My Sainted Aunts
I have grown up surrounded by women, my mothers loquacious circle of sisters, cousins, sisters in laws and friends. From kitty parties, to weddings, jagrata and mournings, I would tag along with my mother and listen to my many aunts tell their tales. Cranky mother in laws, absent minded husbands, vicious other women, lazy maids and disobedient daughter in laws were a constant topic. Add to it the exchange of recipes, cooked food, family secrets, gossips, invitations, travel plans and day to day wisdom was witnessed and learned by me.
So when I found the book titled ‘My Sainted Aunts’ by our indigenous women author Bulbul Sharma, I had to read it. I had greatly enjoyed her previous book of Eating women, telling Tales. After all the women gossip and stories all have their genesis in the kitchen.
How ever this book of short stories ventures out, telling tales possibly fictionalised version of the authors many aunts. These aunts travel abroad, get married to new far off places, leave their husbands, their train journeys, or pilgrimages. Rooted in the Indian culture and the tales of the tongue. It’s true to its core giving voices to the women who dared to venture across the sanctity of their thresholds.
However they drag and meander unnecessarily at various points. A 5 page story becomes a 20 pager and I wonder when do we get to the obvious ending which also becomes quite uneventful. While well written, the editor could have done a better job by editing and probably some spell correct. Overall a nice read but could have been better.
Comments
Post a Comment