Here I am ( P.Sathyavathi)
English translation of
‘Sathyavathi Kadhalu’ was released recently in
Hyderabad . It is difficult for a writer of the wattage of Sathyavathi to
press the pause button. Hardly had the reader finished reading her previous
anthology, here she is offering an English translation of ‘Sathyavathi
Kadhalu’, was released recently in Vijayawada. In half a century of
storytelling, she has become a synonym for the short story. The stories
hurl metaphysical questions at the reader.
In view of limited space, we take up a few of the listed stories that
interpret her feminist philosophy. In ‘Damayanti’s Daughter’, the daughter
talks about the tumult raging in her bosom, arising from the disappearance
of her mother from home when she was still a school-going kid.
She relates the aftermath of the event and the rumour mill it has activated
to a roommate. The part describing the daughter’s memories of missing a
mother who would wait outside her house to hug the kid returning from
school, the mother who allayed her coming of age anxieties was handled with
finesse.
A paternal aunt joins the girl to cushion her pain. As her father remarries
and brings the daughter a new mother, the aunt suggests matrimony. Intent
upon proving to herself that her mother is not a runaway she rejects the
aunt’s proposal. In an eloquent sentence, the writer unscrambles the young
girl’s dilemma by making her brother say that she (the mother) had a right
to choose her path.
Nameless is a story short in size, an elegy in prose on the anonymity of a
class living on the edge of death, evoking the contempt of the haves and
disdain in the corridors of power. A poor mother encourages her daughter
aiming high to go to college so that it would get her a good husband.
One day, the girl fails to return home. The poor parents and her brother
wear themselves out persuading the police to trace her. The police
routinely summon them to identify unclaimed bodies and talk ill of girls
reported missing. The parents are driven to such despair that they just are
happy to know if the girl is dead or alive.
The passages relating to the emotional upheaval of the girl’s family torn
between hope and despair and its ultimate surrender to destiny are touching.
‘Will He Come Home?’ is set in an unconventional dialogue format the writer
adroitly pulls off. It is between Vijaya the mother and her grandmother
Savitramma. Vijaya’s son, a student of engineering, always reaches home
before it is dark. That day he has not returned even after the last of TV
programmes is over after all the vehicles have pulled into the parking lot
of the complex and the daily life in the neighbourhood has ebbed. Their
imagination runs riot with the passage of every minute, projecting negative
and mortal scenarios.
Why did the boy who always calls the mother if he is late failed to call
now? Is he injured or killed in a road accident? If so, wouldn’t the police
or a passerby inform them? The grandmother who saw more of life than her
daughter pins her faith in hope. Nothing happens to alleviate the
daughter’s fears. It is a day now, the doorbell rings and the grandmother
frantically asks the servant maid to see if it is the boy.
The narrative never sags because of occasional humour. ‘City of Spells and
City of Charms’ opens with a mother visiting America to see her daughter.
The mother accompanies the daughter to a house warming bash where American
gadgetry, Indian silks and gold are on display. An exchange of vanities
follows.
From here the story meanders eclipsing the objective of highlighting NRI
dilemmas of longing and belonging, visa problems and so on. It is the
starting point of a free for all of storytelling, disparate and far-fetched
accounts of human behaviour. The story defies categorisation. If there is a
message in ending it with a pied paper selling capitalism it is not clear.
‘The Seven Colors of a Rainbow’ is Sathyavathi’s brand new story with two
protagonists. It is about the generation gap and the impact colours make on
the human psyche. Another message concerns the bane of outsourcing parental
care. Swarna, the young girl in the story, has aspirations and the old
woman she nurses is mesmerised by colours. They stoke nostalgia in her. The
two interact like adversaries but reconcile to the inevitability of each
for the other.
Hemalathamma recruits Swarna on behalf of a Subba Rao who runs an
organisation that supplies nurses to take care of old people needing care.
This is how the old woman and Swarna come together in a love and hate
relationship. To serve the old woman is no picnic. The old woman is so
handicapped she needs Swarna to bathe her, to wash her body after
defecation, wash her faeces-smeared clothes.
But the centrepiece of the narrative is the old woman’s love of colours she
sates by buying sarees in her favourite colours. The story shows
Sathyavathi as an ace dialogist. Sathyavathi’s background as a short
storyteller, playwright, feminist, essayist and columnist and the awards
and laurels she keeps winning makes her the doyen of the Telugu short story
establishment.
