 |
| Sunday, April 11, 2004 |
|
| Sunday, April 11, 2004 |
|
Beyond the Courtyard: A Sequel to Unveiling India
Anees travels through the length and breadth of the country to weave together the images of women and young girls into a narrative that is poignant, sensitive and sharply defined. After having etched the milieu with a few bold strokes and captured the sights and sounds with an amazing economy of words, she portrays the hidden desires and dreams of these young girls, juxtaposing them effectively with the world of their mothers. Be it the plight of sex workers in Hanuman Tekri, a slum in the red-light area of Bhiwandi in outer Mumbai or Anderkote in the backdrop of the ancient Sufi shrine in Ajmer or in the green fields of Haryana and Punjab, Anees weaves a gripping, multi-layered narrative. Not only is the research painstaking and the tone sincere, but it is the lyricism of the style that raises the tenor of the narrative from the mundane to the philosophical. The writer’s perceptive eye captures the minituae and the covert socio-cultural subtext. The factual account is meshed with insights and an intuitive understanding of what it is to be a woman and a girl. She etches what it means to grapple with the inner world of emotions, yearnings and dreams, pitched against the harshness of the class, caste, and various other factors that control and govern the lives of women. Not only is the courtyard a leitmotif but also a metaphor for a woman’s life. Anees peeps in and outside the enclosed courtyards, geographical as well as the courtyards of the mind and heart. Also explored is the ghutan, for no other word epitomises the feeling of being thwarted as does this Urdu word, according to the writer. The distance, emotional and psychological between the mothers and daughters who have barriers and no bridges, is not told but shown through gestures and subtle indicators. It is the tenuous mother-daughter bond that is being strained due to rising, new expectations. What makes the book particularly reader-friendly is the manner in which the account of women’s lives comes alive with a vividness. There is no monotony or weariness in the syntax or drudgery even in quotidian details. Whether it is the shine of women’s eyes, the cadence of the spoken words, or the subtext against which their lives are poised or their own aspirations, thwarted or realised, Anees manages to tell a story in simple uncomplicated prose,direct but still elegant and evocative enough to move the reader. That each chapter deals with a different anecdote about a new place helps to maintain interest. The young girls are groping for a foothold and are very unlike their urban counterparts, "with their tight jeans and tighter shirts, who had given up one identity before they could find another." You have an insight into how "other women" smell of poverty, dirt and disease—deprived of food and care, violated in the womb as much as in the world. Even the social perspective that makes us tags words on to women comes for a review, Anees demolishes quite a few cliched portrayals and social tags. Sex workers too can enjoy life, they are not to be pitied or shunned Women with faces covered with veils and burqas can possess an amazing amount of vigour. Spaces beyond the cramped courtyards of these young girls hold undeciphered visions. In the struggle to reach them they are losing the intimacy of the spaces their mothers understood. |
ANEES Jung’s bestseller Unveiling India mapped
the mindscape and life stories of women, their struggles and successes,
about 25 years back. In a sequel, she sets out to capture the lives of
the daughters of those women.. As the writer says: "There is
artifice in some of them, overconfidence in others and a passionate
commitment to their cause in a few. I admire some, pity others, laugh at
some, and cry for others...Will they find their path and their true
identities, making mistakes, posting triumphs? Or will the colours and
patterns they choose while coming out of the chrysalis mar them
forever?" It is this concern that lingers right through.