Mary & Sussanne

For last 4 night + I was feverishly reading Arundhati Roy’s ode to her mother Mary Roy and to her journey from Kottayam to SPA, Delhi to acting, to script writing, Booker & now a activist writer. I am writing this post to exorcise my heightened awareness of her journey. It was intense almost like Shantaram the book about Mumbai underworld although this was about the under belly of Delhi and the powers that be (of Delhi).

I think most of us read The God of Small Things - loved it for reason not known to us (at least to me). It was not a love story, a crime novel or a saga. I couldn’t club it with anything it had it’s own language, own rhythm, own intensity - a latent anger which I could feel it in the language. The sarcastic tone / scorn. I read the book again few months back, when Somak who reviews books wrote about it in its 25th anniversary yr. And this time I understood a bit better - the whole story came back to me but I could relate to the English and the uniqueness much better. Having read 100’s of book in those 25 years I still found it unique.

But I never understood her move to activism - I never had the time. I read her next fiction which I found harsh and rough. It had the same intensity but the setting was a bizarre - graveyard, intersex women (hijra in common language) who has a guest house in the graveyard and lot of political overtone. The book explains why ? 

If you are curios about “Why does a person do what she does & why does a person become what she becomes?” you will fall in love with the book. Because the book is not just the journey but the Why? Of the journey - mental dialogues, view and perspectives which shaped her entry into films and then books. We all go thru it ? We all read about the success stories of CEO’s or great leaders - icons - They are printed because people want to become that. There are life lessons and aspirations for many.

This book falls does not fall into any of this category. Afterall, which booker winner has gone to jail, or has cases filed against her and gets death threats. Salman Rushdie maybe but for a different reason altogether.

I also loved it because in my heart I always wanted to be a rebel and became a small time one during my college and initial work life for a decade. The normal routine - nothing political. Then corporate life and raising a family consumed me, like it does for most of us coming from scarcity to money and it’s privileges.

I admired iconoclasts - still do. People who challenge the normal or do out of the ordinary. Hers was a unique combination of writing and activism which is become rarer and rarer in recent time. It’s a battle field which you get drawn into and need real belief, perseverance, ability to fight - physically and mentally, put relationships in block and a lot more.

I am too old for this - reading is the only way of experiencing it. Thank Orudhati.

Postscript:

After reading this I am curious to know why has Amitav Ghosh one of my favorite writer has become so obsessed with climate change that most of his recent books revolves around that.