"Arya Reborn" by Chandramathy is a complicated story as is life in a joint family. Written in the early nineties, it reflects the complications of the time, including college students experimenting with drugs.
Arya is growing up in her ancestral home where Muthassan (grandfather) is still in complete control of all financial matters.
One day as Muthassi (grandmother) is getting ashes for pooja from a kudukka – a globular pot made from the hard shell of a gourd like fruit-hung from the A-frame of the house, Muthassan kicks her from behind and she falls down and dies. Arya is at an age when she imitates sword fight using broomsticks.
Muthassan follows the dead body being taken for cremation crying aloud and eliciting sympathetic remarks from others: “She is gone leaving no one to take care of him in his old age.” But he resolves that problem easily. After the 16the day prayer for the deceased the cook who used to sleep at the foot of the stairs, moves up to grandfather’s room and takes control of everything in the house. As a symbol of that authority she carries a bunch of keys that locks everything in the house. After two weeks Muthassan takes her to the temple, dressed in an expensive silk saree and wearing several pieces of gold jewelry, making her position in the house legal.
Arya’s mother is a stubborn woman who always looks disagreeable and ready to punish Arya for the least thing. She doesn’t know what love is and never has a kind word for anyone. After Muthassan remarries, Arya’s father wants her mother to go with him to his small house along with Arya, but she refuses. Finally, she ends up being the servant to the stepmother and doing all the household chores.
Meanwhile, Arya’s father finds a pretty woman who dresses well and can play veena for him. They have a child who looks like the father. But life is not happy and he takes to drinking and starts beating up the woman.
All the cooking, cleaning and washing is too much for Arya’s mother and one day she vomits blood and dies. Arya comes home from the hostel and sits at the head of the body laid out in the foyer, feeling no emotion. Nobody has any tears for her mother. Seeing her being taken for cremation makes Arya feel relieved of the responsibility for the mother.
After going back to the hostel Arya decides to try taking ganja (marijuana.) The impact of whatever tablet her friend gives her is unbelievable. Her uncles are sent for and they take her to sanitarium where a member of a women’s organization visits her along with her husband, Menon. She promises to help Arya resettle in one of the homes run by the organization.
In the end, the home Arya goes to is the one where Menon’s mother lives. She welcomes Arya who is happy to be in a pleasant atmosphere. But her thoughts go to having someone (Menon) to wait for, all dressed up, learning to play veena for him and having children who will look like him. The story is worth reading.
Achamma Chandersekaran
Blog: http://AchammaChander.blogspot.com
Website: www.AchammaChander.com
India Edition: www.rainbowbookpublishers@gmail.com
Kindle Edition on Amazon.com
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