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BOOKS
Mother
Courage
A requiem
for caged birds
By
Shalini
Gupta
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MAI
By Geetanjali Shree
Tr by Nita Kumar Kali for Women
Price: Rs 200
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This
short novel sets out to explore a woman's inner self. How does a woman
define herself-by her family, by motherhood, by being the matriarch, or
in a patriarchal context, the brow-beaten doormat of a chauvinistic and
dominating male world? Set in a north Indian gharana, this novel,
like Rama Mehta's Inside the Haveli, examines familial relationships
within that stronghold of domestic life-the north
Indian joint
family. Three generations of women are depicted here, and the strong and
subtle bonds that bind them and their menfolk are skilfully portrayed
to make this novel a cogent analysis of the social fabric.
Mai
defines the role of the mother whether as a mistress or a slave; as either
Shakti, Durga, Saraswati or Lakshmi-the earth-mother who engulfs us all;
or sacrificial lamb. In this rites-of-passage story, set between childhood
and adulthood, the centripetal role is that of Mai, the mother, the stillpoint
of the family's turning world, as seen through the eyes of the daughter.
In the Afterword, Lalitha Antharjanam is quoted: "A woman's heart
has secrets that even the funeral pyre cannot reveal. Suppressed continually
by the opposing forces of religion, society, even destiny, they finally
explode within her. Like weeping without tears, living without breathing,
like a mountain of fire that cannot give out smoke, they are contained
inside her and shatter her inner being." As Imtiaz Dharker wrote
in Purdah, "purdah is a kind of safety", the curtain
behind which "the tear-stained mother" is seen paring the potatoes,
while at the same time, with her iron will, ruling her world.
Mai is the
archetypal mother-the tree of life. She upholds and she nurtures. Her
roots go deep. Or, like Ma Spider at her web, she weaves "in little
all the sphere". On her "two-inch bit of ivory," Geetanjali
Shree skilfully creates a whole fictional world. She depicts a golden
cage from within which the bird longs to escape. Poignantly and eloquently,
Mai suggests: "One knows why the caged bird sings." Finally,
a note on the translation. Translation requires almost as much creative
ingenuity as the original work. Nita Kumar's flawless English rendition
successfully paints a vivid picture of a traditional north Indian gharana.
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The
Indian industry has increased its decibel level of whining. Instead, it
should get the government to deliver, says INDIA TODAY Associate Editor
V. Shankar Aiyar in 