Ladies coupe – The title of the book itself makes a point about the way the Indian society treats its women. It’s not very uncommon to find a ‘ladies only queue’ in a tickets reservation counter or ‘a ladies special bus’ or for that matter ‘a ladies coupe’. Why do Indian women get this kind of a special treatment maybe because it is presumed that a woman can survive only in an all women’s world which we know exists only in Venus and to survive in the kind of world we live in - a woman needs a man. Every Indian woman tries to escape this supposition but is it really possible for a woman to survive without a man’s protection?
Akhila, the protagonist of the Ladies coupe is a 45 yr old single women working as an Income tax officer. Born in a conservative Brahmin family Akhila was brought up in an environment in which the society had the supreme power and the people living in this society would never ever dare to rewrite its unfounded norms.
Akhila’s mother belonged to the old school of thought, sometimes through her actions and sometimes through her words she taught Akhila that a perfect woman is the one who blends with the environment. ’There is no such thing as equal marriage it is best to accept that the wife is inferior to the husband. That way there can be no disharmony. It is when one wants to prove ones equality that there is warring and sparring all the time. It is so much easier to accept one’s station in life and live accordingly. A woman is not meant to take on the man’s role. Or the Gods would have made her so. So what is all this about two equals in a marriage’ is what her mother tried to drill into her mind. But this very mother of Akhila on becoming a widow expected her daughter to play the man of the house.
So from playing the role of the daughter Akhila progressed to being the provider and continued playing different roles all through her life. Sometimes a sister, sometimes an aunt but she never got to be herself. She never was Akhila until one fine day when she realised that she has got nothing from life not even memories to look back to. To change the course of her life Akhila decides to do something she had never done before. She buys a one way ticket to Kanyakumari to escape from the norms that stopped her from being Akhilandeshwari.
On her way to Kanyakumari, Akhila meets five different women, her fellow passengers. Each with a story of her own but all of them had one thing in common and that was their search for the real denotation of life.
The oldest of the women is Janaki with a story that many women of her age will identify with. Janaki is someone who learnt to love the man she married. She is someone who always had a man to protect her. Someone who was first protected by her father then by her brother then by her husband and after him it would be her son. Janaki believed that to be a good mother and a good wife are the only two duties of a woman and she made her home her Kingdom. It was too late to amend her life when she realised that even a strong and independent woman can make a good wife and a good mother.
The Second story to unfold is that of a fourteen year old. Someone who is generations apart from Janaki but still with a mental maturity that quite surpasses her age. She is someone who accepted her grandmother’s death with an air of a person who had seen it all and done it all. What makes Sheela different from others is her ability to look beyond things and her knack of perceiving what others can not.
The third story to unfurl is that of Margaret Shanthi, a chemistry teacher married to Ebenezer Paulraj, the principal of the school she works in. Margaret compares herself to supercritical water which is capable of dissolving just about anything. Soon after marriage Margaret realised that her husband was not the knight in shining armour that she expected him to be but on the other hand he was this insensitive, self obsessed despot who couldn’t care less for his wife. Ebenezer’s every action gradually transforms Margaret’s love into hatred and to avenge him Margaret uses a very ingenious method. She formulates a scheme which would not only save her marriage but also eat into his amour propre and shake the very brass tacks of his being.
The fourth tale to open up is that of Prabha Devi, born to rich parents she had the perfect childhood. Her mother beamed with pride when Prabha Devi turned eighteen. She was everything that a girl ought to be. She was beautiful, docile, a good cook, a good singer her, needlework was perfect. Soon this demure girl was married to a diamond merchant’s son. After marriage her life swished past in the blur of insignificant days till one day - a week after her fortieth birthday when she realised that somewhere in the process of being a good wife, a good daughter-in-law and a good mother, Prabha Devi forget how its is to be herself and that’s when she learns to strike a balance between being what she wants to be and being what she is expected to be and a shufti of a swimming pool helps her realise the need for the balancing act.
The fifth and the most heart-rending tale is that of Marikolanthu who only when grown up realised that circumstance never let her be a kid. As a kid she worked at the Chettiar’s house to help her mother raise her brothers and when she grew up her innocence was destroyed by a man who was determined to have her carnal knowledge sans her consent. This one unpleasant incident changes Markolanthu’s entire life and destroys her verve. From being a kid who worked hard to help her mother raise her brothers to being a maid to two lady doctors who were foreigners, Marikolanthu was now a mother to an illegitimate child. Marikolanthu had seen it all from poverty to lesbianism but all through her life though she was untutored and bucolic she stood up for what she believed in, not caring for the society.
One night in the Ladies coupe and her interaction with the five women - Janaki who had a happy marriage though it was an arranged one, Margaret Shanti though married to the love of her life suffered from the agony of an unhappy marriage, Sheela , a teenager who had the ability to look beyond things, Prabha Devi who after years of marriage learnt to strike a balance and Marikolanthu different from all the four women did not succumb to the norms of the society just to gain a right place in the social order helped Akhila realise that she had given the society superfluous power of ruling her life.These women and their stories helped Akhila find the answer to her biggest question – “Can a women stay single and be happy, or does a woman need a man to feel complete?.
There was a time when a woman needed a man for protection but today she needs a man for companionship, she needs a partner who would share her ups and downs. She is not in need of a breadwinner but in need of someone with whom she can share the bread. So, does this realisation make Akhila get back in touch with the guy she fell in love with, someone whom she did not accept for the fears of the society?
This book though a work of fiction is very close to reality. The language is simple and gets a little poetic in a few places.The dilemma that a woman goes through at every point of her life is shown in a beautiful way. Comparison of life with chemical elements in Margaret Shanti’s episode is very interesting. Though the story contains a few unpleasant incidents the author has expressed pity in a way that it passes on the right message without spoiling the readers’ mood.
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