R Chudamani

Echoes of the Veena and other stories R Chudamani

This collection of eighteen stories in English translation is vintage Chudamani. The stories explore a variety of themes, such as the psychological landscape of a girl who had to stop going to school, of the insecurity of a mother who sucks the life out of her child, of a deserted woman who stands tall with her self-respect intact, of the loneliness of a forgotten actor of yester-years. Two stories tell the tales of two exceptional musicians (both dead) and their wives; but the likeness ends there. Two stories speak of two fathers and their daughters; but the similarity ends there. In the midst of simple, straightforward narration, the master storyteller makes a sharp, ironic comment on social barriers and taboos.

Chudamani understood children, she understood persons with disabilities; she understood men too. But many of her stories centre around the woman with her anxieties in the role of a wife, sister or mother. She tells us: this is how She is, She feels, and She lives and struggles. Chudamani does not judge; nor does she say that the woman is perfect.