Just finished reading "Ladies Coupe' by Anita Nair. I stumbled on her website the other day and read a few essays on her website which made me want to reach out for a book written by her. I loved the story line. Its like the many movies I love to watch, many stories, one theme kinda thing. Every aspect she describes is familiar and something you grew up around. I suppose that's the reason it dint latch on to me that much. It dint get my imagination racing or creating scenes that were unfamiliar. I read on the back cover that the book has been published in 23 countries! Wow...! Do women read more than men? Anyway, it makes me wonder if its like me reaching for a Spanish or french movie to be awed by the culture, giving it that adventurous beat to it. I bet it would be a good read for those from other cultures.Its filled with cultural details. It was good read and took me just a few days to be done with it. I would nt mind reading Prabha Devi's story over and over again because I guess all the humor was concentrated there. May not be one of my favorites but loved it. Here are a few paragraphs which I wanna remember from the book.
"Prabha devi stared at the corner of the sheet. For the first time, she missed wearing a sari. There was much to be said for its pallu. An ill fitting blouse or a missing button was camouflaged by simply pulling the pallu over one's shoulder like a shawl. It served as a scarf for the head when the sun burned. A hood when caught in a drizzle. A fringe of decorum when one wanted to avoid someone's penetrating gaze. Then there were its ends. To wipe tears; to mop the sweat off one's brow; to pleat and gather or crumple into a ball, something for the hands to cling to in awkward moments. All that she had now were the ends of the sheet. She pleated and gathered them as she tried to frame an answer to her husbands question."
The following summarizes lives of many married women in India caught up in their title "house Wife". I wonder how many might ask the same or feel the same way....
"Prabha Devi , Prabha Devi where have you been?
I became a woman, neither heard nor seen
Prabha Devi, Prabha Devi, what did you do there?
I waited and waited till ash speckled my hair"
and this is my favourite...
How women set the tone of a marriage,
"Daughter I ll have to say,
show him you are incapable of doing anything beyond the periphery of your home and he will manage your life, from sending postal orders to balancing cheque books to booking railway tickets to managing household expenses. he will pet you and cosset you at first, for after all, you are appealing to the male in him to protect and safeguard. But it will be only a matter of days before he turns into a tyrant who will want to control your every thought"
" There is an alternative. you could chose to demonstrate how independent you are and show him how well you manage yourself. Except that when you need a pair of arms around you , someone to hold you and cherish you , he might not be there because you have always let him know that you don't need him. Where is the middle path, the golden mean? Daughter I wish I knew. I wish my mother had told me what was the right thing to do. Or perhaps the truth is she does'nt know either."
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