Quest For Identity In One Self: Tara. Mahesh Dattani’s plays are first work shopped with his company Playpen in Bangalore. Dattani puts the finishing touches on his dialogue only when it is spoken aloud by the actors in rehearsals. He writes plays to be seen and heard, not literature to be read. Dattani bears life to the bone, dealing with gender issues. He is a spokesperson of all the marginalized people.
He says, “Every individual wants to be a part of society, of the mainstream but we must acknowledge that it is a forced harmony,” The play Tara, written by Dattani in the year 1990, was first performed as Twinkle Tara at the Chowdish Memorial Hall, Bangalore on 23 October 1990 by Playpen performing Arts Group. Dattani was also awarded the Sahitya Kala Award for best production, Tara; in the year 2000. The play is performed on a multi-level set. The lower level occupies a major portion of the stage. It represents the house of the Patels. It is seen only in memory.
The next level represents the bed-sitter of the older Chandan (referred to as Dan) in London. This is the realistic level. Behind, on a higher level is a chair in which Dr. Thakkar remains seated through out the play. Tara is an ideal character of Dattani which has been widely applauded and variedly interpreted. Dattani himself has tried to depict the feminine side of one which always has to come to terms with the society which favours male in a male-dominated world. Tara gives a glimpse into the modern society which claims to be liberal and advanced in its thought and action.
It is therefore evident enough to confirm male chauvinism prevalent in the present society. All the propagandas of equality between male and female, equal opportunities to women in all the fields are belied. Tara gives a picture of the helplessness of woman in the society. It has received great applause in foreign countries where students have pointed out Tara and Chandan as two aspects of same personality. But Dattani’s aim in writing this play was to highlight the preference given to a male child over a female child. Whenever the question of choice comes between male and female, it is the male who is chosen.
Tara is a play about Tara and Chandan, twins conjoined at birth. The play revolves around Tara, Chandan, Bharathi, the mother and Mr. Patel, the father. The twins have three legs between them with major blood supply on the girl’s side. In an operation to separate the children, the mother and maternal grandfather decide to give the leg to the boy. But, the leg receives most of its blood supply from the girl and hence it has a better chance of survival in her. During the surgery the twins are separated in such a manner that Chandan have two legs while Tara has only one.
The leg is wasted on Chandan as a piece of dead and decaying flesh. Perhaps it would have suited Tara’s body better. Bharathi’s love for Tara is obsessive. She expresses her love towards Tara to compensate for the wrong, which she had done her when she was a child. In order to overcome her guilt she tries to be over protective of her daughter. When Tara finally comes to know of the truth about her mother’s decision, her shock knows no bound. As the story proceeds, several physical complications arise in Tara and she dies. Chandan is left alone. He goes to live in London with his uncle and changes his name to Dan.
He is unable to forget his guilt, which he feels over his sister’s death. He lives there without a personal history. The play Tara brings forth the reality of the woman playing second fiddle to man. It opens with Chandan changed into Dan in order to overcome from the guilt of killing his sister. Though he had nothing to do with his sister’s untimely death but he feels someway responsible for his sister’s death and decides to atone for it. For that reason, he escapes to London and transforms his name from Chandan to Dan and lives a self-condemned life.
The cruelty of the grandfather and his mother not only takes away the life of the girl but ruins the life of the boy who was very much attached to his sister Tara. The fateful leg which was the cause of Tara’s bad health and death could not be given to the boy because it becomes useless after few days. The leg would have been complete success with Tara’s body. It would not only have saved her life but also made her a complete person which she very much desired to be, more than Chandan. Chandan was more satisfied with his handicapped life while Tara craved every moment for a complete and normal life.
Tara’s awareness that she is a handicapped female and the humiliation meted out to her by Roopa and her friends when she was forced to show her handicapped leg to them was like a dagger piercing to her heart. Patel and Bharathi are educated parents and the step taken by them is lamentable. Bharathi’s father, a resourceful person, is also considered to be one of the factors in this mishap. It is the ultimate decision of the parents which is effective in the life of their children. But, in this play the parents’ decision in separating the twins is unacceptable.
