Nectar in a Sieve

by

Kamala Markandaya

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Nectar in a Sieve makes teaching easy.

Janaki Character Analysis

Janaki is Rukmani’s neighbor in the village, Janaki is a tired and careworn from numerous pregnancies and the stress of providing for her family on slim resources. Janaki’s husband runs one of the village’s few stores, but eventually the tannery brings new merchants and competition to the town, forcing Janaki and her family to give up their business and leave the town.

Janaki Quotes in Nectar in a Sieve

The Nectar in a Sieve quotes below are all either spoken by Janaki or refer to Janaki. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Suffering Theme Icon
).
Chapter 4 Quotes

So they were reconciled and threw the past away with both hands that they might be the readier to grasp the present, while I stood by in pain, envying such easy reconciliation and clutching in my own two hands the memory of the past, and accounting it a treasure.

Related Characters: Rukmani (speaker), Kali, Janaki
Related Symbols: The Tannery
Page Number: 29
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

Nobody asked, “Where do you go from here?” They did not say, “What is to become of us?” We waited and one day they came to bid us farewell […] then they were gone, and the shopkeepers were glad that there was less competition […] and we remembered them for a while and then took up our lives again.

Related Characters: Rukmani (speaker), Janaki
Related Symbols: The Tannery
Page Number: 47
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Nectar in a Sieve LitChart as a printable PDF.
Nectar in a Sieve PDF

Janaki Quotes in Nectar in a Sieve

The Nectar in a Sieve quotes below are all either spoken by Janaki or refer to Janaki. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Suffering Theme Icon
).
Chapter 4 Quotes

So they were reconciled and threw the past away with both hands that they might be the readier to grasp the present, while I stood by in pain, envying such easy reconciliation and clutching in my own two hands the memory of the past, and accounting it a treasure.

Related Characters: Rukmani (speaker), Kali, Janaki
Related Symbols: The Tannery
Page Number: 29
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

Nobody asked, “Where do you go from here?” They did not say, “What is to become of us?” We waited and one day they came to bid us farewell […] then they were gone, and the shopkeepers were glad that there was less competition […] and we remembered them for a while and then took up our lives again.

Related Characters: Rukmani (speaker), Janaki
Related Symbols: The Tannery
Page Number: 47
Explanation and Analysis: