Thoughtful Flowers from the Convent of Little Flowers

The recent scenario in Indian English literature is to reject and embrace the modern values with an authenticity. The established Indian English writer does that exceptionally well in her new book In the Convent of Little Flowers. In exception to her earlier works In the Convent of Little Flowers brings forth real life traditional incidents from 21st century rural India, which we may prefer to ignore. This short story collection has 7 short stories that we can discuss in detail.

The first story in the collection, “Shelter of Rain’’ inspires the title of the entire collection. The first introductory lines itself gives what has to follow in the following pages.
The story begins when the Indian born Padmini arrives at Sea Tac airport to receive her aunt Sister Mary Theresa. The story unfolds through Padmini’s reminiscences of her past.
Born in an orphanage in Chingalpet of Tamilnadu in India, Padmini was brought up by the caretakers of the orphanage till the age of four. Her fortune changes as the touring foreign couples from Seattle arrive at the convent to adopt a baby. All of a sudden they like Padmini and adopt her as their own.
Padmini reaches as Seattle as Padmini Merrick. She soon gets accommodated into the alien culture and grows up as a successful young lady. She finds a job and marries her childhood classmate cum friend Mike.
When everything seems to go under its smooth rhythm Padmini receives a letter from Sister Mary Theresa. The letter reveals that Padmini is Sister Mary Theresa’s niece and she was abandoned by her biological mother soon after her birth. Now, Sister Mary Theresa just wants to meet her since she wants to meet her favorite flower from the ‘Convent of Little Flowers.’
The story deals with many emotional upheavals that can happen to any human being. Padmini is trapped between her desires to meet her biological relative and repelled at the same to meet her biological identity which was dispelled from her birth. There is a beautiful description on how she had sensed the maternal affection from Sister Mary Theresa while she was in the orphanage. Mary Theresa admits in the letter on how she wanted to adopt Padmini and had to reject the idea due to her nun hood. There are also glimpsed on how Padmini’s biological mother emotionally traumatized after abandoning her baby.



The story will give you a warning if you are about to abandon your child, which is a growing trend in India. On the other hand it will support you if you are going to bloom a new flower in your home. The story has captured the real essence of the strong connection between Indian born youngsters and their values.
Posted by Dhanyasre