Page 63 - English Tehelka Issue 5 - March 15, 2018

Book review

Spinning an intricate web
changing and that is why female gurus
were getting support from the govern-
ment,” acknowledged Ganguly, known of emotions and secrets
for her feminist position in the world of
women in music.
“I remember when I was getting Maintaining her focus on human relationships, author
my Padma award, President Kalam,
mentioned that he was proud to give Shinie Antony in her new novel writes about the secrets we
the award to a female musician, who maintain and how their unravelling often brings out dark
was, in turn, the disciple of two women realities, writes Humra QuraiSHi
Gurus. On hearing that, the award sud-
denly meant much more to me,” she
said. which have the potential of offload-
Seeking the musical roots embed- ing or unleashing in the strangest of
ded in the practices of professional ‘The Girl Who situations, bringing to the fore the
woman singers who were losing out Couldn’T love’ very fragility of the human psyche.
to the cultures of exclusion, she ap- by Shinie Antony Her stories linger on, hover around,
plied for a Ford Foundation grant that Speaking tiger for days at a stretch; as though in-
allowed her detailed interviews with 167 pp; 299 truding right into the head, settling
surviving practitioners, a collection of down with a determination of sorts.
over two hundred hours of music on And in this latest novel, The Girl
tape and a revival of interest towards Who Couldn’t Love, Shinie goes a step
their music. This had another artistic beyond, adding a mysterious twist
impact as well. to the entire tale. On the face of it,
Based on her extensive research recall amply vividly that it was keep in touch with her even when it comes across as a simple story
on music as sung in royal and feudal around the summer of 2003 she and her family shifted from New revolving around a middle-aged
homes, and her own long and close when I got an urgency-laden Delhi to Bangalore. spinster, Roo or Rudrakshi Sen, liv-
association with her guru, she created call from the magazine editor All these fifteen years, I have been ing with her aged and ailing mother.
a solo play on Begum Akhtar which style of singing the bhava gayaki of enunciated in the dramaturgy texts of of a national daily, requesting not just reading Shinie but also mar- But with the entry of a young man,
she performs in Bengali and in Hindi. Lucknow, she has also trained in the ancient India. She attempted it for the I ould interview Shinie An- velling at the way she has added an- Kumar, into the lives of the mother-
if I c
“Everywhere, even in Bangladesh, technique of Modern Dance at the Mar- first time in USA itself and her efforts tony who had just about then bagged other dimension to her writings –she daughter duo, there are not just dis-
people have gone crazy about this play,” tha Graham School of Dance in New were noted and she appeared on the the Commonwealth Short Story Asia is the co-founder of the Bangalore tractions but unexpected turbulence.
said Ganguly, crediting the success to York. This opportunity came by when Johnny Carson and Ed Sullivan shows, region prize for her short story — ‘A Literature Festival and director of After all, Roo is attracted to Kumar,
the charisma of the Begum rather than she was studying for her postgraduate which were then the two most famous Dog’s Death’. That interview was to the Bengaluru Poetry Festival. And falls in love with him, begins an af-
her own skills in capturing the sunsets degree in History in USA. Her classical late night television shows of America! be published in the weekend section what’s amazing is the entire range — fair with him, “knowing that all af-
of Avadh and the lights of Calcutta’s dance background coupled with this The success of her nascent efforts in and I had to send it within a couple of the novels and short stories and, of fairs end messily. It is her secrets she
theatre district or the ‘filmi’ environ- exposure stirred in her mind the idea of America led to her pioneering, on her hours or so. course, the anthologies she has put wants to shield. But her secrets and
ment of Mumbai, all within the span of training the body for mime and move- return to india, the “Mime and Move- I went driving down New Delhi’s together. In fact, two of my short sto- this man are inextricably linked…”
two hours! ment, in accordance with the method ment” course at the National School of Copernicus Road, knocking at her ries also lie tucked in her anthologies Yes, it’s this ‘secret’ and the way
Her book on Begum Akhtar, Ae Drama, which she taught for thirty-four apartment door. What struck me — ‘An Unsuitable Woman’ and ‘Why Shinie has managed to conceal it
Mohabbat: Reminiscing Begum Akhtar, years, teaching during this span some was the simplicity around. Clad in We Don’t Talk’. right till the very end of the novel.
has proved to be a best seller. Till her of the best names in Indian theatre and cottons, without the slightest trace of Though Shinie has written exten- To quote her, “Secrets. Things we tell
Guru’s centenary in 2014-2015, for 40 Ganguly is one of films. Her subsequent workshops on make-up, she was busy with her two sively, she is steady in her focus on ourselves never to tell anyone have a
years, Ganguly celebrated the memory India’s classical theatre, conducted for little daughters — one school going human relationships. If one were to way of spilling out of us when we are
of her Guru with a grand international the rare artists RADA in UK and for the UNESCO in and the other one still a toddler, cry- read her novels — When Mira Went not looking. The snitch lives in us. We
Festival — “Jamal-e-Begum Akhtar”, in to not only be China, and in India where she recre- ing aloud, till Shinie’s parents came Forth And Multiplied, A Kingdom For give up our own secrets. We go up to
which a galaxy of singers, including ated in 1995 the Vikrishtamadham stage from the adjoining room and took His Love, and her short story collec- people and say, ‘Listen,’ ”
Mallika Pukhraj from Pakistan, Runa multi-talented as per principles and proportions pre- charge, giving me the much-needed tions — The Orphanage for Words, The story ends when the secret is
Laila from Bangladesh and a pantheon scribed in the Natyashastra and other space and time to interview her. Barefoot And Pregnant, and several out, leaving one sapped and drained.
of Indian singers, offered their tribute but also to have ancient treatises, have been greatly The interview was more along the other works, what holds out is her After all, the secret is laden with dark
to Begum Akhtar. won accolades in successful. The Natya tradition of India, conversation format, as she was stark sheer mastery of webbing and inter- realities to human wants and urges,
If she has had the good fortune of calls for an integrated performer, and and uncomplicated in her views and webbing the various complexities to unbothered about the horrifying off-
being trained by Shambhu Maharaj multiple art forms Rita Ganguly is definitely that. viewpoints; her modesty and sim- human relationships. Her characters shoots that take off.
ji — the ‘badshah of bahava’, or king of across the world plicity were quite noticeable. Over could appear ordinary but each one
emotions, in the emotion-drenched letters@tehelka.com with that interview, I continued to of them carries a heap of emotions letters@tehelka.com

Tehelka / 15 march 2018 62 www.Tehelka.com Tehelka / 15 march 2018 63 www.Tehelka.com

60-62 Column-Arshiya Sethi.indd 4 27/02/18 5:21 PM 63 Book Review.indd 3 27/02/18 5:23 PM