Quest to demystify life’s gamut

Chandni S. Chandel

Feminism is one of the most over-rated topics in panel discussions, protests, drawing room conversations. Krupa Ge’s book, as the name ‘What We Know About Her’ suggests, may give a premonition of sorts regarding its content. But how she treats the subject of womanhood is far from sermonising.

The story is about a young researcher, Yamuna, who has a mind of her own, and stuck on her idiosyncrasies, wanders around to uncover her maternal family’s secrets which nobody, from her mother to aunt to grandfather who are in different ages and stages of life, wants to talk about. In the quest to find answers to her questions, she learns the deep secrets of life which usually dawn with age.

It’s not always about equality with men that women want to talk about. Womanhood has been given the respect which not everybody acknowledges. The story gives an insight into how marriageable age has evolved, how a suppressed woman’s thoughts take wings; how women, who constantly have young girls on their radar of criticism, impose their own beliefs through their behaviour. It explores the ‘rhythm’ in our everyday lives which tends to make us bear every wrong and every right as part of our destiny.

The most impressionable character is her maternal grandfather towards whom not just Yamuna but the reader also feels the warmth of a family elder. Every family generally has enigmatic characters like her revolutionary maternal grand-aunt Lalitha, whose lifestyle most people would envy but were they to live through it, they would have given up on life.

The book brings you face to face with the vicissitudes of life —- women facing lewd situations in overcrowded buses; the adrenalin rush youngsters feel in the presence of the opposite sex; feeling sorry for old people when youngsters make the vanishing act.

The story talks about the relationship of the mother-daughter duo and how generally a young daughter never sees her mirror image in her mother, but could actually be one.

Music and old letters help weave the story and are in sync with the story-telling format. The author has been able to maintain the suspense of the life-shattering letter which she had been looking for, but fails to impress at the end with any explosive revelation. There are a few loose ends — how did Lalitha die, where did the atypical smell emanate from the house which everybody else except Yamuna had the olfactory for?

The story is open-ended with no ‘lived happily ever’ ending which we usually see in Indian films and novels. Life’s lessons have been replicated in a soul-stirring way; it might instill an urge to be closer to your parents, grandparents, relatives by the time you finish reading the book.