[ THE PRINCESS – Simple and Detailed Summary
Living Smile Vidya
Plus One English Literature | Unit 3 – Reflecting the Self
Introduction
The Princess is an autobiographical narrative written by Living Smile Vidya, popularly known as Smiley. It is an extract from her autobiography I Am Vidya.
The lesson describes Vidya's childhood, her love for dancing, her fascination with female characters in films, her struggle with gender identity and the discrimination she experienced from family members, classmates and society.
Although Vidya was assigned male at birth and was expected to behave like a boy, she felt that she was a girl. She enjoyed wearing girls' clothes, dancing and imitating film heroines. However, her family and society did not understand her feelings.
The lesson also describes the death of her mother, the bullying she experienced at school, her loneliness and the friendship that helped her understand herself.
The central theme of the lesson is the struggle for gender identity, self-acceptance, dignity and the freedom to live as one's true self.
Detailed Summary
1. The Little Princess
The lesson begins with a few lines in which Vidya imagines herself as a princess and a fresh red rose. She wonders whether her dreams will ever become true.
Vidya remembers an incident from her childhood when she was six or seven years old.
A popular film song was playing on the radio, and she was dancing happily to it.
She was wearing her elder sister Manju's Indian skirt. She did not understand the meaning of the song, but she enjoyed dancing to its tune.
She imagined herself as a beautiful girl dancing like the heroines in films.
Her two younger brothers and two sisters were living with her in their home.
While she was dancing, her grandmother entered the house.
The grandmother became angry when she saw Vidya wearing a skirt and dancing like a girl.
She scolded Vidya and warned her not to behave in that manner.
However, Vidya was deeply attracted to dancing and could not easily give up something that made her happy.
2. The Attraction of Cinema
Vidya grew up in Bhupesh Gupta Nagar, where her family lived in a small house.
There was no television in their home.
Occasionally, Vidya's father, whom she called Appa, brought home a portable transistor radio.
Sometimes, after finishing his work, he would take the children to watch a film.
They usually went to Chittappa's house, where there was a television.
The children had to return home within the time fixed by their father.
Vidya loved watching films, particularly the songs and dance sequences.
She admired the beautiful costumes, hairstyles and graceful movements of the heroines.
She was especially fascinated by the actresses' feminine appearance.
After returning home, she would imitate the heroines by wearing her sister's skirts, decorating herself with flowers and pretending to dance like the women in films.
Cinema became an important part of her imagination and her understanding of herself.
3. Dressing Like a Girl
Vidya enjoyed wearing her sister Manju's clothes.
She liked skirts, blouses, flowers, ribbons and other things traditionally associated with girls.
She sometimes used bedsheets, towels and other pieces of cloth to imitate the costumes of film heroines.
She also enjoyed growing her hair long.
However, her family members did not approve of her behaviour.
They believed that she was a boy and should behave like one.
Her grandmother and other relatives repeatedly scolded her for wearing girls' clothes.
Vidya could not understand why something that made her happy was considered wrong.
She did not feel that she was doing anything harmful.
For her, dressing like a girl was a natural expression of her feelings.
4. Life in a Small House
Vidya describes the house in Bhupesh Gupta Nagar where her family lived.
It was a small dwelling divided into two parts.
The front portion had a small room and a kitchen-cum-bedroom with two mud stoves and a cot.
The storeroom contained household items such as vessels, water cans and a loft.
There was also another small room containing their belongings.
The house had a small courtyard and a bathroom next to it.
The family lived a simple life with limited facilities.
The children slept on a cot in the kitchen.
Despite the difficulties of their living conditions, Vidya's childhood was filled with dreams, games, dancing and imagination.
However, a terrible tragedy soon changed the family's life.
5. The Death of Vidya's Mother
One morning, Vidya and her siblings were awakened by a young man from their neighbourhood.
He asked them to come to their house.
Vidya understood that something serious had happened.
