The Fabulous Feminist by Suniti Namjoshi

Author:Suniti Namjoshi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: feminism, women, gender, literary fiction, short stories, anthology, fiction
Publisher: Zubaan Books
Published: 2013-04-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Loathsome reptile

Asha the Apostate entered Madhu’s chambers. They were sparsely furnished and beautifully proportioned. Some of the furniture had been cut from the stone and on the right hand wall was a carving, as yet unfinished, of an enormous neem tree. Each one of the leaves was carefully delineated, right down to the serrated edges. Asha glanced at it and smiled at Madhu. ‘It’s coming along nicely. Mohan must be pleased with it. Have you a moment to spare?’

Madhu smiled back. ‘Yes, Mother, but we’ll have to be quiet. I’ve just managed to make Balu sleep. I don’t want him to wake up and start crying again.’

He rose to his feet and carried the baby to its little cot and tucked it in. The baby continued to sleep peacefully. For a moment they stood side by side and watched the sleeping baby.

‘It’s his teeth, of course,’ Asha murmured. ‘Is he all right otherwise?’

Madhu nodded. ‘I think so. He’s been a bit cranky.’

Asha patted Madhu’s shoulder. ‘You look tired.’

Madhu smiled. ‘I am a little. Balu cried through most of the night. I wish we lived somewhere where there were more trained mothers.’ He waited for his mother to sit, then sat down wearily.

Asha looked at him sitting there in his blue sarong and white kurta. Whatever the mothers of Maya thought, he was clever and graceful. And he was beautiful. She was proud of him. ‘Would you like to live in Maya Nagar?’ she asked him.

Madhu hesitated, ‘If you’d asked me yesterday, I might have said “Yes”, or “I don’t know”, but now I think not.’ He frowned slightly as he thought of the morning’s conversation.

‘Why?’ Asha inquired. ‘Did our visitors put you off?’ She was only mildly concerned.

‘No, not exactly,’ Madhu replied. ‘They were perfectly pleasant. It’s just that one of them described a society in which Ashans and Mayans lived together. It was horrible!’ Madhu grimaced. ‘She talked about slavery and other practices which seem unimaginable.’

Asha smiled at Madhu reassuringly. ‘Oh, I didn’t mean would you like to live in Maya as one of their “pretty boys”. I meant would you like to live in Maya as a fellow Mayan—as their equal?’

‘I suppose so,’ Madhu sounded doubtful. ‘You know, in the society Valerie described, the Mayans were the slaves and we owned them.’

‘Who is “we”?’ Asha looked at him sharply.

‘Ashans, of course. Who else?’ Madhu looked surprised.

‘I see,’ Asha sat up. ‘Well, I’m sorry to hear that our guests have been putting such rubbish into your head. Valerie, of course, is an outsider—not a Mayan.’

The disapproval in Asha’s voice was evident, but Madhu didn’t respond to it. He was trying to formulate a question. At last he said, ‘Mother, are you an Ashan or a Mayan?’

It took Asha by surprise. ‘What do you mean? I was born in Maya. I grew up in Maya, and I rule in Ashagad. I suppose if you must use these ridiculous labels, then I’m both.’

‘But can I be both?’ Madhu was frowning with the effort to think the matter through.

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