I love reading books that have female as protagonist, especially powerful women who rise from humble background to greater heights through their self confidence and their will to be self reliant. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni has three such women (grandmother, daughter, grand-daughter) laced together across three generations from Rural Village of India to Austin in Texas, each living an interesting life through love, longing and loneliness. It is delightful read and Chitra is the kind of author who had potential to keep you engaged in such a way that you begin to walk into their lives.
I love her style of writing and beautifully
framed sentences.
“Push
away the past, that vessel in which all emotions curdle to regret’”
“Life
is lines of dominoes falling. One thing
leads to another, and then another, just like you’d planned. But suddenly a
domino gets skewed, events change direction, people dig in their heels, and
you’re faced with a situation that you didn’t see coming, you thought you were
so clever” Page175
The
book begins with Sabitri, who starts to write letter (on request from her
daughter Bela seeking help from her mother to guide her daughter) to Tara,
who she has never met but wants to advise her on the importance of education.
But Sabitri fails to find the right words, writes instead her own story of
struggles, love, disappointment and her sense of achievement.
Sabitri’s
dreams were audacious, unseemly for the daughter of poor village priest. People
around her were determined to crush them. The rules her mother wanted her to
live by, proverbs for good women, were too simple for her. She could not accept
them.
Good
daughters are fortunate lamps, brightening the family’s name
Wicked
daughter are firebrands, blackening the family name. page 205
The meaning of ‘fortunate lamp’ she finds when she works on a unique recipe day and
night till she got it right, the taste that she finally achieves without having
to depend on anyone else. She discovered that she had a special talent that
nobody could take it away, that there is a sense of achievement and
satisfaction on getting that success. It
is that ‘Fortunate lamp’ she wanted from Tara and Bela too.
That is the message she wanted to pass on
to Bela (who elopes to America illegally to join Sanjay but struggles and leads
a lonely life) and Tara (the new generation American, completely cut off from
Indian culture roots). More than education, a talent is important, a will to
work hard, to rise above failures, disappointment and having a faith in oneself
to succeed once again.
Although the story revolves around three
women, other characters that come into their lives also play the crucial role
in steering their journey towards proper path. Each character has an important
role to play. Nothing is out of place.
Senior woman, Mrs Mehta, who Tara was to
supervise while son and his wife go for a tour surprised me the most with her
jest for life and her complete make over from woman clad in white sari to fancy
skirts, jeans and short tops and bob cut hair.
Kenneth, a gay neighbour, who changed Bela’s
life by encouraging her to hone on her culinary skills and becoming a successful food blogger and writer
Bipin Bihari, a best friend to Sabitri
helps her achieve success at Durga sweets
Dr Venkatachalapathi who influence Tara to
go back to completing her education
The story moves back and forth, narration
shifts from first person to third person, which is confusing at times,
especially if you are not reading at one go. But the loops interlock easily,
taking the story to a meaningful end.
The last chapter of the book ‘A thousand
words’ sums up the whole story through photo albums, letters and notes. It the
most touching chapter, full of redemption, where Tara finally understands the
true meaning of life after she reads the letters addressed to her by Sabitri
However, I read this book twice, the first
time in parts (over the span of 15days with breaks in-between) and second time
in one go…. And enjoyed it both the times.
