Holmstrom, Lakshmi (ed.);
The Inner Courtyard: Stories by Indian Women
Virago, 1990 / Rupa 1991, 204 pages
ISBN 1853810444, 9781853810442
topics: | fiction-short | india | gender
The Inner Courtyard is a collection of short stories by women, about women, hailing from all corners of India and Pakistan - Assam to Kerala, Pakistan to Bengal. Many of the stories are powerful on their own, but most have some element that reflect on the position of women in society. Here are some reviews and excerpts.
The first story in the collection is a powerful tale of a fallen Nambudri woman from the 19th century. Her name itself has become a synonym for shameful among the patriarchal Nambudris (an upper class Brahmin caste from Kerala). Even as the author is searching a plot for a story, Tatri comes to her as a ghost and relates her own story so it may be told to others. As an "antarjanam" (lit. "inner-secluded"), Tatri lived a traditional life, until she is given in marrige to a man. She comes to enjoy sex with her husband, making ritual karuka garlands from grass and performed worship rituals. She had a good sexual life with her husband, learning "to please him in his taste of sex with the same attention I gave to his taste for food". But at one point he leaves her for other women and neglects her. In the meanwhile, her sexual fire has been aroused, and has no outlet. He even brings a prostitute into the house, and challenges her to become a whore, "If you could be like her, I might like you better". She then rebels, and she leaves home, planning revenge. She becoms a prostitute, working hard to learn how to please a man. Eventually she becomes a famous courtesan, and day her husband visits her. She then reveals herself, and drags many important men into the vortex of scandal. She is excommunicated, but she has extracted her revenge. --Is individual rebellion effective in society? The most interesting part of the story is in the frame - the author who is listening to the tale, is not quite happy - while she agrees with Tatri about the poor status of women, she feels that her "individual effort" has not helped, and in the end men have "used it as an excuse to victimise us even more. Thus the story raises a deeper point - what purpose does an individual rebellion raise? Many of us, enmeshed in society and forced to conform in many ways that we know is unfair, also feel this tension and justify our inaction by arguing against the ineffectiveness of individual rebellion. But perhaps, in the end, societal change is nothing more than a million mutinies. Perhaps the dalit woman may have a different viewpoint on this from Lalitambika, who had a privileged background. To my mind, the opposition to Tatri seems to underline a point any system makes, to perpetuate its continuation - what is the use of individual rebellion. In this case however, who would Tatri have teamed up for executing her rebellion? Society has so trained her peers, that it would be impossible for anyone to entertain even remotely the ideas that she put into execution.
By the time we are seventeen or eighteen we are shrewd enough to control our
most secret thoughts. On moonlit nights we sit in the inner verandah
reciting prayers, our sighs suppressed. We sing "Parvati Swayamvaram" and
"Mangala Atira" and dance, the catch in our voices unheard. And all the time
we wait, with bated breath, for the men's voices in the outer verandah. At
last one day out mothers come with henna and silver ring - our hands are
given into the hands of a man - old or young, invalid or lecher. That is our
destiny. That is our entire life. 6
[Initially Tatri has a good husband, with] aggressive sexual needs. I learnt
in time to meet those demands, to please him in his taste of sex with the
same attention I gave to his taste for food. After all, one's husband is
considered the pratyaksha deivam, the "seen" God. ... On the other hand, it
might be, that in learning to serve him, I unleashed my own instinctual
being. 6
[But after some time, he drifted away, and would not come home in the
nights. The estate had enough food, but] what about one's inner hunger, that
other greed? Once kindled, it is not easily quenched. It flows like molten
lava, like fire through the very life-blood. 7
[The husband brings another woman into the house, and she calls her a whore.
The husband says - I know she is a whore.] "If you could be like her, I might
like you better". 7
[So Tatri withdraws. But after some time, she becomes a whore, and becomes a
famous courtesan - she does not reveal her caste. Everyone says that]
In Kerala, the land of Parasurama, a woman was allowed as many husbands as she
chose. 10
[Then one day the husband visits, does not recog her, and at the end she
reveals herself. A court case follows and 65 prominent men are brought to
trial, based on proof - rings, golden girdles, gold-bordered veshti. She
becomes a notorious woman. This is her revenge.
Tatri, as a ghost, narrates this tale, expecting
sympathy from the author. But the author says:]
That storm that you raised - what good did it possibly do to society as a
whole? In the end, men used it as an excuse to victimise us even more;
the memory of that event was a means of humiliating us...
Individual effort cannot yield lasting results... you hardly brought any
consolation to the families and womenfolk of the excommunicated men. ...
What you choose to describe as the sacrifice of Tatri was nothing more
and nothing less than the trial of a prostitute. ...
But all the same, you hurled a random firecracker as a warning and a
challenge. It ignited a torch for us in our generation, and there will
be greater fires in times to come...
[At this Tatri pales away into the morning fog"] "I must not let my shadow
fall upon you. For you I am, and always will be, a sinner, a fallen woman, a
devil."
The cock crew. I woke up from that strange dream.
Lalitambika had strong Marxist leanings, and her last dialogue, arguing for a group movement, perhaps is an indication. The story appears to be based on a true incident [Martina Ghosh-Schellhorn: Transitional Identities, Indian Women's short stories, in Telling Stories, ed. Bardolph etal 2001. p.307]. see http://malayalamwriters.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html for a literary biography.
