I picked up this book for two reasons. First, it is a novel by an Indian author and secondly it seeked the answer to the question whether a single woman could be happy or was she incomplete without a man. This novel is based in Indian context.
The protagonist of the novel is Akhila, an unmarried woman in her mid-fourties. She worked as an income-tax clerk. Akhila was the eldest of 4 children. The novel tells of her transition from girl to woman. The novel provides insight into her life. After the death of her father the responsibility of running the family fell on her. All her brothers and sisters get married except her. Her younger sister Padma stays with her because according to Padma a woman cannot be left alone, lest she go astray. Akhila wants to live alone.
One day she gets herself a one-way ticket to Kanyakumari( the southern most tip of India). She gets reservation in the ladies compartment. She shares the compartment with five women, Janaki, Sheela, Margaret, Prabha Devi and Marikolanthu. Akhila strikes up a conversation with these women. Each of the women tell Akhila of their lives.
Janaki has been married for 40 years. Janaki has a doting husband. She tells Akhila of her wedding night, her daily routine and boredom after having been married for so long. She goes on to tell Akhila of her son and daughter-in-law, her fights with her son who seems to have switched allegiance to his wife?s family and her present situation.
Sheela is a young girl in her teens. She is on her way back home after her maternal grandmother?s death. She is happy that death relieved her of her suffering. Sheela tells the women of her grandmother, whom she called Ammumma, her grandmother?s rules for her, and her grandmother?s strange behaviour few days before her death, as if she knew all about it before. The news of her grandmother?s hospitalization brings her uncles and aunts to her house which her father resents. Because they took over the running of the house. Sheela?s otherwise kind father turns irritable and pours out his frustration on her. Sheela?s grandmother is diagnosed with cancer. Finally she turns insane and dies.
Margaret Shanti is a chemistry teacher. She compares people to chemicals. She is married to the principal of the school she teaches in. Hers was a love marriage . When Margaret got pregnant, her husband coaxed her into aborting the child. Thus began the friction in their relationship. Margaret?s husband was a strict disciplinarian at school and his students were terrified of him. Margaret, on the other hand was kind and compassionate.
Their different viewpoints led to fights between them. Margaret?s husband had a lean, athletic body which is prided himself on. He was always finding fault with Margaret, be it her body or her poor culinary skills. Finally Margaret decides to exact revenge. She coaxes him into eating more, giving up his diet conscious lifestyle and finally converts him into a food gorger. He looses shape, becomes slow-moving and loses his control over the school students. Margaret is at peace with herself now after having done all this.
Prabha Devi is 40 years old and has a son and daughter. Her father disapproved of her birth but finally grew to accept it. Her mother saw to it that she had a perfect household. At the age of 18 she was married to Jagdeesh. She went to New York on a trip with her husband. She was left dumbfounded at the confidence of the Western women. She decided to give herself a modern look. She started wearing western clothes, high heels etc. However her modern look attracted the wrong kind of attention from her husband?s friend who makes advances at her. Prabha Devi was dead scared. She withdrew herself into a cocoon. She went back to wearing her sarees, waiting for her husband and giving birth to babies. Life went back to being dull. One fine day she decides to change herself again now that her children were grown up. She learns swimming and that instilled confidence in her. She became a totally new woman.
Mariakolanthu was born into a poor family. After the death of her father she and her mother turned to the Chettiar, a rich man for help. Her mother was employed in the kitchen and she was supposed to take care of the Chettiar?s grandson( Sujata Akka?s son).
Mariakolanthu was a little girl then. As time passed she earned the affection of Sujata Akka, who gave her small gifts now and then. She grew into a young woman. Then one day Mariakolanthu was raped by the Chettiar?s relative. Although Sujata Akka fell sorry for her she could do nothing. Maraikolanthu found herself pregnant. Attempts to abort the baby proved futile and a boy is born. She hated the baby and refused to nurse it. She entrusted the baby to her mother and goes to work as a servant for two nurses. Her?s mother?s illness forces her to go back. Due to certain circumstances she is forced to take employment with the Chettiars again. Sujata Akka needed Mariakolanthu very much as she was very lonely. When Mariakolanthu?s mother died she finally accepts her son.
In the last part of the novel Akhila speaks. She feels that she can live alone. She needs no one. The novel has been written beautifully. Interspersed with the stories of the lives of these women are reminiscences of Akhila?s own life, her honest and upright father, her love affair with a younger man, her brothers and her job. The novel is 276 pages long and I read over a period of one week.
All in all, an excellent read. Go for it!