Ghosts from the Past

No one comprehends better then child­ren do. No one feels the atmosphere more keenly—or catches all the nuances, all the insinuations in the air—or notes those details that escape their elders be­cause their senses have atrophied … said one of the characters in Anita Desai’s novel Clear Light of Day and in a sense this novel as well as Shashi Desh­pande’s novel The Dark Holds No Terrors are concerned with the vulner­ability of childhood and how one carries the scars of early wounds throughout life.