When she reached home, she saw a crowd of relatives and neighbours.
Her mother, whom she called Amma, was lying on a cot.
Vidya's father was crying bitterly.
Her mother had died.
Vidya was too young to understand fully what death meant.
She knew that something terrible had happened, but she could not understand why everyone was crying.
Her relatives tried to comfort her.
Vidya remembers that she did not cry immediately.
She stood quietly, confused by the situation.
6. Dancing During the Funeral
While the relatives were mourning her mother's death, Vidya quietly moved away from the crowd.
She began dancing to a film song.
Dancing was something she loved, and she did not yet understand the seriousness of the situation.
Suddenly, her sister Manju noticed her dancing.
Manju became angry and scolded her for behaving like a girl at such an unhappy time.
Vidya felt embarrassed.
Later that evening, her mother's body was taken away for the funeral.
The mourners cried as they followed the funeral procession.
Only then did Vidya begin to realise that her mother would never return.
She felt frightened by the thought of living without Amma.
She cried and begged her mother not to leave her.
The death of her mother became one of the most painful experiences of her childhood.
7. Life After Her Mother's Death
Vidya's mother died when Vidya was very young.
After her mother's death, life became more difficult for the family.
Her father was deeply affected by the loss.
Vidya also felt the absence of her mother's love and protection.
Her father's second wife, whom Vidya called Chithi, joined the family within a year of Amma's death. Later, Vidya's younger sister Prabha was born.
Vidya continued growing up in a family that expected her to behave like a boy.
However, her interests and feelings remained unchanged.
She continued to enjoy dancing, wearing girls' clothes and imagining herself as a girl.
8. Growing Awareness of Gender Identity
As Vidya grew older, she began noticing that people treated her differently.
Her family members and neighbours made fun of her feminine behaviour.
They questioned why she preferred girls' clothes and activities.
They expected her to behave like other boys.
Vidya could not understand why she was not allowed to express herself naturally.
She once asked her father to buy her a midi and a gown.
Her father replied that she should buy such clothes only when she started earning money.
Although he often tolerated her wishes, he did not understand the depth of her feelings.
Vidya gradually realised that her interests were not merely childhood games.
She felt comfortable expressing herself as a girl.
9. Secretly Dressing as a Girl
Vidya understood that wearing girls' clothes openly would lead to scolding and punishment.
Therefore, she began enjoying these activities in private.
She used towels, pieces of cloth and other household materials to create imaginary dresses.
Sometimes she wrapped a towel around her chest and another around her head to imitate long hair.
She looked at herself in the mirror and imagined herself as a beautiful woman.
These activities gave her great happiness.
However, she had to hide them from her family.
The need to conceal her feelings made her childhood increasingly difficult.
10. Teasing by Family and Neighbours
Vidya's feminine behaviour attracted the attention of neighbours and relatives.
Some people made fun of her.
They called her names and laughed at the way she walked, talked and danced.
They compared her with girls and treated her behaviour as something strange.
Vidya says that she was often described as a motherless child and a good student, but people also noticed her feminine qualities.
The teasing sometimes made her uncomfortable.
However, she also felt that these comments showed that others had noticed something important about her identity.
She did not fully understand her feelings at that age, but she knew that she was different from the boys around her.
11. Preference for Girls' Games
Vidya did not enjoy many of the games usually played by boys.
She preferred spending time with girls.
She liked games such as dayakattam, Chinese checkers and pallanguzhi.
She also enjoyed playing traditional girls' games.
Her classmates noticed these preferences.
Vidya became friendly with girls such as Kannan, Kavita, Amritavalli and Indumathi.
Among them, she particularly admired Amritavalli.
Amritavalli was a bright student and a talented dancer.
Vidya enjoyed spending time with her.
She also liked participating in dance competitions and cultural activities.
Dancing remained one of her greatest sources of happiness.
12. The Dance Competition
Vidya remembers a dance competition held during a school lunch break.
