Tiddas by Anita Heiss

Tiddas by Anita Heiss

You cannot help but pick up the book ‘Tiddas’ authored by Anita Heiss. The spray of big blue jacarandas on a white cover of a bigger –than-usual-size novel, makes it impossible to miss.  Besides the attractive cover, the title intrigues the reader and you would like to know what it means. Tiddas is an Australian aboriginal word which means sisters.  The story is about five best friends who have grown up together and are now approaching midlife. They know each other inside out and have stood together through thick and thin. There comes a point in their lives where each one harbours a deep secret inside her.  When one day the pandora’s box opens, they become privy to hidden stories that they haven’t told one another –“ indeed the truth is the hardest to share.”

Izzy , soon to be the first black woman in New South Wales to host her own TV show , is shocked to find out that she is pregnant and has to choose between her media career and her baby.  On the other hand,  Xanthe has been desperately trying to conceive since years.  In spite of a good marriage,  she feels incomplete, because motherhood is the ultimate achievement for  Koori women of the Wiragjuri  community in Australia.  Veronica, the diehard wife and mother, has been served divorce papers. Her three precious sons have all grown up and gone into the world.  She is lonely and floundering to find meaning in life beyond being a homemaker.  Ellen, the spinster and community worker enjoys being single and free.  She is visited by love and is in turmoil, needing advice how best to handle her emotions.  And lastly, Nadine the successful white woman writer, is out of grips with herself, grappling with alcoholism and mood swings (onset of menopause) she can hardly contain within. 

Izzy and Nadine are not just friends but are related.  Izzy’s brother Richards is married to Nadine. The marriage is cozy and intimate, wherein Richard is the home maker, a reversal of roles for a man of the Wiradjuri community.  He is frowned upon by the Murri women (Aborgines in Queensland) in Brisbane where they live close to the countryside and back home by his Koori mother and elderly aunts.  Moreover, with Nadine’s  uncharacteristic rude behaviour, there is uneasiness between friends and family groups.  But the strength of the book is the unconditional bond between Richard and Nadine overriding distinctions of colour, class and race.      

Besides jacarandas lining the river and the town of Brisbane and appearing every now and then in the course of the book, Queensland’s cultural precincts too find a mention in the novel through the activities of the five women.  From the town and city, readers are taken to the aboriginal countryside for community festivals and family funerals. The rituals and practices of the Wiradjuri people to which Ellen, Xanthe and Izzy belong have been dwelt upon in detail by the author. The aboriginal community centre and the myriad activities keep the reader abreast of the indigenous flavour of the communities of Australia.

And just like the Jacarandas appear in different colours, so do the many aboriginal tribes and people through the novel, bound by common threads of humanness.  It could also be a metaphor for the five women cutting across colour wars, the black and white deadly tiddas; distinct in mood and mannerism but tied together by strong unbreakable cords of love and friendship.  The one line epigraph, a quote by Virginia Woolf, “Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends” shines a torch on the theme of the novel beautifully.  The book’s dedication adds to it - “to my tiddas for lifting me from life’s moments of darkness into the light again.”

Another very interesting feature of the novel is the book club that rocking tiddas are a part of and they call themselves ‘Vixens’, an acronym for their names.  Book tours, launches and literary agents complete the score in the social celebrity lifestyle of the character of Nadine.  The book activity becomes a strategic stylistic prop used by the author to have multiple meetings of the friends where the action in the novel then plays out. Through this situational group activity, the author very smartly highlights the classical and contemporary literature of Australia. The novels under discussion through the book at various points are:  Legacy by Larrissa Behrendt, The old School by PM Newton, The Boundary by Nicole Watson, My Husband’s Lovers by Susan Johnson, The Tall Man by Chloe Hooper .........

The author folds in a lot of religious ritualistic information through the character of Ellen. Otherwise a free woman, she is a funeral celebrant i.e. she conducts the funeral services of the close-knit Koori ethnic group and supports them during the hours of crisis by giving a honourable rite of passage to the dead members of the community.  This brings in a lot of traditional ritualistic information to the reader.  An unusual vocation for a woman, its inclusion lends a realistic edge to the novel on life and kinship.

