Feb 14, 2008 02:38 AM
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(Updated Feb 14, 2008 02:55 AM)
To make a point, which is the most prudent way: Be polite and Sugar coat your words or annoy someone by your dry honesty?
If you're the polite kind , do the people and surroundings allow you to be the same? Let's talk about women's pride, rather women's dignity. Is that as significant as a man's pride? Maybe in today's world, women(by and large) are allowed to be discreet and thereby maintain their dignity.
Tamarind women by Anita Rau Badami is set in a period where a woman's dignity if any was readily crushed by all forces.
Saroja is the central character of the story. Brought up in a traditional Brahmin family, Saroja aspires to become a doctor. But her dreams are shattered by her traditional family with notions that a woman's happiness lies in marriage ONLY. Disheartened by the persistent pressure from her family, she settles down in an "arranged marriage" with a railway employee who is 15 years elder to her.(and a trifle 6 years younger than her dad). Needless to say that she ends up being the nagging housewife with 2 children.(Kamini & Roopa).
Portrayed in her early years as a determined and wise girl, Saroja turns out to be an acid-tongued, repulsive woman. She yields to pressure once, and succumbs absolutely to the demands of domestic life, unwillingly.
This is a poignant and warm novel about how people at times yield to fate and others' wishes and let things overpower them, as a consequence making life miserable for themselves and (most importantly) for all others around.
*The Narration:-
=> **Let me state the obvious first. The story is nothing unique or hitherto not dealt with by any author. Then why do I give it 4 stars? The narrative style creates the magic. It is splendid, eloquent and takes us through the journey.
=>The whole book is narrated in the first person. First half contains the reminiscence of the daughter Kamini and her views about her mother, while the second half is from the mother's perspective. And there is no boring repetition of incidents.instead the author deftly gives a picture of Saroja's life and reasons for her glib tongued remarks.
=> Whenever the story cuts to present, lines are in italics. I found this to be a very simple yet straight-forward approach. Even the language in the first half is more like how a child would speak/think/react to happenings around her. The essence of orthodox families with a belief that a"woman is a man's shadow" and the woman's plight in the bargain is captured really well.
*What I liked in the book:-
The way the author speaks about the woes of traditional arranged marriage, where the initial meeting with the person to be married, is more like **staring at a photograph. about how brothers, uncles, aunts smile awkwardly(and unnecessarily) at the bridegroom's family members, trying to befriend all. And above all, there is a touch of humour lurking behind the mundane description of the affairs in the book.afterall, when adversities get overboard even complex things don a mocking appearance!
Saroja's forced and hence pretentious love for her husband is described in the following lines:-
*"A person grows on you like an ingrown nail. You keep cutting and filing and pulling it out, but the nail just grows back. Then you get used to the wretched thing, you learn to ignore and even become fond of it." A dissatisfied woman's thoughts about her disturbingly frivolous husband is brought out well.
*Recommended for:-
*The book makes for a nice read, notwithstanding the wafer thin storyline. It would interest any lover of lucid narration. I strongly feel making a thin plot interesting is an uphill task.
Lastly, for anyone who would be interested in knowing the essence of the book - a woman who initially keeps her frunstrations and unhappiness to herself, shouts her agony to the whole world! The book reiterates this fact!