She and Amritavalli participated in the competition.
Vidya danced with great enthusiasm.
The students watched their performance and enjoyed it.
Vidya was happy to receive appreciation for her dancing skills.
However, she also noticed that people treated her differently because she was expected to behave like a boy.
Although dancing gave her confidence, it also made her an easy target for teasing.
13. Humiliation at School
Vidya's problems became more serious as she grew older.
Her feminine speech, behaviour and movements attracted the attention of her classmates.
Some students began teasing her regularly.
They made insulting comments about her appearance and mannerisms.
Vidya felt increasingly uncomfortable at school.
Even younger students sometimes made fun of her.
The teasing affected her confidence and made her feel isolated.
She wanted to live naturally, but the behaviour of others made her afraid of expressing herself.
14. A Change of School
Vidya studied well and scored 84% marks in her examinations.
After completing the eighth standard, her father admitted her to another branch of Bishop Heber School.
The new school was different from her previous school.
Vidya hoped that the change would improve her life.
However, she soon discovered that the new environment was even more difficult.
She did not have close friends who understood her.
She felt lonely and uncomfortable.
Her classmates noticed her feminine behaviour and began making fun of her.
15. Cruel Bullying by Classmates
At the new school, Vidya experienced severe bullying.
Her classmates used insulting words to describe her.
They laughed at her feminine mannerisms and made jokes about her gender expression.
Some students wrote insulting comments about her on the classroom blackboard.
Others shouted offensive names when she entered the classroom.
Vidya felt deeply humiliated.
She tried to ignore the comments, but the continuous bullying caused her great emotional pain.
She became afraid of attending school.
The classroom, which should have been a safe place for learning, became a place of fear and suffering.
16. Loneliness and Emotional Suffering
Vidya gradually became more withdrawn.
She felt that nobody understood her feelings.
She could not freely express herself at home or at school.
Her classmates continued mocking her, and she had very few people to support her.
Her sister Prabha became an important source of comfort.
Vidya often spent time with Prabha, playing with her and helping her.
Their relationship gave her some happiness during difficult times.
However, she still felt lonely.
She began avoiding social situations and preferred spending time alone.
17. The Family Moves to a New House
Vidya's family later faced another difficulty.
The owner of their rented house wanted the property back.
As a result, the family had to leave their home.
They were allotted a new site in Uyyakondan Tirumalai.
While their new house was being constructed, they stayed in a rented house at Somarasampettai.
Vidya was growing older, and her understanding of herself was becoming clearer.
She was no longer a small child who simply enjoyed wearing girls' clothes.
She increasingly understood that her feelings were connected to her identity.
18. Understanding Her True Self
By the age of seventeen, Vidya had become more aware of her feminine identity.
She realised that her attraction towards girls' clothes, hairstyles and behaviour was not simply a passing childhood interest.
She felt that she was a woman inside.
She wanted to live and express herself as a woman.
However, society continued treating her as a boy.
This created a painful conflict between her inner identity and the expectations of others.
Vidya understood that wearing girls' clothes openly could create more problems.
Therefore, she looked for other ways to express her feminine identity.
19. Imitating Film Heroines
Vidya continued to admire female film stars.
She was particularly fascinated by the heroines' hairstyles, expressions and graceful movements.
She began experimenting with clothes that were not obviously feminine.
For example, she wore combinations of kurtas and other loose garments that allowed her to feel comfortable.
She also imitated the hairstyles and mannerisms of film heroines.
Sometimes she imagined herself acting in films.
These activities helped her express her identity while avoiding some of the criticism from society.
20. The River and the World of Imagination
A river ran close to the family's rented house in Somarasampettai.
Vidya regularly went there to bathe and wash clothes.
The river became an important place in her life.
She enjoyed spending time alone near the water.
She sometimes imagined herself as a film heroine.
She washed clothes and played in the water while acting out scenes from films.
