The Agonizing Quest of a Daughter for her Biological Mother in Jaishree Misra's “A Scandalous Secret"

Abstract

As one of the world's oldest civilizations, India has left behind a rich cultural legacy.   The culture and ethics of India are unique.  Every generation treasures the traditions that their predecessors have passed down to them, passing down their culture to succeeding ones.  Indians still adhere to their own traditions and civilizations despite the numerous alien cultures that have impacted them throughout history during invasions.   In India, maintaining family ties and upholding traditional traditions is very important for women's standing. The family is regarded as being of utmost importance in India, and every Indian woman is innately strong and unselfish.  She will prioritise family values over her own.  Over the centuries, there have been significant changes to women's position and roles in India. In the past, most Indian women's responsibilities were limited to taking care of their homes and family. Women's position significantly fell during the Middle Ages.  Women began to speak up and fight for their rights and equality in modern times.  Piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness were considered to be the four cardinal virtues of "True Women" according to the society. The concept centred around the woman as the focal point of the family and as

"the light of the home."

Women have been one of the priority groups of cultural preservation.  Women in India now participate fully in all areas such as education, sports, politics, media, art and culture, service sectors, science and technology, etc.  One of the main aspects of women purity is measured in many culture is based on the woman’s virginity and it is a symbol of her family’s honour and her own moral character. Sexual activity outside of marriage, or even the suspicion of such activity, is often seen as a stain on a woman’s character and can lead to social ostracism and even violence towards her.  In traditional Indian society, a woman’s virginity was seen as a symbol of her family’s honour. Any deviation from the prescribed norms of sexual behaviour was seen as a threat to that honour.

Indian contemporary woman writer Jaishree Misra began her literary career in 2000.  A significant bestseller in India, "Ancient Promises" by Jaishree Misra has been translated into German, Greek, and Malayalam. It spent several weeks at the top of best-seller lists in Indian newspapers and publications.  The seventh book by Jaishree Misra is titled "A Scandalous Secret".   A novel about a teen girl from UK has been searching for her maternal mother to know about the reason of given for adoption.  The protagonist of this novel Neha who is in pursuit of her dream to join at Oxford University unfortunately discontinued her studies in the middle and returned to India.  After few years later, she married Sharat Chaturvedi. Despite their blissful marriage of seven years, they have never had a child.  Neha Chaturvedi was startled when her daughter Sonya in Orpington sent her a letter that bearing a British postage stamp.  The tragic story of Neha Chaturvedi's withdrawal from her Oxford University degree was revealed in A Scandalous story Novel, which was told in 45 chapters under suspicion.