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This is an intense and touching story of a war widow set in the backdrop of the Kargil conflict, that vividly and authentically mirrors the challenges and fight for mental space and survival of such countless, unsung heroines. Herself an Army wife and having seen it all, Sharayu Summanwar finds herself well placed not only to narrate the trials and tribulations of these courageous women, as they fight an indifferent and hostile environment outside the shelter of their cantonments, but also to fine print for those out there in the civvy street who know little to nothing about the armed forces. While the Services themselves do the maximum they can for their extended family, it is the nation and government that need to perform better, for the proud yet vulnerable segment that is left behind. Vidya is widowed when Shamsher lays down his life for the country, but it is the indomitable mother-in-law, who herself had lost her husband in an earlier war, and the steely resolve and sense of responsibility towards the children who now need a mothercare more than ever, that keeps the family intact and moving. It is this dilemma that results in Vidya often spurning the gentlemanly advances of the savvy and hugely successful corporator, Madhav, who is so much in love that he is prepared to wait till as long as it takes. The more Vidya rejects and spurns, the greater is Madhav’s resolve for staying on. Things do work out for the two eventually, but not before many twists in the tale that moves from India to San Francisco and back and entwines the children and others into becoming willing or unwilling actors in the family drama. The somewhat stand-offish Brigadier, whose sole love is the profession and not women, the impish Rita, who loves to live life full, the greedy family members always out to outsmart a widow who already has her hands full earning a living, and the heady and adventurous life of the officers and jawans who are always thankful to the good Lord for whatever they have got, are all part of vivid, rich Army landscapes. There is no padding in the book. Describing a young soldier’s death in an encounter, she says: "Would there always be more, he thought bitterly; bright young faces with life snuffed out: smoke in the air, blood on the ground?" Or take the commissioning of Shaurya Singh in his late father’s battalion, a frequent happening in the Army. These are true slices of camaraderie and loyalty in military life, where many of us happily joined our father’s regiment, because our conscience told us we just had to. Summanwar’s first creative work smells of depth as a writer. Fast paced and with no jarring breaks, this short novel makes a welcome entry into the genre of writings on military life, a field where regrettably few in the creative fold have thought it necessary to venture. One hopes that this will not be Summanwar’s last novel on the subject. The Armed Forces must
encourage their creative pens. What better than the AWWA and others to
set up a writers’ cell for the serving soldiery, who can begin to then
chronicle Army life in all its colours that few outside its ambit seem
to understand. |
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