They decide to give the leg to Chandan though it receives most of its blood supply from Tara’s body. This is because they are partial towards the female child. They are very much concerned about their male dominated society, if they were identified as parents of a crippled boy child. Parents’ decision should be based on their children’s benefactor not on social code. Patels’ decision would be acceptable if they were decided to give the leg to Tara rather than Chandan. Bharati’s wrong decision has left Tara crippled all through her life is revealed later in the play.
It is this guilt makes her to express love towards her daughter. BHARATI: I plan for her happiness. I mean to give her all the love and affection which I can give. It’s what she . . . deserves. Love can make for a lot. (349). She seems to compensate this wrong decision about her daughter through her excessive concern for her. Because of her sense of regret she agrees to donate her kidney to Tara so that she may survive for a few more years. Patel on the other hand has no regret for being party to the wrong decision. He tries to accommodate his son Chandan and plans out his education and career for him.
At one point when Tara refuses to fill forms for college and Chandan also does the same. CHANDAN: I don’t want to go to college! Not without Tara! PATEL: You will not. I won’t allow it. CHANDAN: I will not to go college without Tara! (351-352). Patel wants Tara to continue her studies not for her own sake but for the sake of her brother. TARA: There’s no point in my going to college if I have to drop out halfway through or stay away for days not knowing when . . . No! PATEL: I understand. But we have a problem here. Chandan refuses to join college without you. TARA: Look, I’m not going to go to college for his sake.
So tell him not to not go to college for my sake. (360). Patel seems to be filled with guilt from his heart of complicity in the injustice done towards Tara but he conveniently shifts on Bharati and her father. Bharati at least tries throughout her life to compensate for the damage done. Though Tara being a girl has been taken for granted by Patel but all his expectations and dreams rested on Chandan. But Chandan has been shown a boy of different mentality. When he finally comes to know about the injustice done towards Tara by their parents and grandfather, he is filled self guilt and take up the burden on his shoulders.
He leaves India and escapes to London under the name of Dan. Even today the girls most of the time, have to submit to the desires of their parents to see their brothers comfortably settled. The sons may be less talented and less intelligent than their daughters but parents prefer to spend money on their sons for they believe that the sons are such assets that would stay with them while the girls would go away to their in-laws. Therefore money spend on girls would prove an unnecessary drain on their purse. Indian society is basically a patriarchal society where men have always enjoyed a privileged position.
Dattani has cleverly exploited this aspect which still remains like a pockmark on the face of the society. Tara longs for an identity of her own which is clouded by the male in her life. Tara was more enthusiastic and full of life. She had aspirations which she could not accomplice because of her handicapped state while the boy was comfortably had come to terms with his handicapped life. The leg would have been useful if attached to Tara’s body. Handicapped state of Tara had endangered her life and caused her an early death. This is because she was a girl.
Is being a girl in this a curse? But upholders if the society does not realize the fact without girls, the society will ultimately come to a standstill. The ratio of women compared to men is much less in India. Why is so much partiality and differentiation done to women in a country which has a rich heritage? Like men, women need space to breathe freely and flourish. Mahesh Dattani has tried to show this by bringing in Dr. Thakkar as a social element in the play. Doctors are thought to be messengers of God because they save lives on earth. Female foeticide has become very common of late.
People have degraded themselves to kill the foetus of the female child even before it takes shape in the uterus. Many doctors deny revealing the identity of the foetus just to save the murder. In this play, Dr. Thakkar belied his godly profession and accomplice the strange act of severing the leg. He should have upheld his profession by denouncing it where as he took Tara’s life by severing the leg. His wise decision could have given Tara a safe and complete life. Dr. Thakkar’s cruelty not only frustrates Tara’s dreams but fills her life with depression. Her depressions made her wish for death rather than unnecessarily spend money on herself.
