Borders Book Group

Astha, as the opening line states, "was brought up properly, as befits a woman, with large supplements of fear." She enters a traditional Indian arranged marriage and initially finds love and companionship, but following the birth of her two children, she begins to find that she has sacrificed her own identity while striving to satisfy the traditional duties and family values.

Her growing dissatisfaction is played out against a background of Indian political and social unrest. Astha becomes involved in the political movement when Aijaz, a drama teacher and social activist she had admired is killed in the Hindu - Muslim conflict in Ayodhya. At the centre of the unrest is the threatened demolition of the Babri Masjid, a Muslim mosque that is supposedly built on an ancient Hindu site.

Astha takes up painting to help understand for herself the complexities of the political situation and begins an intense relationship with Pipeelika, Aijaz's widow. The intimacy and comfort she receives from this affair, contrasts strongly with the distance she feels in her rigidly defined role as wife and mother. She ultimately must make a decision to either choose the radical, liberating option of following her lesbian lover or stay within the safe, strong bonds of her family.