Sweet childhood stories of Muthassi (grandmother) whom she visits alone - her father dropping her off at a station. The motherless child portrayed in the book, isn't quite true, her mother Nalappatt Balamani Amma was a Malayali poetess (d.2004). Kamala Das spent her childhood between Calcutta, where her father was employed, and the Nalappatt ancestral home at Ponnayoorkulam in south Malabar region. Her father V.M. Nair, was the managing editor of the widely circulated Mathrubhumi daily, but perhaps the parents were separated.
[In joint family, no one is free. Akku (aunt) is the husband-less daughter of the patriarch] Akku alone is under no obligation, no duress. She is mere chaff, empty. The rest of the household is there to churn butter, add spices to food, wear new saris and jewellery at weddings or whatever. The men look after the business... They are like pillars of the house, never saying anything, however heavy their burdens.
[A story of three sisters, and the mother is pregnant. They go to her Nani's (maternal grandmother) for having the baby, father stays back. The story builds up to a climax with the worship of virgin girls. [In the first page, the mother says what is to become a refrain: ] "I hope it is a boy this time. It will relieve me of the nuisance of going through another pregnancy." 57 [After they arrive] Nani folds her hands and prays: Oh goddess, protect my honour. At least this time let her take a son back from her parent's home.' [A neighbour comes and says: the last few times, her skin had a pinkish tinge. Now it is yellow. It is sure to be a son this time. The story is mixed with the child's impetuousness and need for attention, which leads her into trouble. ] There is a bright star in the sky. Is that the Dhruva star? Baabu used to say that if I worked hard I could become anything I wanted, just as Dhruva became a star. 'But I can't become a boy, can I?' I once asked obstinately. 60 [Excellent descriptions of darkened rooms filled with women with half-naked legs, exchanging stories, ignoring the children. she wants to sleep with Nani, whose "body is soft and warm and her quilt smells of cardamom and cloves." But because cousin Hari "won't leave me" there is no space on this bed for the two of you. And then comes the kanyakumari puja... and she rebels] 'When you people don't love girls, why do you pretend to worship them?' 63
by http://www.wheremumbai.com/article_archives.aspx?id=92&catid=15 Richa Chadda The Inner Courtyard is a collection of short stories by women, about women, hailing from all corners of India and Pakistan - Assam to Kerala, Pakistan to Bengal. Revenge Herself by Lalithambika Antharjanam is the first story. It is about the writer who sits in her room, musing over what to write, till the dissatisfied ghost of Tatri appears and orders the writer to tell her story. Tatri’s very name spells shame in South Indian culture. She belonged to the patriarchal Namboodari caste in Kerala. Tatri was pleased by the simple joys of life, and is easily satisfied in bed, which annoys her husband to no end. In search of a fierier lover, he abandons her for a prostitute. Tatri confronts him and is shocked to discover that her easy surrender is unattractive to him. She leaves him and begins a new life. She trains long and hard to become a courtesan. She wears tighter blouses, adorns her hair with fragrant flowers and lives as a dancer in the temple. High born men, kshatriyas and brahmanas, all pine for her. She is the most sought after courtesan but secretly hopes that one day her husband shall come to her. Her husband desperately desires her and saves up money in order to get one night with her. When he lifts the veil, he is horrified to find his wife. The panchayat decides that Tatri must be cast out from the community, not because she has left her husband to become a prostitute, but because the low caste woman has polluted the high-borns who have slept with her. The priests accuse her and Tatri fights back. Had the same men not moaned loudly in bed, who screamed at her in public now? One of the finest women writers of the previous century, Ismat Chughtai’s Chauthi ka Joda is also featured in the anthology. Naseembi is the greatest seamstress in town but, ironically, cannot find a suitor for her own daughters. The Siddiqui household’s greatest mission in life was to provide a husband for Naseembi’s elder daughter, who was not that gifted in matters of health or features. She is frail and un-voluptuous and has thinning hair. When the daughter’s cousin comes to stay with them for some time, it is a godsend. They begin plotting to arrange the cousin’s interest in the elder daughter. But instead, the younger and more daring daughter is sent as the messenger. Due to circumstantial misunderstanding, the cousin agrees to marry the younger sister and the ladies of the house rejoice. The cousin can no longer control himself, and grabs the younger girl. The elder daughter commits suicide. After some time, the ladies continue to stitch the Chauthi ka Joda, while the younger one sits and looks at them, not participating. My personal favourite is Yellow Fish by Ambai. The simple two-page story compares the torture a fish feels on being tossed out of the sea to the anxiety a woman feels. The authors featured in this collection are Shashi Deshpande, Mrinal Pande, Kamala Das and Vaidehi, among others. Each story brings with it a unique flavour of the region so you can taste, touch and smell the defiance.
LALITAMBIKA ANTARJANAM (1909-1987): Revenge Herself [Malayam] KAMALA DAS: Summer vacation VAIDEHI: Akku [Kannada] QUARRATULAIN HYDER (1926-2007): Memories of an Indian childhood [Urdu] MRINAL PANDE, Girls LAKSHMI KANNAN: Rhythms AMBAI: Yellow fish ISMAT CHUGTAI (1915-1991): Chauthi ka Jaura [Urdu] MAHASVETA DEVI: Draupadi [Bengali] ATTIA HOSSAIN: The first party SHASHI DESHPANDE: My beloved character SHAMA FUTEHALLY: The meeting VISHWAPRIYA L. IYENGAR: The library girl PADMA HEJMADI: Birthday deathday RUKHSANA AHMAD: The gate-keeper's wife ANJANA APPACHANNA: Her mother SUNITI NAMJOSHI: Dusty distance