Blog prompt: Which part of village by the sea do you like best?

To me, the best part of Anita Desai’s “The Village by the Sea” was when Lila’s father finally turned over a new leaf upon the hospitalisation of his wife. I found this the most touching part of the novel.

Prior to Lila’s mother’s hospitalisation, Lila’s father was an extremely irresponsible man – he was in debt because of his alcohol addiction, permanently drunk and he never worked nor cared for the family. He would sleep all day, ignoring his sick wife and leaving his children to fend for themselves, and wake up only at night to go to the toddy shop for his daily dose of alcohol.

However, the turning point occurred when the de Silvas brought Lila’s mother to the hospital in Alibagh without Lila’s father’s knowledge. Lila’s mother had been long suffering from anaemia and mild tuberculosis and was “so frail one hardly liked to touch her.” When Lila’s father realised that his wife was no longer in the house, he roared in anger at Lila, questioning why his wife had been sent away without his permission and insisting that she could not be left alone. In his explosive wrath I felt his underlying concern and love for his wife. His string of angry questions at Lila, “How could you leave her alone? What if she needs something? What if she asks for me? Did you think of that?” showed his anxiety and concern for his wife, which we previously never witnessed. This change was indeed the most touching scene in the book.

After ordering Lila to cook some food for his wife, he set off for Alibagh. At this moment, Lila did not have faith that her father was going to repent – she expected that he would “go straight on to the toddy shop for his customary drink.” Contrary to her expectations however, her father was sitting on the veranda outside her mother’s ward when Lila went to the hospital at Alibagh. When she walked past him, she noticed that for the first time he was without his usual stench of fermented toddy. He remained by Lila’s mother’s side until she was discharged from hospital.

I found that the ending to the novel was a bittersweet one. I was happy that Lila’s mother recovered and her father repented for his past mistakes.