The peaceful surroundings allowed her to escape temporarily from the difficulties of home and school.
The river became a place where she could enjoy her imagination and express herself freely.
21. Meeting Ilango
During her visits to the river, Vidya met a young man named Ilango.
Ilango owned a dairy business.
He was a friendly and cheerful person who regularly came to the river to wash milk cans and his clothes.
At first, Vidya was shy and avoided speaking to him.
However, Ilango continued talking to her in a friendly manner.
Gradually, they became comfortable with each other.
Vidya noticed that Ilango did not make fun of her feminine speech or behaviour.
Instead, he treated her kindly and naturally.
This made Vidya feel happy and accepted.
22. Ilango's Kindness and Acceptance
Ilango spoke to Vidya about ordinary matters.
He showed interest in her life and listened to her.
Unlike many others, he did not insult her or make her feel ashamed.
Vidya began looking forward to meeting him at the river.
She felt comfortable in his company.
She also began experiencing unfamiliar feelings of attraction towards him.
His friendly behaviour made her blush.
For the first time, she experienced a special emotional connection with a young man who treated her with respect.
23. Discovering Her Feelings
As Vidya spent more time with Ilango, her feelings became stronger.
She realised that she was attracted to him.
However, she did not fully understand the nature of these emotions.
She wondered whether what she felt was love.
Ilango eventually moved away after completing his work.
Vidya did not reveal her feelings to him.
She later reflected on their friendship and understood that Ilango had played an important role in her emotional development.
His kindness helped her feel accepted and valued.
24. The Importance of Ilango in Vidya's Life
Vidya explains that Ilango was the man who made her feel whole as a woman.
His friendly treatment was very different from the ridicule she had experienced from others.
He did not judge her because of her feminine identity.
Instead, he accepted her naturally.
This experience gave Vidya emotional confidence.
She began to understand her identity more clearly.
The lesson ends by highlighting the importance of acceptance, kindness and human relationships in a person's journey towards self-discovery.
Significance of the Title – The Princess
The title The Princess is highly meaningful.
Vidya imagines herself as a princess because she wishes to live freely as a girl.
The princess represents her dreams, feminine identity and desire for acceptance.
As a child, she enjoys dressing like a girl, dancing and imitating film heroines.
However, society repeatedly tries to prevent her from expressing her true self.
The title therefore represents the contrast between Vidya's inner identity and the expectations imposed upon her.
It also symbolises her desire for dignity, happiness and the freedom to live as the person she truly is.
The princess is not merely an imaginary character. She represents Vidya's true self and her dream of living openly as a woman.
Major Themes
1. Gender Identity
The lesson explores Vidya's growing awareness of her identity as a transgender woman.
2. Self-Discovery
Vidya gradually understands her feelings through childhood experiences, dancing, films and personal relationships.
3. Discrimination and Bullying
Vidya experiences ridicule and humiliation because her behaviour does not match society's expectations.
4. Loneliness
The lack of understanding from family members and classmates makes Vidya feel isolated.
5. Freedom of Expression
Vidya wishes to express her identity through clothes, dancing and behaviour without fear.
6. Love and Acceptance
Ilango's kindness helps Vidya feel respected and emotionally accepted.
7. The Influence of Cinema
Film heroines and dance sequences play an important role in Vidya's imagination and self-expression.
8. Courage and Resilience
Despite repeated humiliation, Vidya continues her journey towards understanding and accepting herself.
Central Message
The Princess teaches us that every individual has the right to live with dignity and express their true identity.
Vidya experiences many difficulties because society expects her to behave according to the gender assigned to her at birth.
However, her feelings and identity cannot be changed by criticism or punishment.
The lesson shows the emotional suffering caused by discrimination, bullying and lack of acceptance.
It also highlights how kindness and understanding can make a great difference in a person's life.
Central Message: Every person deserves respect, acceptance and the freedom to live according to their true identity. Society should treat transgender people with dignity, empathy and equality.]