------------------------------
Dasu Krishnamoorty
Hyderabad . It is difficult for a writer of the wattage of Sathyavathi to
press the pause button. Hardly had the reader finished reading her previous
anthology, here she is offering an English translation of ‘Sathyavathi
Kadhalu’, was released recently in Vijayawada. In half a century of
storytelling, she has become a synonym for the short story. The stories
hurl metaphysical questions at the reader.
In view of limited space, we take up a few of the listed stories that
interpret her feminist philosophy. In ‘Damayanti’s Daughter’, the daughter
talks about the tumult raging in her bosom, arising from the disappearance
of her mother from home when she was still a school-going kid.
She relates the aftermath of the event and the rumour mill it has activated
to a roommate. The part describing the daughter’s memories of missing a
mother who would wait outside her house to hug the kid returning from
school, the mother who allayed her coming of age anxieties was handled with
finesse.
A paternal aunt joins the girl to cushion her pain. As her father remarries
and brings the daughter a new mother, the aunt suggests matrimony. Intent
upon proving to herself that her mother is not a runaway she rejects the
aunt’s proposal. In an eloquent sentence, the writer unscrambles the young
girl’s dilemma by making her brother say that she (the mother) had a right
to choose her path.
Nameless is a story short in size, an elegy in prose on the anonymity of a
class living on the edge of death, evoking the contempt of the haves and
disdain in the corridors of power. A poor mother encourages her daughter
aiming high to go to college so that it would get her a good husband.
One day, the girl fails to return home. The poor parents and her brother
wear themselves out persuading the police to trace her. The police
routinely summon them to identify unclaimed bodies and talk ill of girls
reported missing. The parents are driven to such despair that they just are
happy to know if the girl is dead or alive.
The passages relating to the emotional upheaval of the girl’s family torn
between hope and despair and its ultimate surrender to destiny are touching.
‘Will He Come Home?’ is set in an unconventional dialogue format the writer
adroitly pulls off. It is between Vijaya the mother and her grandmother
Savitramma. Vijaya’s son, a student of engineering, always reaches home
before it is dark. That day he has not returned even after the last of TV
programmes is over after all the vehicles have pulled into the parking lot
of the complex and the daily life in the neighbourhood has ebbed. Their
imagination runs riot with the passage of every minute, projecting negative
and mortal scenarios.
Why did the boy who always calls the mother if he is late failed to call
now? Is he injured or killed in a road accident? If so, wouldn’t the police
or a passerby inform them? The grandmother who saw more of life than her
daughter pins her faith in hope. Nothing happens to alleviate the
daughter’s fears. It is a day now, the doorbell rings and the grandmother
frantically asks the servant maid to see if it is the boy.
The narrative never sags because of occasional humour. ‘City of Spells and
City of Charms’ opens with a mother visiting America to see her daughter.
The mother accompanies the daughter to a house warming bash where American
gadgetry, Indian silks and gold are on display. An exchange of vanities
follows.
From here the story meanders eclipsing the objective of highlighting NRI
dilemmas of longing and belonging, visa problems and so on. It is the
starting point of a free for all of storytelling, disparate and far-fetched
accounts of human behaviour. The story defies categorisation. If there is a
message in ending it with a pied paper selling capitalism it is not clear.
‘The Seven Colors of a Rainbow’ is Sathyavathi’s brand new story with two
protagonists. It is about the generation gap and the impact colours make on
the human psyche. Another message concerns the bane of outsourcing parental
care. Swarna, the young girl in the story, has aspirations and the old
woman she nurses is mesmerised by colours. They stoke nostalgia in her. The
two interact like adversaries but reconcile to the inevitability of each
for the other.
Hemalathamma recruits Swarna on behalf of a Subba Rao who runs an
organisation that supplies nurses to take care of old people needing care.
This is how the old woman and Swarna come together in a love and hate
relationship. To serve the old woman is no picnic. The old woman is so
handicapped she needs Swarna to bathe her, to wash her body after
defecation, wash her faeces-smeared clothes.
But the centrepiece of the narrative is the old woman’s love of colours she
sates by buying sarees in her favourite colours. The story shows
Sathyavathi as an ace dialogist. Sathyavathi’s background as a short
storyteller, playwright, feminist, essayist and columnist and the awards
and laurels she keeps winning makes her the doyen of the Telugu short story
establishment.
------------------------------
Dasu Krishnamoorty
Hans India 20 th January 2019
No comments:
Post a Comment