Small Remedies: Character Mind Map & Summary
The key characters of Shashi Deshpande's Small Remedies (2000), grouped into branches, with the key episodes, a quick summary and the exam facts that come up again and again in UGC NET.
The Character Mind Map
Tap any name to open the details.
Madhu Saptarishi
A writer grieving for her son, who was killed in a bomb blast. She goes to Bhavanipur to write the biography of a famous classical singer, Savitribai Indorekar, and through her finds a way to live again.
Ending: begins to heal👑 The Singer
BhavanipurSavitribai IndorekarA Hindustani classical singer
Role: Left her Brahmin family for music and her Muslim tabla player.
MunniSavitribai's daughter
Role: Denied her mother; Madhu's childhood friend.
🏠 Madhu's Family
GriefSomMadhu's husband
Role: Grieving in his own way.
AdityaTheir son
Role: Killed in a bomb blast during riots.
Outcome: Dies🤝 Others
Women's choicesLeelaMadhu's aunt
Role: A Communist who married a Christian.
Key Episodes
The turning points examiners love to ask about.
Quick Summary
The story, stage by stage.
Stage 1Grief
- Aditya's death.
Stage 2Bhavanipur
- The singer's story.
Stage 3Women
- Savitribai and Leela.
Stage 4Healing
- Writing as remedy.
Must-Know Exam Facts
Quick points for UGC NET, SET and PGT.
Theme
Grief, art, women's choices.
Narration
First-person, non-linear.
Award
Deshpande won the Sahitya Akademi Award (1990) for That Long Silence.
Title
"Small remedies": small comforts for great grief.
Additional Revision Notes
Extra character, historical and literary details for exam preparation.
Women's Life Stories
The singer Savitribai provides a focus for questions of artistic independence, reputation and the social expectations placed on women.
Memory and Biography
The novel explores how another person's life can be reconstructed through memory, conversation and incomplete evidence. Personal recollection complicates any simple, authoritative biography.
Literary Themes
Study the relationship between music, motherhood, loss and female selfhood. Shashi Deshpande uses multiple perspectives to examine the emotional costs of socially assigned roles.
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