Characters #1- Climbing the Stairs

Vidya- Being the main character of this book, she is a very rounded  person who undergoes many changes throughout as she experiences various things. In the beginning she is a very stubborn and headstrong girl who is very tomboyish and likes to do things out of the ordinary. For example it says, "Ever since I had turned fifteeen and started wearing a half- sari, she had been hoping that I would become more womanly, not climb any more trees, run no more races across the beach sands and stop playing volleyball..."(2) This shows you that Vidya isn't like one of those typical girls that worries only about how she looks but she also wants to be treated as an equal to everyone out there- especially boys. The quality of hers causes her a lot of problems at her grandfathers house especially when she does things that she isn't allowed to do.

 All throughout her life she is disgusted by the fact of marriage at a young age which is exactly what was believed in India at that time. She had made up her mind that she would wait to get married after she went to college. "Would my parents let me go to college after I fin shied with form? I wondered that for the umpteenth time. Amma was so happy being a housewife that she was convinced I needed to get "settled"and married off to a "nice" boy from a "good" family sooner rather than later. I couldn't think how to explain to her that I wanted more"(4). Again this thought of hers causes people to think low of her since they lived in a orthodox frame of mind.

Overall, Vidya is a "thinking" girl who is well aware of what is going on in her life and others. She knows what is happening in the news and is able to figure out what is going and tries to help even if she doesn't get why it is happening. Once her family moves to Madras, she experiences things unlike ever before. Even though these qualities of these stay the same she does change by being more mature and girl-like in the sense that she does more sensible deeds. She does something hard to imagine a girl like her doing- falling in love. She falls in love with the boy (Raman) that treats her as an equal and acknowledges her feelings and capabilities. "It was then that I realized I truly loved him, even if it would be years before I could bring myself to say those words that he wanted to hear"(234). Overall Vidya is a girl endowed with qualities I feel that every girl should have, even if she has to do things a little out of the ordinary.