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Literary Review
Mother goddess
GIVEN that martyrs are more palatable admired at a respectable distance than encountered up close, I opened Home Truths with trepidation, wondering if I would be able to take 200-odd pages of mothers battling to parent alone.
Amazingly, the book isn't unbearable — even the single non-parent will find it thought-provoking. The author has foregrounded the women she has interviewed, texturing the book with their stark, often moving, voices. Mehrotra's own analyses and insights, backed up with a scholar's battery of footnotes, are tucked away at the back.
Her abstinence from moral judgements is another strength, and her restraint in not painting horns on the men. There are single mothers here who chose it: even two who opted for children outside marriage. One of these, mother of a child by a boyfriend who speedily became ancient history, reflects with charming frankness on her inability to sustain relationships: "I tell myself I have to be good this time. I have to stick it out."
The women range from agricultural workers to affluent businesswomen. Survival meant eating just rice and salt to some and finding the right playschool to others. The common factor was the fierce focus on the child, which often cancelled out other aspects of life, including new relationships. Like one Hindu widow here says of not wearing white: "I was interested in feeding my children rather than fussing over what colour I was wearing." Home truth indeed.
Home Truths, Deepti Priya Mehrotra, Penguin, Rs. 250.
ANURADHA ROY
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