Book Review by Meenakshi Malhotra
Title: Aunties of Vasant Kunj
Author: Anuradha Marwah
Publisher: Rupa Publications, India
A well-conceived and captivating take on the lives and circumstances of three different women who happen to inhabit the same building in the middle class not so ‘posh’ locality in South Delhi called Vasant Kunj, Anuradha Marwah’s observations about class, domesticity and “auntyhood” in the novel are both humorous and accurate. With three novels in her authorial bag, the fourth, Aunties of Vasant Kun,j revisits that time in a woman’s life when she is supposedly teetering on the verge of being middle-aged , somewhat on the wrong side of forty, except that the “aunties” are nowhere near “auntie-dom” understood in the conventional sense. In fact, in the 21st century urban churn, women and men are probably more unsettled than ever before, and often embrace that uncertainty. The subtle or not so subtle tension between traditional gender roles and expectations and the actual lives of urban middle class women is wittily and sensitively portrayed in this extremely readable novel.
The three women are almost wholly different from each other except in the fact that each of them is grappling with their own struggles where they have to juggle multiple issues. The protagonists are Shailaja, raw from her recent experience of betrayal by her long-standing boyfriend and facing harrassment at her workplace; Dini, in a demanding job with an international NGO, a single-parented child, experiencing a half-acknowledged attraction to a handsome grass-roots activist and Mrs Gandhi who has subsumed her identity in the household resulting in a sense of neglect and loss of confidence. Ignored by her husband who seems to spend more time with his secretary than with his wife, we realise that Sunil “Casanova” Gandhi has not only a roving eye, but is actively engaged in pursuit of other women. In a clever sleight of hand, Anuradha Marwah turns a slice of life novel focusing on the everyday lives of women into a delicious take on the new modern woman as she navigates the quicksands of desire and domesticity, motherhood, meditation and professional commitments, simultaneously.
Shailaja, a newly single academic whose workplace woes are comparable to her messy not-quite-resolved (are they ever?) relationship with a recalcitrant ex who meanders in and out of her life, moves into Vasant Kunj which also houses the hospitable Mrs Gandhi, and the prickly Dini, who is fierce about guarding her privacy. The latter has also become equally adept at dodging both the hospitality as well as the probing questions thrown her way by the determined- to- be- friendly Mrs Gandhi. Mrs Nilima Gandhi has her own share of troubles-a difficult mother-in -law, a cheating husband who has a roving eye that preys upon other women, a dismissive daughter who gangs up with her father to demean her mother — all these combine in varying degrees to further lower her already plummeting self-esteem. She is rescued from the throes of self-pity by the timely intervention of Mrs Malhotra and Navneeta Singh who encourage her to adopt the Buddhist practice of chanting as a way to address her problems. Listening to Mrs Singh’s optimistic projections, Mrs Gandhi experiences a twinge of doubt but nevertheless goes about it with single minded determination to transform her life and turn it around. As some things start falling into place for her, Shailaja and Dini, the three women strike an unlikely friendship which provides a holding structure as they negotiate everyday challenges. Dini ‘succumbs’ to the abrasive charms of Radhey Shyam and Shailaja is able to shake off the vestiges of her previous relationship and take a bold new step forward. Mrs Gandhi is able to regain a sort of equilibrium.
As the women collectively register and celebrate their small and big victories in the course of the novel’s unfolding, we as readers are brought face to face with a relatively new sub-genre in the Indian English novel. It is the story of women by women narrated with both humour and compassion, occupying a niche in popular literature between chick-lit and mature women’s fiction, between popular and literary fiction. It actually challenges taxonomies of ‘literary’ vs ‘popular’ fiction. This is clear from the choice of a title that is quite a masterstroke. Though it sounds subversive, the title seems to be the choice of an author who refuses to take herself too seriously. The lightness of tone is sustained as the novel critiques societal attitudes towards single women and the entitled behaviour of men who are never held responsible or called to account within patriarchy. Perhaps the only deviation from the lightness of tone is the autobiographical fragment towards the close of the novel which provides a sort of afterword articulating the impulse and desire to write the Aunties of Vasant Kunj. Post-publication, when the author was asked what impels her to create fiction, she replied that it was the hope of getting a glimpse of all the other lives that she might have lived. Marwah has achieved a fine balance in nuancing all her characters, making their stories at once convincing and identifiable.
She has depicted the rhythms of everyday life and nuanced the dialogues to suggest a bilingual sensibility. Cinematic and captivating, Aunties of Vasant Kunj provides plenty of fun and frolic without trivialising the serious concerns and conflicts of the three protagonists. Marwah’s humour is spot on, and she does not miss a beat in capturing the water woes and other roadblocks of quotidian life in the sprawling urban metropolis /megapolis of Delhi. The novel is likely to resonate with many readers in its highlighting of vital aspects of life in the city, along with the varied kinds of crises experienced daily.
The novel narrates the stories of its protagonists with verve and humour and with exactly the ‘mot juste’ or the right words to irradiate them, creating a smorgasboard of delights for the reader.
Click here to read the book excerpt
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Dr Meenakshi Malhotra is Associate Professor of English Literature at Hansraj College, University of Delhi, and has been involved in teaching and curriculum development in several universities. She has edited two books on Women and Lifewriting, Representing the Self and Claiming the I, in addition to numerous published articles on gender, literature and feminist theory. Her most recent publication is The Gendered Body: Negotiation, Resistance, Struggle.
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