Geetanjali Shree’s novel Tomb of Sand is about women who want to make their way through the world as freely as men. This is clear right from the opening lines. In Daisy Rockwell’s deft translation (from the Hindi original Ret Samadhi): “This particular tale has a border and women who come and go as they please. Once you’ve got women and a border, a story can write itself. Even women on their own are enough. Women are stories in themselves, full of stirrings and whisperings that float on the wind, that bend with each blade of grass.”
In history and fiction, women have always been confined within circumscribed spaces. Lines have been drawn around them, beyond which they have been told they must not cross — boundaries of gender, class, caste, sexuality, language, and more. When they have crossed boundaries, either by being pulled over or of their own will, it has led to feuds and wars. If they have spoken out, they have met with disapproval; and if they have asked a question, they have crossed an unspoken boundary. Women have been silenced and expected to remain silent.
More than anywhere else, these boundaries first appear within the family. Women are expected to play their fixed roles as daughters, sisters, wives, and mothers. The family has been the first and greatest pillar of patriarchal values.
