The novel is arguably the most prolifically experimented medium of our milieu. It may preach or delve deep within. It can soar high and lie low. This elasticity, this infinite range make the novel an ideal tool to explore the many complexities of modern living.
Chandramathi’s new work, Aparnayude Thadavarakal (Aswathiyudethum) , thus looks at the realities of Aswathy, the protagonist, while juxtaposing them against those of Aparna, the lead character in a novel that Aswathy reads on board a train. We learn that this book too – Aparnayude Thadavarakal (Prisons of Aparna) – is written by Chandramathi herself.
Aparna, like Aswathy, is also on a train. She too picks up a book to read: Oru Moodupadathinte Kumbasaarangal (Confessions of a Veil). Both Aparna and Aswathy have a close-knit group of friends, consisting of men and women. They both dislike small children as co-travellers. Both of them enjoy snubbing intrusive onlookers, a necessary evil in the lives of free-spirited youngsters, even in the seemingly liberated environs of our times.
Extremely cosmopolitan in their outlook, these young women field a few piquant questions regarding life and sexuality. While Aswathy handles them in a detached yet calculated manner, Aparna wastes no time in jumping headfirst into the whirlpool of family life and gets hugely disillusioned. When we come to the last page, Aswathy fleetingly sees Aparna on the same railway platform where she gets down.
Divided into three parts – ‘Theevandi,’ ‘Campus,’ and ‘Kudumbam’ – this small novel scans the many avenues available for the present generation to live their dreams. But an undercurrent of despair, a frustration about the mismatch between things at hand and what is in store, determines its general tone. The book has the usual trappings of a generation that is ‘lost’ in a maze of endless possibilities and of the female confounded by the perennial question of marriage.
Today’s youngsters are endowed with the choice of making and breaking ‘thadavarakal’ (prisons) – of tradition, passion, or dissent – on their own volition. Using this privilege judiciously could alter entire universes, one feels as Aswathy and Aparna get out of their train.
Aparnayude Thadavarakal (Aswathiyudethum)
Chandramathi
DC Books
Rs. 75
