The Hero's Walk

Ammayya is the eldest of the living Raos and the quasi-matriarch. She married Narasimha Rao when she was young. Even though her son, by tradition, is the head of the household, Sripathi rarely does anything against his mother’s wishes. Ammayya feels that life has always been bad and that everyone is against her, that everyone around her has betrayed her. Narasimha, her late husband, had a mistress and ruined the family financially. When he died, he left Ammayya with nothing. She had to take care of herself and her two children, Sripathi and Putti, alone. She is angry and disappointed in her son, who destroyed her dreams. She wanted him to go to medical school and become a physician.

Ammayya is very traditional and constantly worries about money and what others think. Tradition and familial honor are everything. She believes in maintaining the old caste system that is slowly dying out, and despises anyone who comes from a lower caste. When her daughter, Putti, wants to marry Gopala, the fact that he is of a lower caste causes Ammayya to threaten to disown her. When the house floods, Ammayya must wade through excrement, which in her belief system, makes her unclean (to become clean again would require several rituals).