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The Silent Raga
Merchant brings it out rather well in the book (short listed for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for this year) that talks of rigid traditions in the face of changing times and the breaking of that system by a middle class Tamil girl who can’t be a conformist. She wants a life different from what was carved out for women in the small town of Sripuram. Janaki is a picture of quiet strength, the ever-sacrificing sister and daughter who is pulled out of school soon after her mother’s death to run the house. In her dreary chore-filled existence, the only moment of tranquillity is when she is on the veena; the sign of her talent and also the "cross of her martyrdom". Her angst bares itself when she remarks that the best thing for a Tamil Brahmin girl to do was to become a nun. A classical music contest sets her on a course of rebellion and familial ties are severed after she elopes to marry a divorced Muslim Bollywood megastar. The rumour mill goes into overdrive in the town, unhinging the father. This act of betrayal embitters her younger sister Mallika who hates Janaki for heaping ignominy on the family. Years later they come to terms with their lives, but not their past. Until one day, Janaki seeks a meeting with her sister to pitch in for her father’s medical bills at the asylum. The stage is set for the reappearance of the ghosts of the past. Merchant’s narrative flows like music and the crescendo builds like a contained silent raga that is waiting to burst into a million songs. The meeting starts with
rejection but by sundown, Cleansed of pain and rancour, Mallika finds her love returning for her sister. With her saying yes to the Maryland exchange, she is ready to embrace life and all that it has to offer.
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