Dr Anita Heiss is a writer, activist and a proud member of the Wiradjuri nation of central NSW.  To know more about her you can watch her at the 2013 presentation at TEDxBrisbane.

Book Review - Sleeping On Jupiter

Sleeping On Jupiter by Anuradha Roy

 Sleeping on Jupiter by  Anuradha Roy

“Spotlight” garnered the best picture and best original screenplay award at the Oscars.  And rightly so, mainly for its content.  It portrays case stories followed by investigative journalist team of The Boston Globe, ‘Spotlight’, into the child sex-abuse by Roman Catholic priests.  In a similar vein, Anuradha Roy’s ‘Sleeping on Jupiter’ was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2015, and it won the DSC prize for literature this year. The author delineates a predatory account of the Spiritual Gurus in ashrams in temple towns of India. Sexual energy is forceful, demonic and all consuming.  It overrides other human qualities of virtue, aesthetics, compassion and empathy.

The story is told in first person by Nomi and by an omniscient narrator who between them, bring alive a whole set of characters and a temple town Jarmuli near the sea.  Nomita Frederiksen is an assistant documentary film maker who has decided to come to Jarmuli to unearth nightmarish dreams which prey on her at night.  She is in search of her mother who had abandoned her to the boat people near the open sea as a little girl and an ashram with its charismatic Guru who had visited horror and cruelty on her and her orphaned girlfriends in the name of security and love.

 Interwoven into the fictionalized fabric are the fleshed out portrayals of three conventional old women – Gauri, Latika and Vidya , who are on a holiday to Jarmuli and are grappling with their conservative lifestyles and cultural ethos. Pulled in both directions, they do entertain thoughts of freedom and escape from the shackles of traditional beliefs and customs. On the other hand, Badal, their temple guide struggles with his feelings of same-sex love with Raghu.  Teaming with Nomi, Suraj, the photographer, has his own demons to decipher and contend with.

Johnny Toppo, the tea stall man on the beach, is the Wise man in the story who has come to terms with good and evil in life and sings while at work. He refuses to be drawn into the darkness of past and memory, a space that Nomi at 25 years of age still desperately struggles with.  She wants concrete answers which the mysteries of life do not allow her.  Interspersed with her present endeavours at Jarmuli, she reconstructs the ashram of the past with dark colours and demonic characters perpetuating cruel deeds on innocent minds.

The author also juxtaposes violence and misogyny with the pursuit of sexual fulfilment.  Insatiate desires or denial lead the men to heap abuses and physical punishment on their women and children. A history rich in erotic paintings and sculptures in temples perpetuates child abuse and suppresses sexual drives of women.  A society which sanctions man and his desires stands in staunch denial when it comes to the question of women and their right to be as they are.

Anuradha paints stark and strong imagery in her writing. “Everyone said Guruji was God. Now she knew they were right. She stayed awake for most of the night with the fruit next to her pillow. She did not know when she fell asleep. In the morning, the fruit’s pulp was like blood on her sheets. Dark red.”  Visceral feelings surface with deft stokes of color.  “She patted the camel’s side and said,’Go! Run!Far! You’re free now!’ The camel didn’t move. It hung its head looking too weary to take another step. The girl pushed the camel, ‘Shoo, go ....before they come back. It’s your life.’  The camel stood its ground. It had never heard these words before, nor the tone of voice. Then it took one tentative step to the left, and then another. Above her, the sky is opal.”

The author also contrasts backgrounds of characters and their ultimate leanings.  Nomi, in spite of her traumatizing past and ghosts in her psyche, strives for sanity– unraveling and groping through her darkness.  Suraj, on the other hand, who comes from a middle class Indian family, the boy with a beautiful face “Suraj in the Sun” has a broken marriage behind me.  Dopey-eyed and degenerate, he meets his nemesis in the end – forever engulfed in the darkness of the waves and Nomi rides the waves to a better future in the north – Norway where her foster family lives.  Fate plays its own tune irrespective of earthly contexts.

