Unshackled thoughts
Ramesh Luthra

My Sainted Aunts
Bulbul Sharma. Penguin. Pages 176. Rs 200.

MY Sainted Aunts is a delightful, yet thought provoking collection of short stories by Bulbul Sharma. Stories revolve around emancipation of women in pre-Independence India. Her protagonists embark upon journeys and acquire changed mindset. Tongue-in-cheek narrative makes the anthology appealing. The opening line of Maya Devi’s London Yatra, "The day Maya Devi turned sixty-eight-seventy, she decided to go to London", set the mood for reading the collection. Stern and moody Maya Devi melts at the end: "Her steely eyes become almost blind with tears."

The evil of child marriage (A Child Bride) is represented through the image of a caged bird running like a sparrow desperately trying to fly out of a locked room. The beauty of the style of writing lies in making the point artistically.

The characters of RC’s First Holiday go on a journey and feel a whiff of fresh air after leading stifled lives for years. RC matures and feels the river has taken away his past.

The title To Simla, in a Tonga tickles your imagination. Anima’s quiet strength and silent fighting spirit leave a lasting effect. Roop Bala (Trials of a Tall Aunt) is a deeply sensitive portrayal of a woman ill-treated by the family and society for being taller than her husband.

Aunts and Their Ailments shows the skill of Bulbul Sharma in handling the genre. Endless diseases have been discussed in a journey of 24 hours that pass in a flash, but diseases are not finished still.

The stocky husband, whom she had presumed to be dead, confronts Roop Bala at Badrinath. The journey gets over for Gita (Life In a Palace) when her husband, who had deserted her, appears to take her home.

Conversational ease of the narrative is a major attribute of the collection. Language changes with the character. A scene at the London airport, where Maya Devi enters into an argument with the immigration officer ("No need to say again; you can tell your Queen Victoria.") is unforgettable. The collection is replete with humour.

In Life in a Palace, the ball-room dance ends abruptly when bees decide to join the fun. The unfailingly endearing characters haunt you long after you have laid down the book. The stories display Bulbul’s deep understanding of the female psyche.

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