1. Before commencing the story itself, Badami provides this
definition of the tamarind tree: "Folklore has it that the tamarind
tree is the home of spirits that do not let anything under the tree
survive.Accordingly, travelers are advised not to sleep in its
shade. The tamarind tree is never used for auspicious ceremonies,
as its fruit is sour. It is believed that the ceremony will turn
sour and thus become fruitless and lose all meaning."How did this
definition color your reading of the story? Is Saroja the only
"Tamarind Woman" in the story? What about Kamini? Amma?
2. In their first exchange of the novel, Kamini complains to her
mother that "you are inventing memories."Were there points of
disconnect between Kamini's remembrance of the past and Saroja's?
If so, whose tale do you believe? Why?
3. What did you think about the structure of the novel? Did you
find it enhanced the story to have two separate voices, each
located in the present and narrating a version of the past? Why do
you think Kamini's voice begins the story, even though her
remembrances occur after Saroja's? Why might Badami write the novel
this way?
4. Badami engages with India's notorious caste system throughout
the novel, though specifically in the characters of Dadda and Paul
de Costa. Do you think these characters acted caste-appropriately?
Discuss the interplay between caste and Saroja's rather unfeminine
personality. What is Badami trying to say about various forms of
social strictures?
5. What did you think of Chinna, the woman who is defeminized
and ostracized because her mate died too soon? How does her
character compare to that of Linda Ayah?
6. Historically, Badami writes during the years just following
India's independence from British rule. What sort of residual
influence does the colonial rule of Britain still have upon the
story's characters, if any? Does this context help to explain the
dynamic between Saroja, Dadda,Kamini, and Roopa?
7. Did you find the family life presented in the book typical?
In what ways did you relate to this family? What did you not relate
to? How much do you think culture informs the differences between
family relationships?
8. Did Saroja have a full-blown affair with Paul de Costa? Or
was it more like an unrequited crush? Is this the reason he hangs
himself in the game room at the club? If not, then why else do you
think he would commit such an outlandish final act? How important
is his suicide to the novel as a whole?
9. Kamini and Roopa live polarized adult lives: Kamini as the
reclusive, neurotic academic, Roopa as the practical mother. Their
commonality lies in their distance from both India and Saroja.
Given Kamini's remembrances, does it make sense to you that she and
Roopa would, in effect, run away from home? Why do you think they
have such different adult desires and interests?
10. Ever since she was a child, Kamini has been obsessed with
discerning the difference between fact and fiction, though she has
always been unable to do so.Through her conversations with her
mother, we see that this pattern still holds.What affect has this
unsatisfiable obsession had upon Kamini? Does it explain her choice
to study engineering and move to Calgary in pursuit of a Ph.D.?
11. Saroja and Dadda have a rather loveless marriage. Linda
Ayah's husband cheated on her, Chinna is marked for life as a
childless widow. Badami presents many different types of marriage
throughout the novel; what do you think she's trying to say about
the institution as a whole?
12. As a railway engineer, Dadda travels constantly, sometimes
taking his family along with him. Initially Saroja hates to travel,
finding it profoundly disorienting.Yet, at the end of her life,
traveling becomes a type of liberation for her. What do you think
makes the difference for her?
13. Of the male characters in the novel, most seem either
indifferent to women or dominant over them. What do you think of
the men? Do you feel sympathetic to any of them? Who is the novel's
most influential male?
14. While sitting on the hot train, telling her stories, one of
Saroja's fellow travelers comments, "Going away is the easiest
thing in the world. It is like dying. So simple it is to die.
Living is hard, to make this small amount of time loaned to you by
the gods worthwhile is hard.The real test is life itself, whether
you are strong enough to stay and fight." What do you think of this
statement? Furthermore, reflecting on the context of our two
narrators - Kamini in a cold room, all alone, and Saroja in a hot
train, surrounded by women - who do you think is "traveling" or
"going away" and who is "living"?