and content with two beautiful children, Raman having a steady job and Shagun taking care of the house and children, there's something that just deepens the gap between them. Manju Kapur has tried her best to create characters that one can easily relate to, She not only outlines very prominent social issues but also various dynamics of a family as a whole.
- Raman is a successful marketing executive who not only is the best at work but also loves everyone in his family be it his wife, kids, parents or his in-laws. His mother in law (Shagun's mother) dotes on him and often calls him, her own son. He is much in love with Shagun and can go to any extent to keep her happy. The divorce does take a toll on him and we discover a new dimension to his character. To me, Raman was pretty understandable and one does end up feeling sad about how Shagun treated him.
- Shagun is someone I disliked from the time she was introduced in the book. Just because one is married at an early stage of life, you cannot in any circumstance hate your child! She comes across as an egoistic woman who solely cared of herself . She steps out of her marriage though sub consciously, she realizes that Raman wasn't at any fault. All she values is her freedom and happiness, and in the process ruins the happiness of 3 important people of her life and people connected to them! Her selfishness not only makes her take a drastic step of separating from Raman but her alleged lover, Ashok too leaves her in the later stage of the book.
- Arjun and Roohi The kids can be rightly called pawns used in the courtroom drama. While both of them are quite young, Arjun is at a stage where he can comprehend whatever happened in front of his eyes. He is deeply affected by the divorce and secludes himself from the outside world. He finds it difficult to attend school since the separation of his parents is a 'hot' topic in his school. Since he is not very expressive, he's not able to show/tell Raman how much he misses him. Shagun and Ashok (Also Raman's boss and Shagun's lover) send him off to a boarding school which tragically ends the realation between Raman and Arjun.
Being quite young when the separation happened, Roohi has no memories of a happy family. She is raised up by her father, Raman and his second wife, Ishita. Both, Ishita and Roohi bond like a real mother-daughter.
- Ashok Khanna He's the main antagonist resulting in the divorce between Raman and Shagun. His brilliance, worldliness and supportive nature results in Shagun falling for him. He boasts of an academic career from a very reputed Ivy League school and is very intelligent. However in the later half, we find out that he too leaves Shagun which proves her to be a selfish woman. Inspite of being with a man she now loved, she could just not do away with her past life. The custodial disputes are of major worry for her. Everything revolved around her own little world.
- Ishita She represents the women who have enough courage to voice their opinions. Her tragic past life does not deter her from picking up all the broken pieces and starting life afresh! She marries Raman and becomes a mother Roohi never had. She is a very warm person. I somehow feel that the possessiveness she had developed for Roohi, made the relationship of Raman-Shagun even more fragile.
This is the first time I've read a book by Manju Kapur and I'm glad I did. Manju has a very unique way of story-telling. She beautifully talks about how Divorce affects a family and specially children. I like how she has sketched each and every character. Being set in the 90's, It's a very bold step to talk about divorce and its consequences.
General Thoughts
I only wish she had etched out Shagun's character with more depth and given her a solid reason to separate from Raman. Even though having an extra marital affair is not accepted in the Indian society, there should have been a more in-depth reason of her cheating her husband. There's nothing that we know about WHY did she want to separate from Raman. She just separates! I feel there should have been some sort of confrontation to help readers understand Shagun more easily.
Ishita who came across as everything that Shagun was not, ends up becoming a huge mess towards the end of the book. She becomes so over protective of Roohi that she does not allow her to meet Shagun (her biological mother) at all! She became a bit difficult to understand!
You will enjoy
Custody if you are a fan of reality and books dealing with issues of separation and custody of the children involved.
Feedback is welcome... It keeps me inspired.. Thanks for reading :)
