Baby Kochamma Research Paper

“Perhaps it’s true that things can change in a day. That a few dozen hours can affect the outcome of whole lifetimes” (Roy 32). Baby Kochamma’s life changed the day she first saw Father Mulligan. She became obsessed with him, and that obsession shaped the way the rest of her life turned out. The lengths Baby Kochamma went to to get the attention of Father Mulligan were insane: she converted to Roman Catholicism, staged charity events, and became a nun just to get closer to him. The reason Baby Kochamma is so hateful towards everyone is because of what happened with Father Mulligan. If Baby Kochamma had never met Father Mulligan, she would not be a grumpy old women who hates most everything, including Rahel and Estha.
Baby Kochamma’s life changed forever when she first laid eyes on Father Mulligan: “Of the two men only one recognized

the sexual excitement that rose like a tide in the slider girl that hovered around the table long after lunch had been cleared away” (Roy 24).

Baby Kochamma tried to seduce Father Mulligan by preforming acts of charity such as “bathing” the poor children in the well, “Baby Kochamma tried to seduce Father Mulligan with weekly exhibitions of staged charity. Every Thursday morning, just before Father Mulligan was set to arrive, Baby Kochamma force-bathed a poor village child at the well with hard red soap that hurt its protruding ribs” (Roy 24). Baby Kochamma was willing to to anything to get Father Mulligan’s attention. She did not even pay attention to the fact that she was actually hurting the children she was bathing. Father Mulligan had complete control over Baby Kochamma’s heart: “He had young Baby Kochamma’s aching heart on a

leash, bumping behind him, lurching over leaves and small stones. Bruised and almost broken” (Roy 25). When Father Mulligan left, Baby Kochamma followed him back to Madras and became a nun. She began to imagine her and Father Mulligan in a room together, “All she ever dared to hope for. Just to be near him. Close enough to smell his beard. To see the coarse weave in his cassock. To love him just by looking at him” (Roy 25). She very quickly realized that it would take years to get near Father Mulligan. She wrote letters to her father in code, and he came and took her from the convent. Her obsession with Father Mulligan, and the things she did to be near him changed her life forever, becoming the grumpy old woman that she is.