TARA: Oh, what a waste! A waste of money. Why spend all the money to keep me alive? It cannot matter whether I live or die. (370). She also started hating all males including Chandan and Patel. One person she cared for was her mother. Her father’s attitude toward their mother filled her with distaste for her father. When Tara comes to know about the complicity of her father, mother and grandfather in denying her a full and happy life she is devastated. Chandan is filled with self-guilt. He is ashamed of what his parents and grandfather did to Tara. Both turn to each other to support and are clinging to each other at the end of the play.
Though this is a play about the injustices done to women, it is also a play about injustice to men such as Chandan. Though there is no fault committed by Chandan, he is forced to lead a life of guilt. He could not forgive himself for the atrocity done towards his sister. He considers himself responsible for his sister’s death which resulted into his refuge in London. When his father informed him about his mother’s death, he refused to come back to India. Identity crisis is strident in the society. Tara is sacrificed because she was a girl and had no right to have a better life than her brother.
The idea of a complete girl child and an incomplete male child is so shocking that sacrifice of the girl child is acceptable than a handicapped male child. The decision is taken towards the male child is accepted but no regret is shown towards the injustice done to the female child. Indian society has always been a male-dominated society. The senior male member of the family had made rules on which the decision has to be taken. Even if happened to be a female member who was elder to the male member, she was not given so much authority like the male.
In case of Dattani’s Tara too, Bharati’s father who was senior-most of the three and a powerful politician was one to take the decision about the operation in which the leg to be given to Chandan instead of Tara. He also bribed the doctor with sanction of land in Bangalore. Dr. Thakkar fell from his high position and without giving a second thought, had given the leg to the boy-child. He had decided on the basis of gender and not on medical grounds. Bharati’s father had left his property after his demise to Chandan and not a single penny to Tara. He has been a consistent up-holder of values to males. Patel’s attitude has also been negative.
He reminded a silent observer of the whole affair. He blames his wife and father-in-law for the damage done but his complicity in the whole operation cannot be denied. The fact that the male is always given the greater chance is obvious from Patel’s planning for Chandan’s education and future career. Bharati started fawning over Tara because of her sense of guilt but Patel doesn’t seem to have cared much about it. It is more gender patriarchy which dominates the play to underline which Dattani makes Dan apologizes to Tara at the end of the play. “Forgive me Tara. Forgive me for making it my tragedy. ” (380).
After the injustice is done, the deficiency is compensated by love. Love is an instrument, not an end or a state of being. Men are practical, strong and less emotional than women. When women are subdued, they try to use love as a weapon. Bharati uses her love for Tara as a weapon against Patel as well as an expression of her desire to compensate to Tara. Female children are more sensitive than male children. Tara is also taken up by her mother’s concern and little did she know that her loving mother was involved in destroying her dreams. Bharati’s decision to bribe Roopa to spend more time with Tara is disgusting and demeaning.
BHARATI: If you promise to be her best friend – what I mean is if you would like to be her friend – I will be most grateful to you and I will show it . . . in whatever way you want me to…. ROOPA: Can I watch Fatal Attraction? BHARATI: You can watch whatever you want! Just be my Tara’s friend… First promise me that you will be her friend. (341). This decision pushes Tara into the depth of darkness and decline instead of easing the life of a handicapped child. In Tara, physical deficiency has been given too much weight. Tara has been shown helpless because she has a handicapped leg.
And she is consequently denied the privileges of life. But Tara could have made her deficiency and her strength to fight the society to get a place of her own. She was an energetic girl who had all the qualities of a normal girl. If she had been given moral support by her parents, especially her father, she might have shone like a star as her name justifies. Her father’s eager planning for her brother’s future and total ignorance towards her forced to believe that she was incompetent for any productive work. In short, her life was a burden on this earth. This made her lose interest in life altogether.
