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That the author is fully conversant with life in the Army and
its traditions cannot be disputed. Indeed, this is what she
tries to explain to the reader, going into such painstaking
detail that it begins to grate a bit. Nothing, but nothing is
left to the imagination. There is no profundity that is not
explained with examples, no experience that speaks for itself
without the author’s endeavor to simplify it for the reader.
For example, if she speaks of her experience with the maids she
has come across, she talks of each and every maid that her
family has ever employed (including the one employed by her
mother) — her foibles, her follies, her qualities, good and
bad. She chuckles as she conducts the reader through the antics
of the dogs they had and the pets other people of her
acquaintance kept, where they came from, what became of them and
what they probably felt. An extract from the passage describing
Bozo the dog: "Loyalty ran in his veins. I remember the
time that a couple was using our house when we were out on a
course. The lady was not obviously fond of pets and she ordered
that he be kept outside, which Bozo was not in favor of. After
all this is my house, his growls indicated. Anyway, he soon
found himself sleeping outside, and he showed his resentment by
creeping in when the guests were not around, and chewing up the
lady’s sandals (what was amazing was that he left mine alone)
and a tiger skin rug that they had spread on the floor, just to
prove that he was his master’s dog and that he would take no
nonsense from anyone." There is a lot more on Bozo.
The book is a
purely subjective one. Deepti Menon writes of her own
experiences in the Army and tries to universalise their
relevance. She talks of Army Messes, welfare meets, ladies
clubs, postings, promotions, senior officers and their wives, fauji
courses (especially the ones run by The School of
Artillery), tambola evenings, fauji cooks, P.T in the
mornings, MES houses and furniture, fauji kids,
non-family stations etc. The cover of the book comes as somewhat
of a surprise. It shows officers and ladies, probably at a Mess
party, with officers wearing peaked caps. When did that start
happening?
But undoubtedly,
Menon has reported the fauji life faithfully. Her
observations are astute and reporting, acute. Right from the
description of the senior lady circulating at a party and being
gracious to junior ladies to descriptions of welfare activities
for the jawans’ wives, there is veracity in her
writing. Her opinions on most issues, from parenting to dowry,
are sensible and sound. "If the young men of today would
also put their collective foot down and speak up against dowry,
our country would be a better place". However, she seems to
be remarkably naïve about certain realities. "It is very
common to hear ladies of the Army discussing evils like dowry,
wife beating, alcoholism and dictatorial husbands avidly, but
finally they end all their arguments with, ‘But thank God,
army husbands are not like that!’ And that is a fact."
Menon has
attempted to depict the life of the Army officer’s wife in its
totality. One recognises her love for fauji life. But
there is a lack of passion and range of emotion that doesn’t
allow the book to rise above a pleasant read. Also, a little
more spit and polish would be in order.
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THE
book should have been called ‘The Many Reasons To Marry An Army
Officer’ or ‘The Clichés Of Army Life’. Everything that an
Army officer or his wife have ever said or done — all the jokes,
all the-tough-times-taken-with-a-smile, the one-liners, the fun and
nostalgic times — forms the subject matter of Arms and the
Woman.