Humor enters the book through the three women and their doings during their stay at Jarmuli. “ Every year that passed seemed to make Gouri more plump. Her limbs were spindly, but her torso was a mound, a pumpkin perched on matchsticks. It was a small miracle she didn’t topple. Then she noticed a man selling tea in clay cups. She could not remember when she had last had tea smelling of rain. She told herself she would get at least three cups right away, to make up ; she was certain she wanted to drink three cups.”

But the overriding factor that holds the reader is the searing lyrical prose through which the author successfully unmasks the hidden face of Indian spirituality, the treacherous hypocrisy of sexual abuse in India. Where women still fast for the lives of their husbands, but are exploited by men even before they reach puberty. Spiritualism and religion demands sacrifices from women, they are here to give pleasure, or the only other way they can survive is as Goddesses, the earthly incarnate being the ever sacrificing motherly women. The story also provides them another alternative – of an escape to the west to be able to live a more humanly normal life.

“And that is why we read fiction at all”  

Book Review - 'Consequences'

         Book Review

Drinking and Driving  (DAD) ,  a menace on Indian roads, forms the central theme of the book ‘Consequences, ‘ written by Nigel Fernandes.  Secret conspirators are at work to STOPDAD , a calling card which is left with every accused that they target and eradicate.  Their DADly list constitutes names of persons accused for drinking and driving and playing with innocent people’s lives.  It’s time to face the consequences for  their carelessness and negligence through a timely terrifying reality, rather than waiting for a  judicial system caught in red-tape,  intricate channels and endless delays.  Justice is a concept in the minds of the population but for the vigilante conspiracy at work,  muscle power is a reality and they are covering ground fast through their clean and targeted operations.

Colourful Bombay, with its quota of famous celebrities, roots the timeline of the book.  The pace is modest and a lucid description of the gory murders holds the reader’s attention for more to come. The special task force at work to solve the murders is quintessentially muddled and the media is portrayed at its sensational best. Tip-offs of the murders to a lady reporter echo the action in the movie ‘A Wednesday’. The plot and execution of the novel befits a TV thriller series or even a Bollywood flick.

Each new chapter jumpstarts a sequel event in progression and pushes the plot to a climax with its surprise element. The dedication of the book and clues all along authenticate the larger DAD conspiracy, such that the final twist does take the reader unawares. The tutorials on Indian Penal Code and biological responses of the human body to surgical treatments can lead the reader to further research. The relationship of the protagonist to his sister and close family is sweet and inspite of his huge ego, he comes across as an obedient and endearing person.  

The book is a quick-read and would appeal to those who read on kindle or have an inclination for short stories. The language is easy and flowing with no intricate references. An entertainer on a wet rainy day, when other options are limited and one is confined at home. The writer has managed to convey a social issue through his story and the need for reappraisal of laws concerned with Drinking and Driving cases in the country at large.

A neat package recommended for a read while travelling, lounging or before sleeping. Happy Reading!

About the Author:  Nigel Fernandes lives in New Zealand. He grew up in Bombay and is a freelance marketing and media specialist. His other passions include wind surfing and running m

Difficult Pleasures Book column

                                                     Literary Conversations!

The other day, chin in hand, I sat listening to Anjum Hasan at the International Centre. I was all ears to her narrative of imagination which, she emphasized, was the core of fictional writing. Hearing her did not really grab me so much as the act of reading her collection of short stories ’Difficult Pleasures’. A summer release, the collage is like a deluge of a heavy downpour which you may set out to read in a light vein, but with the very first story you are left wondering deep in thought. To quote John Cournos, a literary critic, ‘A short story is not a ‘slice of life. Call it a ‘roll’ if you must – but, at any rate a whole roll.’ The stories do not follow the beaten track of a beginning, middle and an end. An anticlimax in the artistic sense, at times an understatement, or a whimper instead of the bang that the reader was expecting.

