• October to December 2025 Article ID: NSS9510 Impact Factor:8.05 Cite Score:172 Download: 17 DOI: https://doi.org/ View PDf

    Memory, Identity and Time : A Study of Anita Desai's in Custody

      Dr. Veena Singh
        PMCOE, Rajiv Gandhi Govt. PG College, Mandsaur (M.P.)
      Amay Singh
        Student (Psychology Honors) IEHE, Bhopal (M.P.)

Introduction - Anita Desai  is a diasporic Indian novelist, short story, and children's books writer and has a credit of introducing psychological novels to India. Her works are highly symbolic. In her novels, she discusses cultural themes like the clashes of Eastern and Western cultures and the conflicts between Indian cultures and religions. She discusses many cultural themes focusing on the death of the old valuable culture of India after Partition and the birth of a new culture. In In Custody (1984), Desai depicts the changes that India has witnessed in post-colonial period and how it affects the characters in person. She focuses on the ruined ancient Indian culture which has been replaced by a new materialistic one at the hands of the British colonization and always let her characters experience their own psyche. It is clearly visible thatshe focuses on  the death of Urdu poetry and language which are associated with the glorious past once India had . Deven, the protagonist, whose ambition is to be a great poet in Urdu is forced to teach Hindi instead of Urdu which is rarely used. The novelist narrates the journey of Deven who struggles to revive Urdu poetry by interviewing the famous Urdu poet, Nur. Deven faces many obstacles during his journey. These obstacles are represented in the change India has witnessed and in the change of people's motives, identity search and mentality.