Nectar in a Sieve

“How well I recall it; how grateful I am that not all the clamour which invaded our lives later could subdue the memory or still the longing for it.”

Rukmani reflects on the moments of peace and quiet when she first moved in with Nathan; she does so to establish an initial position for rural life. This lays a foundation for multiple themes, including The Effects of Modernization on Rural Life and The Clash Between Tradition and Progress. She sees her early traditional life as nostalgic and preferable to the modern world.

“There have been many sowings and harvesting, but the wonder has not departed.”

Rukmani remains enamored by the crops her family farms—the plants that grow and how she can use those plants to provide for her family. She contrasts with Nathan, who loses his sense of wonder and only sees the plants as the work that goes into them rather than their benefits for himself and his family. This reinforces her positive relationship with the traditional life, which she loses when she is forced off the farm.

“But the change that now came into my life, into all our lives, blasting its way into our village, seemed wrought in the twinkling of an eye.”

Markandaya juxtaposes two significant scales of importance. By placing the imagery of a twinkling eye next to the word “blasting,” she marks how a small change can lead to massive impacts.

“As for the overseer, he made much play of his authority, directing them with a loud voice and many gestures but not doing a stroke of work himself.”

The overseer signifies authority. By giving orders while doing no work, the overseer becomes a commentary on how performative leadership is and how those in power don’t necessarily earn it. Additionally, Markandaya shows how progress is often built on the backs of workers but only benefits those with existing power.

“There is no going back. Bend like grass, that you do not break.”

Nathan’s simile compares Rukmani’s traditional stance to grass. Where Rukmani, at this moment, tries to be rigid in her beliefs, Nathan uses a topic she knows about—plants and their growth—to stress the importance of being adaptable to change.

“I bear you no grudge, Rukmani, […] Times are hard and we must do what we can for ourselves and our children.”

Rukmani worries that Old Granny will hold a grudge when Rukmani sells produce to someone else. However, Old Granny remains sympathetic, offering a positive side to the theme of Poverty and Surviving in a Changing World. Rather than be cruel, Granny recognizes that Rukmani acts out of necessity rather than malice.

“Indoors, it was dark—the wick, burning in its shallow saucer of oil, threw only a dim wavering light—but outside the land glimmered, sometimes pale and sometimes vivid, in the flicker of lightning.”

Occurring amid the monsoon, this quote reverses the traditional image of hope through a candle flickering in the darkness. Rather than the light being within, the light now resides outside the structure and causes damage. Swapping this imagery creates a new meaning where, internally, a person loses hope to the power of the world around them.

“Now it is all noise and crowds everywhere, and rude young hooligans idling in the street and dirty bazaars and uncouth behavior, and no man thinks of another but schemes only for his money.”

One of the noted impacts of modernization on rural life is interpersonal interactions. Rather than the traditional rural life where individuals seek to help each other, Rukmani observes with distaste that everyone looks out only for themselves. This observation foreshadows Kunthi’s fall from grace and how she will come to Rukmani demanding rice for herself rather than considering Rukmani’s family’s needs.

“Indeed they have, […] Over men, and events, and especially over women.”

Rukmani’s son, Arjun, sees the world differently than his mother. His generation holds distaste for the time’s power dynamics and the inherent racism and sexism within them. His observation anticipates the movement for Indian independence. It also becomes a wider social commentary on issues that were still present in postcolonial India—Markandaya’s authorial context—and extends into the contemporary context.

“If it were your land, or mine, […] I would work with you gladly. But what profit to labour for another and get so little in return? Far better to turn away from such injustice.”

One of the direct impacts of modernization on rural life and the clash between tradition and progress is the lower class’s ability to own land, take control of their personal finances, and be solely responsible for their future. This quote represents the choice to embrace progress and try to succeed in the modern world, rejecting cultural traditions since traditional farm work only offers exploitation.

“Then as happens even in the brightest moment, I remembered Janaki. Last year she had come with us, she and her children. This year who knew—or cared?”

Memories of loss impact individuals even when they are happy. Rukmani portrays a range of emotions related to the loss of her friends—sadness and anger in particular. By including this moment and allowing Rukmani to display a variety of emotions, the author refuses to erase the newfound hardships of the locals.

“I heard no footsteps, only a voice calling my name from the shadows. I stopped, my heart hitting out wildly at my breast, and then I saw it was Kunthi, standing where the path forked with the moonlight streaming down on her.”