The story is one of the most ancient forms of literature; but the short story as a well defined sub- genre is a modern literary form. Epics have stories in them- and tragedies, comedies and the novel may have many stories at the same time. A short story has its own distinct form, and in English literature this may be said to have happened in the nineteenth century, with the lack of time to read full – length novels as life became busier and busier. Anjum Hasan revels in the luxury of variety, of trying out so many different garbs or voices; but the perfection lies in its brevity and pointedness and really in the feeling of expansion into life that penetrates our consciousness by means of a style that produces a sense of truth and richness. She views each story as a specific invention, a liberating experience to move out of her own skin and slip into a character’s head and find the language and psychology to tell their story – that’s where all the difficult pleasure is!

The book cover is a picture postcard from Goa with coconut palms and a sandy beach with a simulation of the effect of waves on the contours of a sandy coastline which is irrevocably changed with every assault of the ocean wave in multiple ways, the pattern, the silhouette a paradigm shift in perspective; with each story. The stories have urban settings with themes of displacement, longing and alienation imbued with a melancholic search for meaning, deeper connections, flair for creativity and sometimes an escape from a claustrophobic relationship or a flight from paranoia.

The reader is easily led into the interiority of the characters and more often than not the protagonists are solitary reapers exclusively binding and unwinding their lives, singing melancholic strains………... Characters are animated in deft strokes and their muddles, paradoxes archived using the stream of consciousness which builds crests and troughs diffusing situations and moments with a fluidity of a competent writer who has complete control on the design and structure of the narrative.

‘Revolutions’ is about a precocious child turned photographer who sees pictures in everyday things and freezes them into his frames. His endeavors are a face in a coconut husk, plastic that could be water and water that could be shadow. His quest for recognition makes him cling to a mentor and he himself becomes frozen in time. ‘Good Housekeeping’ unravels the deep emotional bond in a mother - daughter relationship. Ayana views the world through her mothers eyes. Her mother’s mood swings, tears, likes and dislikes are hers too. The last part of the story when she comes into her own is rendered with great mastery and subtlety. ‘The Big Picture’ walks away with all the laurels. It is a sweet story about an older woman who has cocooned herself in her house with her art works and then suddenly she is let out in the wide world with an opportunity to travel to Europe with her selected paintings for an exhibition and the attraction of seeing master works and meeting world renowned artists. A menopausal woman stranded and lost at airports and art galleries , talking and mumbling to herself, fidgeting with tampons, with her menopausal timing gone drastically wrong……... ‘Immanuel Kant in Shillong’ and ‘Banerjee and Banerjee’ are meanderings into rich philosophy and literature wherein characters try to imbue relationships gone awry with meaning and inspiration from books. In ‘Saturday Night’  Hasan with great dexterity recounts two simultaneous stories which cross each other just before the end and become intertwined ironically. Inayat and Hina sum-up the collection in the last story with a deep philosophy. However much you may love and treasure souls related to you in your life ; your journey is lone and solitary and you have to let everything go one day………

Here I would like to enumerate a few lines from the collection which had me mulling and ruminating long after……..

Her reflection in the blank, curtain less windows follows her from room to room as she brings out her things and slowly lets them fill the empty spaces.

It is possible to feel completely at home in the world but this is only because we have laid claim to a small space- a few rooms, certain streets, a familiar town – over which our habitual wanderings create grooves that we can comfortably slip into. In truth, the world is a strange and horrifying place.

You know, like  Borges said, each of our unthinking footsteps makes its way over the Golgothas of others.

God, how well we know the rules. Words, words, words and all that. Do you know the feeling of losing it all.  One moment and everything gone. The edifice gone. The shimmer gone. Just pills and clock hands left.

When Samir is afraid , he smiles – but Samir is doubled over from terror, trying both to break free of his father and ensure his father doesn’t abandon him.

I remember expounding on Kant’s categorical imperative. Act only on that maxim through which you can; at the same time, will that it should be a universal law.

Literature imbued with seriousness and gravity, a delight to a seasoned literary enthusiast. Each story opens up new avenues of literary conversations.  A story does not end with the last page but repeats itself interminably in your mind long after. For oft upon my couch I lie in a vacant or a pensive mood they flash upon the inward eye and I begin again on the road to philosophical tunings, literary analogies; a world unto itself. KUDOS ANJUM HASAN!