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Literary Review
Tides of change
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The Betrayal marks a significant change in middle-class attitudes to gender issues, says PREMA NANDAKUMAR.
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FOR a while, Sivasankari's novelette, The Betrayal appears like R.K. Narayan's Iruttu Arai revisited. In the place of Ramani, his wife Savitri and their three children (two daughters and one son, of course), we have Murthy, Chandra and their children, Mano, Mallika and Manju. The male animal in Ramani-Murthy goes after the office-assistant Shanta-Nalini. In six decades, people have not changed much in the middle class households of Tamil Nadu. If Ramani's callousness raises the ire of Savitri, Murthy's bestiality strikes fire in Chandra's heart. Only, there is a marked and a very significant change in The Betrayal. Savitri leaves her home, but Chandra throws out Murthy. Unlike Savitri who swallows her pride and returns, Chandra is able to have her way because she is rich and all the assets are in her name. The thought-processes of Savitri and Chandra across the chasm of six decades could very well yield much for the student of social psychology, since both Narayan and Sivasankari are expert craftsmen.
Like R.K. Narayan, Sivasankari has mastered long and short fiction with equal felicity. Though she has may facets (journalist, social activist, no-nonsense interviewer), there is no rigid compartmentalisation in her works. All her writings articulate her concern for women who have been receiving a raw deal in a patriarchal society. Poor or rich, a woman suffers most of the time, and unless she fights back, there is not going to be any future for her. The Betrayal sighs with relief that Chandra had had enough sense in matters of money. "She had not succumbed to Murthy's charms and had insisted the property remain in her name." The sentence also carries a warning for other women and an unshed tear for women who still sail in the same boat with Narayan's Savitri.
While Sivasankari brings out the splendidly null existence of Chandra (and the eruption of devil's fire later) with narrative expertise, she is not for curmudgeonish rebellion on the part of wives who simmer with imagined woes. There is thematic variety in the 15 short stories that follow The Betrayal. A lack of patience and understanding between "made for each other couples" tires Sivasankari; she turns away from the shallowness of house-proud women who are myopic regarding what lies below the surface; and wilts to watch the aspirational love of growing children ignored by working mothers. We are also made to realise that there can even be a brand of selfish motherhood as in "Stepney." A mocking smile (accompanied by self-criticism) must needs touch our lips when we read "The Flow and the Ebb." Aren't we all Poorani and Kesavan? So much for Portia's lisping about the gentle rain that blesseth the giver as well as him that takes! The spirit is certainly weak!
"Squirrels and the Guava Fruit" contains a marvellous embroidery of observations. Squirrel lovers, lizard lovers, human lovers. Nature's urge is the base-plank of their prancing around and enclaspment. Nothing more. Except for the human beings who are gifted with free will. They can soar high in the spaces of pure love or get trapped in swinishness. What a tragedy for man that he chooses the latter most of the time! The transcreations reflect well Sivasankari's intention and Thotaa Tharani has done the same for the cover design. Thotaa Tharani creates marvels of stage decoration in the heart of steaming Chennai with grass and palm fronds. Here too we have a healthy bull being led through the nose by a pair of hands tinkling with bangles. Indeed Sivasankari's Murthy and Nalini have been rendered immortal.
The Betrayal and Other Stories, Sivasankari, transcreated in English from Tamil by Ameeta Agnihotri and Geetha Radhakrishnan, East West Books, 2002, p.230, Rs. 150.
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