Mad and Maternal

It’s a story told by Sharmila, or the abridged Mila, of life, falling in love and staying in love. It could be the story of any upper-crust Mumbai girl except that there are a series of complications here. Mila’s mother is sent off to serene Panchgani to recover from depression. Her father finds an almost instant replacement in his efficient secretary and merry widow Gita. But the mother returns. And the madness returns.

Then there is the love interest. Rayhaan, a Parsi-Punjabi hunk, whose looks belie purist arguments, reaffirming that crossbreeds get the best of both worlds. Rayhaan is infatuated by the mother, and the daughter by him.

In the complicated net of relationships, Mehta shows that the victims and persecutors in society are often all within our family. Mila’s maternal grandmother is an ogre as mother-in-law. She is no TV serial character. She is neither part of the new age brigade spouting faux sentiments of daughter-in-laws are daughters, nor is she member of the Machiavellian club. She simply believes her son’s wife is meant to be ill treated. And Mila’s aunt, after years of carrying the cross, shrugs it off in one supreme effort. The sheer effort appears to have exhausted her and she returns home. Why did she give up the fight? What makes women like her stay with misery?

Mehta earlier explored a women-centric theme in a play, Brides Are Not for Burning. It won first prize in a BBC competition. Her first novel And Some Take a Lover focussed on the divided loyalties of a Parsi family during the Quit India movement.

Through its passing observations and references, Mehta’s new novel catches snatches of life in a metro that’s constantly changing but never really changing. Minis may have replaced saris at parties but the pleats of traditional thinking are tucked firmly in place. So there’s Mila’s friend Ritu whose giving birth to a daughter is almost a community crisis, the only grace being that this was the first child. And of course there’s always that spiritual Hindu’s material consolation, girls are Lakshmi.

And the observations cut across community lines. At the wedding of her Parsi friend Baimai, Mila sees the banality of society weddings. “The festooned garden, the lights… the women wearing their ransoms on their bosoms… all the riot of expense, waste.” Baimai’s family is also living the ultimate Parsi nightmare: their son wants to marry a non-Parsi, a dark Goan Catholic.

The novel ends with Mila’s childhood dream coming true. Rayhaan, now a famous author, finally reciprocates her love. Mila’s brother too finds love in a convenient arrangement. Choosing an arranged match over his girlfriend, Vikram is your average well-brought up professional, a modern guy whose liberal thinking comes a far second to pragmatism.

Mila in Love is a racy novel that mixes a personal story with vaguely disturbing contemporary takes.