Through this play, the sincerity of a girl is proved in the world of male supremacy. As the name Tara suggests a star, the girl was a bright and shinning star which was a source of cheerfulness and happiness to the entire family. A complete life could have done wonders which her brother Chandan couldn’t have. Chandan couldn’t have the fire in him which Tara had. The character Roopa has been included in the play to show the futility of fullness in that girl. She was offensive and comic. ROOPA: Funny, you don’t resemble each other. CHANDAN: Not all twins are peas in pods. . . . Two peas in a Pod. That’s something we aren’t. 336-337). Her presence makes the reader feel the bitterness of Tara’s deficiency. Tara has been depicted as a female character with potential while her brother was not at all but the father was taking steps to secure the future of the boy. Tara’s potentiality was sacrificed on the alter of gender. Identity crisis becomes a chain with which a female is fettered when the question of choice between male and female arises. The play is more about ‘gendered’ self. It acknowledges the female side of oneself. Mahesh Dattani mentioned in one of his interviews to Lakshmi Subramanyam: “I see Tara as a play about the male self and the female self.
The male being preferred in all cultures. The play is about the separation of self and the resultant angst. ”(129). Tara and Chandan are the two sides of the same self rather than two separated entities. The tale is narrated by Chandan, the male half of the whole of which the ‘other’ is Tara. The twins are conjoined both physically and emotionally. Tara, who is discriminated in her family finds hard to lead her life without the other self. At the end of the play, Tara dies. Chandan moves to London with his name changed as Dan. He too finds hard to lead his life without his other self, Tara.
Mind and Body cannot be separated. Like wise, the twins cannot live without the other self. If mind is separated from the body there would be no life. So, in the play Tara is dead and Chandan lives in London without his personal history. One self cannot live without the other self. Tara and Chandan are born conjoined, but the twins must be separated in order to survive. First they are separated physically and then emotionally. The problem begins with an unequal and unfair operation. Tara’s mother, Bharathi, her father and the surgeon are collaborating to afford the male half with the better chances – the second leg.
Dr. Thakkar, the God-like ‘life –giver’ is aware that the third leg would provide better results to the female half, yet he joins hands with the decision. In sense he prolongs their lives through the surgery, but also leaves them physically mutilated and mentally traumatized. Dan tries to define his other self, Tara. Dan writes Tara’s story to discover the neglected half of himself as a means of becoming whole. DAN: She never got a fair deal. Not even from nature. Neither of us did. May be God never wanted us separated. Destiny desires strange things….
But even God does not always get want he wants. Conflict is the crux of life. (330)… I have my memories … But now I want them to come back. To masticate my memories in my mind and spit out the result to the world in anger. (323-324). Dan the privileged brother wants to turn his anguish into his parents for their decision. He also feels guilty about his sister’s life. Throughout the play, Tara bears some kind of grudge against the society. She seems to have some kind of aversion with the outside world. Her world consists of only her parents and her brother who she is very much close to.
Tara’s attachment to her brother and the internal anguish is expressed in her conversation with her brother. TARA: May be we still are. Like we’ve always been. Inseparable. The way we started in life. Two lives and one body, in one comfortable womb. Till we were forced out… (325). Tara finally comes to know that she is discriminated against, because of her gender not by her father. Patel tells Tara that he loves her very much. PATEL: Tara, please believe me when I say that I love you very much and I have never in all my life loved you less or more than I have loved your brother. But your mother… (354).
But Tara has always believed that she is discriminated against by her father and always gained affection from her mother. It was her mother and grandfather who had planned to favour the boy over the girl, which resulted in an emotional separation between the two conjoined twins. And it was her mother’s decision that deprived her and shattered her life. The crucial part is that, Bharati called Tara a ‘star’. But, she was the one who took all her shine away. At the end, Tara dies and her brother Chandan moves faraway, forever incomplete. Tara is not just the story of the protagonist of the play Tara.
But it is the story of every girl child born in the Indian family whether urban or rural. The situation is aggravated if the girl is physically challenged. It is the bitter example of child abuse present in the Indian societies. Every girl child born in an Indian family does suffer some kind of exploitation and if there is a boy child in the family then the exploitation is very much visible. Like wise Tara, a feisty girl who isn’t enough opportunities given to her brother, eventually wastes away and dies. At the end Chandan apologies to Tara in the most moving of all the lines: “Forgive me, Tara. Forgive me, for making it my tragedy. ” (380).
