“The Lies My Mother Told Me”
In this story by Ashitha, what stands out is the lack of communication and love in family relationships. The Father is a terror to the other members of the family and the workers who come to the house and the fields. The mother is not truthful to the daughter and has set up many rules for her. The only people the girl can talk to freely are the workers from the “poor, uncultured, unreal world, but more free and happy.”
The girl’s experience growing up in such a household made her realize that many grownups are not truthful in what they say and make up stories that sound good. Her father shows some kind of softness in appearance and behavior only when her mother’s relative Chellammakka is around. The parents always fight about her but when she commits suicide, the mother pretends to be sad and unhappy. Thinking that the death would put a stop to the arguments her parents had over her, the girl wants to know if her mother is happy this woman is dead. The mother is shocked.
The girl grows up and is ready for marriage. The day the young woman is getting married her mother tells her about the new responsibilities she will have to take on. Part of that is what the young woman discovers as a “stone studded lie,” that the only way to a man’s heart is through “cooking and feeding on time.” The young woman works in the kitchen for hours to make tasty food and feeds her husband on time. But when she in bed with him she realizes that he is looking for “bigger breasts and thighs.” She realizes that “just like preparing food, I had to prepare for love also.” She felt harshly betrayed by her mother.
The young woman finally acquires the language of her mother, grandmother and all the women before them, the language of silence. “We learned the art of talking contradiction and denial when we had to talk, and practiced self-denial.”
One day the young woman’s daughter clumsily drapes a saree on and comes to show her mother how much they look alike. The mother is shocked to see the similarities and realizes that along with the looks, the habits also will be passed down from generation to generation.
In time, this young woman learns to lie about things in such a way as to make them sound good. The person she has lied to most, she says, is her mother.
Achamma Chandersekaran
Blog: http://achammachander.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.achammachander.com/
India Edition: www.rainbowbookpublishers@gmail.com
Kindle edition of "Daughter of Kerala" on Amazon.com
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