Pipee and Astha protest against this image in their ways and the both are surviving. What is interesting is not the fact that they survive, but how they do so, and their journey of self-discovery toward psychological freedom. The heroines take the uncommon path of lesbianism hitherto a taboo and socially unacceptable relationship in the Indian context (Bristow 17). Their actions might prove to be liberating and affirmative of their identity. They do not seem to be bothering even if they would be put into a zone of exclusion. Such a change of attitude in them moves us to understand that it is possible to transcend established reality and convention. Both the heroines Pipee fully and Astha partly would miss their womanly destiny in order to choose independence. Manju Kapur thus through her narrative constructs a feminocentric protest against the heterocentric, homophobic and phallocentrically glamorized patriarchy and in doing so she is rather constrained to present her heroines as lesbians (Milhoutra 164). Quest for identity is largely a social phenomenon in India, a phenomenon influenced by various changing forces of reality, freedom movement, education, social reforms, increasing contacts with the west, urban growth etc. A new era of emancipation for the Indian women, an era of increased opportunities and a more dynamic participation in the social and intellectual life of the country ushered in by the great social reorientations, which came at the turn of the century. Feminism emerged as a worldwide movement to secure women?s rights on the one hand and love, respect, sympathy and understanding from males on the other. It focused on women?s struggle for recognition and survival and made them realize that the time has come when they should stop suffering silently in helplessness.