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Journalism of Courage
In The Great Indian Novel,Shashi Tharoor came up with the sterling premise of grafting the Mahabharata onto the post-1947 Indian political scenario. Though it suffered somewhat in execution,it remains his best work. While it is a pity that more Indian authors writing in English havent examined the possibilities of re-imagining and subverting the countrys epics and myths,theres consolation to be found in Alice Albinias first novel,Leelas Book.
This,too,takes as its starting point the interweaving of some of the Mahabharatas tales with contemporary India specifically the epics origin and mode of transmission and it does so with skill and verve. Albinias first book,a work of non-fiction about following the Indus to its source,was notable for its empathy,insight and linking of past and present. One finds the same qualities in her novel.
The Leela of the title,when we first meet her,is returning to India with her husband after two decades in New York to attend the nuptials of Sunita and Ash in New Delhi. The former is her husbands niece,betrothed to the son of Shiva Prasad,senior functionary of a right-wing party and guardian of the national identity,saviour of pure India. The oily Shiva is at loggerheads with the crafty Ved Vyasa Chaturvedi,Ashs father,a louche Sanskrit scholar,for the way in which he interprets Indian mythology. Leela is connected to Vyasa,too: shes the adopted sister of his wife,killed in a road accident years ago,and there are deeper secrets that they share.
Some of the others who clack against each other like billiard balls against the citys shifting surface include Aisha,a demure maidservant; Humayun,a chauffeur driven by impulse; the bohemian,London-returned Bharati,Vyasas daughter; Pablo,a journalist attracted by Bharati who uncovers a generation-old concealment; and Ram,Bharatis brother,who has a fling with Ash. As though these werent enough,theres also Linda,young British academic and friend of Bharatis,whose role,it must be said,comes across as a tad contrived.
Given all of these people and their separate arcs,it would have been wise to include a list of characters at the beginning of the novel; fortunately,Albinia is deft in plotting their appearances and re-appearances.
Over and above all this is the benign presence of Lord Ganesh,who,as he himself reveals to the reader,has created and then set all these characters in motion to rectify his centuries-old dispute with Vyasa over the manner in which the latter composed his saga. Theres even a section featuring Leelas varying avatars over different periods of Indian history. The elephant-headed one now attempts to write his way back into the epic and discredit the Vyasa Propaganda Machine.
As such,references to the Mahabharata are everywhere,some explicit,others to be inferred. Leela,like Ganga,refuses to tell her husband anything about her past. She and her sister are compared to Amba and Ambalika,and at one point,Bharati declares that she wouldnt mind having five boyfriends at the same time. Theres also a parallel to Ganesh and Vyasa when Shiva Prasad narrates his memoirs to a scribe.
Characters arent the only thing Leelas Book is teeming with. In these pages are to be found rape,fire,police brutality,elopement,surprise revelations and furtive coupling underneath a food-laden table at a wedding venue. In the midst of all this,it also records the changes in New Delhi,be it of attitudes of rich and poor or the composition of its neighbourhoods. Though the capital is clearly the backdrop against which the characters stories unspool,the book also segues into London,New York,Mumbai,Kolkata and Santiniketan
Ultimately,as Ganesh informs us,he succeeds in his efforts to reunite siblings,to bring together mothers and daughters to remove from my characters lives the obstacles that impinge on their happiness and to expose Vyasas wrongdoing. Its been said often enough that what is not in the Mahabharata does not exist elsewhere. By imagining and then bringing to life aspects that are not in the epic as we know it,Albinia has created a charming and capacious work of fiction.