Kunthi standing at a fork in the road symbolizes and foreshadows both her and Rukmani’s choices. Kunthi must choose how to act in the face of starvation; Rukmani must choose whether to perpetuate the lies she tells her husband or be honest with him. The moonlight shining down on the scene represents how both characters are being exposed for their choices.

“What was it we had to learn? To fight against tremendous odds? What was the use? One only lost the little one had. Of what use to fight when the conclusion is known?”

Rukmani begins to lose hope that she and her family suffer for a purpose. Though she believes suffering creates fortitude, she requires Nathan’s support to feel their struggles are worth their effort. The “conclusion” alludes to the inevitability of social progress and its consequences for people like Rukmani.

“What I do I must, for I must think of my own…I do not wish to be hard.”

Sivaji symbolizes the effect of power hierarchies on individuals, which presents itself when he indirectly asks for Rukmani’s forgiveness. Like Rukmani and the others in the village, Sivaji must consider the looming risk of poverty for his family. Though he externally appears indifferent to Rukmani and her family’s situation, internally, this is untrue; he simply cannot risk his family falling into her family’s situation.

“I saw the paddy turned to straw, the grain lost…Oh God, all was lost.”

Nathan’s dream of losing his entire paddy field foreshadows his family's loss of their house and land. The rice symbolizes his independence and ability to survive. He cannot stay where he is without the rice, so when he keeps losing rice in the real world, he also loses his ability to support himself and his family.

“Now that the last of the rice was gone it was in a sense a relief: no amount of scheming and paring would make it go any further: the last grain had been eaten.”

Rice, the symbol of financial stability, is gone. Rukmani and her family now run the risk of experiencing the worst effects of poverty, including starvation or losing their home. Despite their hardships, they feel relief—rather than being weighed down by secrets and planning how to survive, they can focus on what to do next.

“Our last child, conceived in happiness at a time when the river of our lives ran gently, had been taken from us; I knew too well what he felt.”

Rukmani’s commentary that Kuti was their last child born in easy times crafts their child into a symbol of their livelihoods. With Kuti’s death, Nathan and Rukmani will slowly but steadily lose everything, including their home. This culminates in Nathan’s death when Rukmani loses the last vestige of hope.

“Want is our companion from birth to death, familiar as the seasons or the earth, varying only in degree.”

Rukmani personifies the feeling of want, giving it the human body of a “companion” to emphasize the tangible effects of poverty on individuals. What differs, as Rukmani demonstrates, is the types of wants people have. Those with power want to keep power; those without it simply want to stay alive.

“You are only distressing yourself and it might never have been.”

Nathan and Rukmani argue about the reach of modernization. While both understand its impact, they cannot agree on whether progress would have saved Old Granny. While Rukmani gives progress power, Nathan is skeptical. This is a notable swap in their positions, where Rukmani is often critical of progress while Nathan is hopeful.

“I could not help wondering what bottomless pit they were trying to fill, or from what bottomless purse.”

The nature of money is that there will never be enough. Kenny and Rukmani, who frequently clash over tradition versus progress, stand on opposing sides regarding how Kenny will afford the hospital. Though Selvam follows in Kenny’s footsteps, he represents the balance between the two sides, hoping to blend tradition and progress. Rukmani sees their aspirations as insatiable, however, as modernization is an inherently endless endeavor.

“Somehow, I had always felt the tannery would eventually be our undoing.”

Though Nathan and Rukmani fought off destitution as long as they could, the prior foreshadowing of them losing everything comes to pass. The tannery, the symbol of progress and its impact on a community, expands and takes their land for its own uses. Rukmani, who embodies tradition, watches the destruction of her lifestyle come to pass.

“And because it grew and flourished it got the power that money brings, so that to attempt to withstand it was like trying to stop the onward rush of the great juggernaut.”

Rukmani’s observation that money and power cannot be withstood speaks briefly to Marxist theory, in which those with power can maintain their position and wield it over those without. Meanwhile, the powerless struggle to gain it, almost always without success. No matter how hard the poverty-stricken villagers try, they are never able to stop the influence and expansion of the tannery, which has the backing of people with economic and political power.

“Still, while there was land there was hope. Nothing now, nothing whatever. My being was full of the husks of despair, dry, lifeless.”

Though Rukmani still has Nathan, her symbol of hope, losing the land crushes their potential for a better future. Nathan, who has always worked the land, is tied to it conceptually. Losing their land foreshadows Rukmani losing Nathan, without which she is left hopeless.