The lives of soulmates
Tulip Chowdhury finds pain and good cheer in a tale
Sister of My Heart, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Anchor Books
Soul mates are said to be heaven sent. Shudha and Anju are two individuals who have known each other as cousins since they were born. But above it all is the unity of their souls, of how they bond together. They are born on the same day and from that day they have been together. They are like the two wings of a butterfly. They dance, they sing, they eat and they sleeep; all of these are done simultaneously, living under the same roof. Shudha and Anju live in Kolkata. They go to the same school and same class. Both of them lost their fathers when the two men set out on a hunt for rubies to the distant Sundarbans in Bangladesh. They never came back and were found drowned and bloated beyond recognition. The police find their wallets and are able to identify the two men. Shudha's mother Nalini looks after the household and makes sure that the two girls are taken care of. Anju's mother Gouri runs the bookstore that her husband owned and takes care of the finances. Pishima, the widowed aunt, also lives with them. She is there as the sage, she guides them through the rough rides. It is a household that runs under the supervision of these three women. They are very lucky that Anju's father has left them the large house to live in. They arre not rich but they are not poor either; a middle class family, hoping for all the best and yet having to cut the cloth according to the size all through. Shudha is always the shy one, the one who demonstrates wisdom before taking action. And Anju is hot headed and adventurous. Both are in their late teens. One day Anju plans to skip classes and go to see the cinema that is making waves in the city. After much cajoling Shudha gives in and taking early leave from school they go to watch the movie. Shudha finds herself sitting beside a young man. She is aware that the young man is staring at her instead of following the movie. And when the movie ends, the young man introduces himself as Ashok. Cupid seems to have been waiting right behind them and Shudha and Ashok find themselves in love. However, a neighbor spots the two girls in the in the cinema hall and reports it back home. Shudha'a mother, weighed down with social norms and customs, is flabbergasted. Her daughter, found with a young man? Why, the reputation of the Chatterjee family will be ruined! She stops her daughter's schooling and immediately starts to look for a groom. Anju's mother, liberal in heart, continues with the education of her daughter. In the meantime Ashok is regularly in touch with Shudha through Singhji, the chauffer . Shudha and Ashok are very much in love. However, as Shudha is very beautiful, soon a wedding is arranged by the mothers. The prospective groom, Ramesh, is an engineer. And like magic, Anjali also is suddenly in love with a young man. Sunil, who lives and works in the US, steals the girl's heart. The mothers are on cloud nine. They become the gossip of the neighbours. Both the fatherless girls are to wed on the same day. Ashok's family comes forward seeking the hand of Shudha in marriage. The mothers decline the offer for he is still a student. The only way Shudha and Ashok can marry is by eloping. But Shudha knows that if she elopes Anju will lose her love for Sunil's family will not take in a bride whose cousin has eloped and ruined the family name. And so Shudha gives up her love and decides to go ahead with her wedding to Ramesh. From here the story picks up the married life of Anju and Shudha. Living in the USA, Anju is happy and even starts going to college. But Shudha's mother- in- law is a stern woman who has a powerful hold over her son. Shudha's peace of mind is gone when she fails to conceive in the second year of her marriage. Her mother-in-law drags her off to temples. Shudha takes her husband to the doctor secretly for her mother-in-law would not hear of it. Soon Shudha becomes pregnant. There is joy at the in-laws. And, as it happens, to the two cousins, Anju also becomes pregnant. Both the cousins are happy for both were going to be mothers at the same time. In the meantime Shudha's mother-in-law takes her to the doctor and finds that she is pregnant. She wants Shudha to have a son to be the heir of the family title. And she is dead set against Shudha's pregnancy and wants her to have an abortion. But Shudha too is adamant --- under no circumstance will she kill her baby. Ramesh has nothing to say against the wishes of his mother. Shudha calls Anju secretly and wants her advice. Both of them agree that Shudha should leave her in-laws-house immediately even if it means the end of her marriage. And so Shudha flees to her mother and has the baby. Ramesh sends the divorce papers with a few days. But Anju lost her baby and started to slip under spells of deep depression. Anju requested her cousin to go over to America and start a new life and be a savior in her loneliness. Ashok comes back to Shudha and tells her that he will wait for her all his life. But Shudha wants to explore the possibility of a new life in the new land. Just before she leaves the real identity of Singhji, the chauffer, solves a great mystery that has been shrouding their life over the past years. Indeed the reader too sits up with a jolt at the sudden change of events in the story. It seems as though someone has opened a sudden window to reveal hidden secrets of the Chatterjee family and the story itself seems to change its course. The family saga here picks up a little mystery and adds the spice to the already intriguing story. With Anju's departure for the US the story picks up the two soul mates' life in America but the reader has a feeling that there is so much more to know about Anju and Shudha. And indeed the writer very craftily weaves the story line so that the story ends on a high climax. In fact, the readers are bound to hunt down the book that follows this story with the real-life like drama of the two soul mates."Vine of Desire", the sequel to "Sister of My Heart" is the book by Divakaruni that opens up another beautiful story about Anju and Shudha's life in America. Divakaruni is a word master who weaves her story around real life situations. She blends the rich culture of India with the crossroads of change. One gets a crystal clear picture of Indian society with its age old roles and yet she also depicts the changes that the times have wrought. The story she unfolds takes its own steps to climb the peak and the reader is astounded over how the story branches out beneath with its minute details and strong storylines. Tulip Chowdhury writes fiction and poetry
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