Review- The Madras Affair by Sundari Venkatraman

The earliest memories I have of Madras are of filter kaapi and wonderful thalis. There is, of course, a love for the fine silks that I would greedily buy whenever I visited the city. When the title of The Madras Affair was released, I was intrigued. I take this opportunity to thank Sundari for sending me a reviewer’s copy.

The Madras Affair thankfully does not take us through a narration of mushy romance, complete with designer dresses and private jets. There is a very strong social theme that runs all though the narration, and that is what makes this book special. Sangita, the female protagonist took me through her pain and journey and after a point I realized that Sangita is not just a character in this book. Even today India has thousands of Sangitas that walk past us or work with us. And probably oppression of women is so commonplace that we do not even realize. A young woman, a victim of marital rape (which some pretend does not even exist in ‘sanskari’ society ), Sangita is widowed at an age when many women have hardly even begun their lives. When the rituals associated with recently widowed women begin, I felt like shaking Sangita. Why can’t she just put a stop to it? Why can’t she just walk out? But thankfully the author did not take that route. That would have been unrealistic. As much as we want to see ‘heroes’ we also want to see real characters. And a young woman with an infant son and no financial independence could not take that path of defiance. Hypocrisy of our society , in which even the educated ones take part comes in the form of Sangita’s younger brother. You would hate him for what he is, but he is one of those essential sub plots. The likes of him are all over the place and Sundari handles it very well. But Sangita is not a doormat. She picks the pieces of her life and despite the venomous mother she makes a world of her own. Sundari has given little descriptions of her home, the culture and Sangita’s wardrobe and as we read through the words take form of images. Gautam is almost that character through whom Sundari decides to address social evils, put things in the right perspective. No, that does not mean Gautam is boring and will lecture you on activism. Without getting much into what he does and spoil the fun for the readers, I would say imagine a man with a pair of blue eyes, a romantic and a golden heart. I know I got you thinking. Widow remarriage is still a very delicate subject in India, and the dealing of it without the glitz and glamour associated with romance writing makes this a special read. Lucid narration. Perfect editing