The Deliberate Sinner - Book Review

Signing up for Blogadda’s book review programme  is a good thing to do for two reasons, the wide variety of genres they cover while they put up books for review keeping Indian authors in mind well that is something commendable. Secondly the letter from Nirav Sanghvi I see right under the cover page with every book that comes home makes me smile.  Adding to it this time a signed copy with one of your favorite quotes “Hate the Sin, not the Sinner” written by the author on the first page of the book ‘The Deliberate Sinner’ by BhaavnaArora was at my doorstep yesterday. It had been long since I had read a contemporary Indian author’s work. Done and dusted in an hour and half, it was fairly a practical read. My evening made!

I did not immediately fall in love with the book nor did I hate the writing, simply because I just couldn't understand its pace. There is no denying that it explores an area of raw realism. The range of thoughts and emotions of a woman of today that too an Indian, in an institution of marriage is a tough topic. It is not easy to sum up in around hundred and fifty pages. Maybe that’s why the little derailing. The narration especially in the end did seem like a fast forward, like someone is trying to wrap up the life events of the protagonist and give her story some ending. That’s the only thing that made me a little hypercritical. 

Her life is near perfect at some moments and she does not take drastic decisions, but then again you see her at crossroads in a failing relationship, not due to her, there are people and circumstances based on which her life is shaped. The chemistry dies, a lot of biology happens, normalcy resurfaces and somehow life continues. But she needs more and makes sure she gets it. The story puts this message across, a failed marriage is not the one which ends with divorce but is the one which is just managed for years and years, just lived happily ever after.

There are certain lines in the story for which I had an involuntary nod:

“You have to take the problem head on. You die or you kill the enemy; there is no other way”

“Pain and pleasure are inseparable”

“Confusion is not a good place to dwell”

“It is always the unseen which is more consequential than the seen”

Profound thinking! No matter who you are and what situation you are in right? What struck me was this; it requires a lot more than feministic conviction to openly write about a woman’s physical and emotional needs so precisely. It may sound over the board or unconventional at places, but that is the way it should be. Everyone can write about fairies and vamps, but to write about the many who battle between these two extremes it is something.If an author dares to write about such issues, especially in the kind of societal setting like the ones we live in right now it means only this, it’s high time we read and know about it too.

PS: This post is a part of the Book Reviews programme at Blogadda- The Deliberate Sinner.

       Thank you Blogadda for a wonderful read! :-)

-R.

Men Of The Country

If we are men of the country
On the ground, on our feet
Respecting the life
Of others as much as ours
Knowing the wrong
As much as the right
Safe in each other's arm
True in each other's eye
We would never be
Frail and feeble
Blaming the law
Mocking the leader
Letting our conscience sleep
Watching a wound cut so deep
And then wait for a chance
To tremble with the quake
To nail it to the wall
A picture not of that brave
But our heads down in shame
Knowing not the name
Walking with candles
Which last for more
More than our rage and grief
Therefore, only therefore
We come to fight
Together for a change
In a fear so obvious
For one fateful tomorrow
It could be you
It could be me
A slap is this one
Tight on our face
The one of morality
The one of justice
Which never shows itself
And hides behind our creed
Until someone is lost
To insanity, to cruelty
More than to death
What we are raped and ripped off
A very long long ago
Is what should dawn upon us
To change and deal
To care and feel
If we are men of the country

-R

Ladies Matter

“Ahoy do not touch that! You should never see what is in a lady’s handbag?” yes I said that a few days ago to a dear guy friend of mine when he put his hand on it to take out something. However when I saw this topic 'Taking conversations beyond low pitched whispers' at Blogadda I had to reconsider this queer and pre conceptualized  idea, just one among the many which most of us own. Back to my handbag, frankly it did not have anything that a guy should not see. But yeah being a girl I had to tell him that and he was kind enough not to snub. Many of you may agree with what I did, something similar must have happened to you too. But if you were to look at instances like this from a sensible and simpler perspective, we all live in a very make believe world of femininity where in the open less is said and lesser is done. ‘Ladies Matter’ you see.

A week back or so I had blogged about it when this particular ad was under the limelight, as I said in that post there is a lot more to women empowerment. Matters as sensitive as intimate health are usually camouflaged under hesitancy, fear, myths and misconceptions. This happens even among the well educated. And more so among the men, if you were to ask the best of the gentlemen in town anything about what he knows of women, you will not be surprised if he come up with anything less than appreciably serious. The weak link is this:

  

“What you do not know, you do not respect”

Thus begins the entire problem. What has happened over the years and is happening in the past few days, everything in the news is proof enough. Also what we should not forget is that there is a thin line between privacy and opening up, knowing is necessary but what you do with the knowing is what is more important. What we know may go against somebody’s dignity, in such circumstances it is better to keep the issue behind the curtain. What we end up doing is keeping everything behind it for all safe purposes, and for that nobody in particular is to be blamed, a fault nevertheless.

‘The right to know, the responsibility to care and the freedom to share’ well it takes just that to make sure every woman keeps herself in the best of her state. This applies to every man too. I say this as a doctor having seen women, women from all classes who go through the same ordeal. There is no difference among them in fact. There is so much that needs to be done in every department that is concerned, from our thought to our action. A genuine approach by each one is the best start. Because each lady matters, she really does. What needs us and what we need, the sooner we realize and make the others realize the better.

-R.

This post is a part of the weekend blogging contest at BlogAdda.com in association with 18again.com