Sunday, March 23, 2003		Books

Frivolous attempt to unite women
Padam Ahlawat

On Wings of Butterflies
by Kavery Nambisan. Penguin Books, New Delhi. Pages 253. Rs 200.

KAVERY Nambisan, a doctor by profession, has produced this work of fiction, a farcical comedy. It is a frivolous attempt to unite all women so as to form a political front and take political power. The story revolves around this theme. The revolt against man is attempted not by the oppressed or exploited women but by the well-off liberated women. We have the sultry Rani of Kantipur and the fashionable ex-beauty queen Ms Tandon. Others who form the core group include a senior police officer, socialite Kripa Kagal and the ‘mesoandrous’ Levidia.

The reasons that spur them on to revolt are equally petty. All these women lead easy and comfortable lives and the only thing that stirs them is the perceived inequality between man and woman. It is this inequality they address and Levidia even wants that the roles of man and woman should be reversed. She explains her experiment that would make man bear children. All these perceived insults make book unrealistic and their attempt a farce.

The only touch with reality is the plight of the widows of Vrindaban. Their exploitation and abject suffering is moving. We have them in thousands, from diverse social standings. All expelled out of homes by relatives who usurped their wealth. They are left to fend for themselves in crippled old age. Here even the priests exploit them and they have to earn their bread by singing bhajans.

The motivator and moving spirit behind the revolt is the 23-year-old Evita, a receptionist at Panjim. Her reasons for revolt are equally frivolous. She had begun to dislike men, for she perceives them to have exploited her mother who has, however, no complaints from the several lovers she has had. She has brought up her six children all by herself, a result of the different lovers she took. She is a happy woman, who has no scores to settle with men, and thinks her daughters’ idea crazy and not feasible.

Evita begins the movement by corresponding with the core group of women she had selected. She follows it up with personal meetings. Women groups are attracted to the movement and it grows in popularity. Then a grand convention is called at New Delhi to chalk out the path to power. The convention is itself a babble of diverse views and ideas of how to achieve the objective. The fierce Levidia wants to capture power through force. This movement can hardly be called a mass political movement to capture political power. It is a mere debating society, which itself is not united in its objective. The result is obvious and the convention is the burial ground for the movement. However, there is positive fallout and an understanding is reached with men’s groups to accord equal status to women. Evita, like all the others, goes back to her life and things are back to normal. One of the positive consequences of the movement is that the widows of Vrindaban are properly looked after, housed and fed by a social group. The Rani is again united with her Raja and fierce Levidia becomes a charming Lydia. Evita is now happy with her life and becomes an author. One wonders what the whole movement was about.

The story is readable and written in a style that is appealing. The plot may not be well worked out, but the language and characters have been brought out very well.