Sunday, October 9, 2011

Portraits of Women who Face Life with an Iron Fist by Dr.Aju Arvind and Published in Indian Book Chronicles, September 2011

Aju Mukhopadhaya. The Moments of Life: Short Stories. Mumbai: Frog Books, 2009. Pp. 145. Price: Rs. 195/- ISBN: 978-93-80154-06-0. Short stories are an excuse for Aju Mukhopadhaya to talk of life and relationships entrapped by time and silence. His, The Moments of Life: Short Stories, a compilation of 26 short stories, mostly set in Bengal and southern part of India, presents a picture of everyday life where “each individual relationship has a different hue” (79). The present collection begins with the story which has the same title as the book, recalls the life and experiences of Riki, a member of the suicide squad in Jaffna, who illegally enters Pondicherry. Riki, a victim of circumstances rather than choice, like Sri Aurobindo, realizes the futility of terrorism and turns to spirituality. Riki’s journey makes one realize the need for spiritual revival. The story also depicts the predicament of women like Riki and her sister who were “compelled to join the guerrilla forces” in Sri Lanka (11). The protagonists of his stories, like Gowri and Saheli are victims of various circumstances. While Gowri and her sister Latha in ‘The Phoney,’ is forced into prostitution “just four days after her manjal neer (puberty) ceremony” (41) by their mother, ‘The Cuckold’ tells the story of Saheli, who is forced to love Rangarajan by her spendthrift husband. Aju’s stories deal with the changing definition of values and a newer generation that tries to adopt borrowed ideas and practices, and shows the courage to walk against the established conventions of the day. In most of his stories, he raises the question of women who are forced to lead a life of servitude in the name of “tradition, norms and fear of society” (78). However, most of them succeed in breaking the shackles of tradition and norms. His characters like Lavanya, in ‘An Unknown Love,’ and Arpita, in ‘Discontentment,’ dares to walk against the trodden path. On the one hand we see characters like Lavanya who walks away freely from her husband and family when she rediscovers her love in Ranada, whom she once loved as a brother, and on the other hand we find women character like Arpita, who exhorts: “Try to live by your heart, not by the brain” (114). Most of his stories revolve around the life of the female protagonist, and some of them are so exuberant and diligent than their male counterparts that they win our admiration and adoration. The plot of some of his stories subtly raises questions on the sensitive issues like race, gender, unemployment, and caste. For instance his, ‘In Search of a Suitable Man Friend’ shows Angela, a westerner, who falls in love with a young black Indian customs officer Subramanian, and exposes the “fables about the white races” (15). The story shows the new Indian women who redefines the oriental concepts. While his ‘Dolls Family,’ subtly exposes the longing for the male child. Mukhopadhyay’s, ‘The Emigrant,’ is about the predicaments of the modern educated unemployed Indian middle class youth who is forced to migrate to different places in search of employment. His ‘The Law of Life’ depicts the sufferings of a leprosy patient, Gopalda, who has become an outcaste in the society. The irony of the story is that Gopalda’s joy exceeds all limits when he learns that his wife too has become a leprosy patient, not because he did not love her, but because he could now spend the rest of his life with her. But most of his stories end with a note of optimism and try to reinforce our belief in humanity. His stories like ‘The Passport,’ ‘The Crazy,’ ‘The Absconder’ and ‘The Last Fire’ deal with the theme of death. But they never show death as an end, instead they show act as a catalyst, that enhances and disturbs, the life of other characters. Most of the plots of his stories appear so real that they make one think of his/her own life and surroundings. While stories like, ‘The Cuckold’ and ‘An Unknown Love’ deal with the predicaments of extramarital life, stories like, ‘Caught Like A Thief In The Night,’ and ‘A Marathon Race’ reflect on issues like courting and dating whereas stories like ‘Discontentment’ deal with the theme of broken families. ‘The Pride of a Woman,’ tells the story of Vinita Singh, widow of an Army officer, who spends her life in the memory of her husband. His stories seem to suggest the disintegration of the joint family system as one of the causes for changing relationships. On the one hand the compilation includes highly philosophical stories like ‘The Flame,’ and ‘The White Bird And Its Black Shadow.’ And on the other it experiments with newer ways of storytelling as in ‘Let Them Play For A While.’ It is interesting to note that some of his stories like ‘The Emigrant,’ ‘A Very Happy Journey,’ ‘The Law of Life,’ and ‘The Absconder’ are based on train journeys. While his stories like ‘The Last Fire’ deal with the father son relationship, the stories like ‘Slavery’ deals with changing equations within the family, and also reflects on the abject poverty that millions of Indians face. Mukhopadhyay, gives a detailed description of nature in his stories like ‘The Crawler.’ Some of the stories in the collection like ‘Dolls’ Family’ and ‘The White Bird And Its Black Shadow’ if read together yields a better understanding not only of the stories but of the complexities and changing ferments of life. Silence is a recurring theme in most of his stories. Most of the stories in this collection are about strange “relations between a man and a woman” in a world of complexities (78). Most of his characters appear to be simple but we find the wrinkles of life on their face which makes them complex. He displays great understanding of human emotions, and his characters are not escapist in nature but they face the realities of life with an iron fist. The plot of some of the stories like ‘A Marathon Race’ appears to be a bit dramatic. The compilation will not only enlighten and entertain all kinds of readers but also holds immense potential for further studies. Dr. Aju Aravind Assistant Professor, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad



• Aju Mukhopadhyay
Dear friends – This is to inform with pleasure that the University of Mumbai is releasing a book "Einfach Menschlich", (Simply Human) published by the German Language department of the University- on 12 October 2011 during a three day inter-university conference there. This book contains a short story by me “The Pride of a Woman” from my book of Short Stories, ‘The Moments of Life’, published by Frog Books, Mumbai and USA.

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