SHORT STORIES
Familiar terrain
R. KRITHIKA
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Sensitive stories about the modern woman.
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The Illusion of Home: Stories; Raji Narasimhan, Promila & Co, Publishers in association with Bibliophile South Asia, Rs. 200.
THE stories in this collection are not the kind you can read and toss aside. These are stories you hear regularly - of women trying to hold their heads high; trying to make a living; trying to live without those adjuncts that society considers necessary: home, husband and children ...
The women in Raji Narasimhan's The Illusion of Home are tough. No mental breakdowns or weeping for them. On the one side, they work at their jobs trying to make ends meet; on the other, they are introspective and self-exploring.
Striking a chord
"Ground floor flat" strikes a chord both in terms of people and situations. How often have we heard single women moan over the lack of decent accommodation?
"Transitions" tells of a couple who have come together for their daughter's wedding; together for the moment, yet apart. Family photos are taken celebrating a "family conjunction not going to be there the next minute". Again a tale that we see often in today's world.
"Heart patient" tells a poignant tale of a mother leaving for a pilgrimage. The son, who has just learnt of his heart trouble, cannot understand why she would want to leave. His wife understands, "it's a call," she says, with her "total sweeping insight into her mother-in-law's desire for flight". She is the one who has to speak to the housing society for house allotment; she has to go to work, look after two children; she has to comfort her husband who clings more in his ill health — yes, she understands the need to go away, knowing that she herself cannot do so.
Raji Narasimhan, a well-known writer and literary critic, uses no extra words or flourishes but the pictures she evokes are vivid, partly because many of us are, or know of others, in similar situations. Words are sparingly used and the style is often abrupt — the best example being "Nobody's Child".
Sensitively written, the book is a pretty accurate description of the dilemmas that Indian women face today.
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