Jhumpa Lahiri brings for the duration of this read, our lives to a standstill, a worthy disruption, and we are unable to loosen the grip on this astonishing tale of an Indian family, whose lives were disrupted during the Naxalbari uprising in Bengal, India.
Separated by merely fifteen months, Subhash and Udayan almost like identical twins, find themselves bound by love so much so their lives are entwined, to the point of dependency. Two sides of a coin, Subhash mellow and intuitive, Udayan brash and messianic, they find themselves at each turn complimenting each other.
It is Udayan’s overindulging disposition, that makes him rebel first against his parents, against established Indian customs that allows for ones parents to pick their spouse, and then eventually against the unfaithful Indian political system, by joining a misguided political organization given to violence. The turn of events in the coming years; would see Subhash travelling to America to further his studies, Udayan marrying Gauri against his parents wish, and the police brutally murdering him in the presence of his wife and his parents, who would remain damaged going forward, by the memory of that incident.
As mild and pious as ever, Udayan marries albeit hurriedly, his brothers pregnant wife and in a matter of months, they are living as a couple in Rhode Island, but without the conjugation that comes with marriage. But it is not his decision of marrying Gauri, even at the risk of his parents disowning him that raises so much dust and pierces the bubbles conveying our emotions skyward. It is the events following Bella’s birth, Gauri’s refusal to break away from the memory of the events leading up to Udayan’s death, and her eventual abandonment of Subhash, a man who selflessly saved her from the terror back home, invested so much hope in her, treated her with so much respect, rare to find. And Bella, the only proof that her marriage with Udayan was consummated. The callous, extremely selfish and provocative decision her mother took, nearly cost Bella her mind. The effect of an eight year old girl returning, after six weeks of staying apart from her mother, to the news of her mother’s voluntary disappearance without notice, without a word, can be nothing but devastating. What kind of a mother abandons her child, not because of lack of means for the child’s upkeep, but because of some irrational reasons she doesn’t feel up to motherhood.
Years later, Gauri returns to Rhode Island upon Subhash’s request for a divorce. She finds Bella a mother. She finds herself shamefully wanting the things she once pushed so far away, and the hurtful words, the truth Bella told her, stirs a storm of regret in her, but too many years have passed and the damage irreparable.
Lahiri is an irredeemable environmentalist, her love and interest in nature permeates this awesome story. Lahiri weaves history, with family, love and human shortcomings, to deliver this story that stays. This story lingers, unlike most, long after one has finished reading it. Lahiri knows just how to make us remain in her world.
