Carmen

Today is a day dedicated to lovers and all things romantic but for some reason Its my Naani I remember. What jogged my memory and I remembered my Naani was the smooth skating on Carmen by an Olympic Skater in Sochi this morning. I'm not an opera fan and have no knowlegde of classical compositions but as soon as the event was on I was glued and I mentioned to my husband that this was my Naani's favorite piece of music. Surprised by this. Because my naani came from a small town in Bihar- Chappra famous for giving India its first Indian President Dr. Rajendra Prasad and notorious for Lalu Yadavs. But more surprising is that my Naani - Dr. Sushila Devi was a teenage widow in the 1940s when becoming a widow meant a fate worse than death- you were a persona-non-grata, an evil shadow to be shunned and a social outcast. Its a testemony to her father and her father-in-law's Arya Samaj antecendents that she escaped her head being shaved and being sent off to Kashi or Mathura to face a fate very much like the one faced by Chuiya from the movie Water. Instead she went on to Medical school and became one of the first women doctors of post-independent India and the only woman doctor in an entire region. The lines outside her clinic were legendary and I'm sure not vastly exaggerated because as a Child I have witnessed patients lining up at 4 am to be seen by her. As was the situation in those days and probably it holds true till today, she could never remarry and to satisfy her yearning for motherhood, adopted my mom when she was an infant. Amidst great social prejudice she set up her practice and developed a a taste for the finer things in life. She taught herself many languages, Music, played the Taanpura, Harmonium, was an avid reader and I like to think that she transferred her love for reading to me and onto my daughter. For many a lazy summer was spent in her book lined library devouring Pearl S Buck, Shaw, Wordsworth, Jane Austen, first edition Readers Digests and Illustrated weekly of India. I think that's where my mom got her taste of and for literature and went on to do her PhD in English Literature. Every evening we would all change, look smart, and sit around her tea table waiting to be served Tea and Marie biscuits and listen to Carmen in the orignal form on a gramophone from HMV. Now how many women in India would have done that in the 60s, 70s and 80s let alone a child widow? She passed away 5 years ago but I know she lives on in my mother's fierce independence, my rebel soul and my daughter's quiet determination and steely core. So in my world I have already witnessed one in a Billion Rising and now I ache to see One Billion Rising. Rising for the hopes, lives and futures of our mothers, sisters, daughters and grand-daughters.