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Dr Vaidehi’s classic story Akku examines the 'mad woman' as a product of trauma inflicted by an unequal, patriarchal society, adapted to screen as Ammachi Yemba Nenapu.
Dr Vaidehi’s classic story Akku examines the ‘mad woman’ as a product of trauma inflicted by an unequal, patriarchal society, adapted to screen as Ammachi Yemba Nenapu.
October 10th is observed as World Mental Health Day by World Health Organization and several other international agencies. October is also Mental Health Awareness Month.
Kendriya Sahitya Akademi awardee Dr Vaidehi’s classic Kannada short story, ‘Akku’ is worth remembering around the day, for its exploration of mental health issues as products of social inequalities and injustices.
‘Akku’ has certainly not been forgotten, and has been incorporated into textbooks, films (Ammachi Yemba Nenapu streaming on Amazon Prime currently) and plays recently.
Nevertheless, its importance lies in reminding us of one timeless truth: mental health issues do not occur outside of society; they cannot be separated from situations and social situations.
Scientific studies that view depression as the result of chemical process in the brain alone, steer attention away from societal inequalities that trigger depression. Whereas, women’s mental health issues suggest that this might be putting the cart before the horse. After all, our brains are responding to the worlds they encounter.
A synthesis of both positions is now widely recognized: mental ill-health is a result of both societal and biological factors.
In Akku, we meet with an unstable woman, whose instability originates in her misfortunes created and sustained by society. Early on, we are told that Akku’s dumbness was not there from the very beginning.
Even as we see Akku’s own sharp tongue, meaningless pursuits, and others’ mockery of her, Akku’s intelligence shines forth.
Akku’s seemingly mindless questioning of the narrator’s dressing up for her wedding reveals her deep understanding of patriarchy and its normalization in the institution of marriage. We see that Akku may not have coped well with the injustices her marriage dealt her, but her comprehension of the issues at hand are in no way flawed. If anything, they are more accurate than the romanticized understanding of marriage other young women in the family have.
The so-called unstable Akku clearly reasons, even as she pulls out flowers from the hair of the bride-to-be: “Enough of this beautification! If he marries you because of your beauty, for certain, he will not stay by you, write that on the wall!”
Retaliating against those who snigger at her, Akku inadvertently reveals a hidden affair, another sharp truth that shows that neither her moral world nor her power of observation is flawed.
As the story progresses, we meet other women who have suffered due to wayward men and Akku herself has fought off a neighbor who has attempted to assault her. We are then told that Akku’s husband had followed a sanyasi/renunciant deserting her. Akku’s make-believe pregnancies reveal a series of unfulfilled desires that turn up as traumas.
The word psycho-somatic gains a world of meanings in the story. For all her insanity, Akku promptly rejects her husband when he returns, showing strength and courage that elude many women in bad marriages.
‘Akku’ muddies the lines between sanity and insanity, showing how social inequalities can have tragic consequences for the powerless. It leaves us wondering why women are thought of as mad even when they speak the truth or, especially when speak the truth.
‘Akku’ is a story that men and women of upcoming generations must read and carry forward as a part of our collective literary and feminist inheritance.
This article uses C Vimala Rao’s translation of the Kannada story.
Sushumna Kannan is the author of Hinduism and Violence, forthcoming, 2021.
Sushumna Kannan has a PhD in Cultural Studies and works on topics in feminism and religion, postcolonial studies and South Asian history among others. She received the Bourse Mira fellowship by the French government in read more...
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Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Women today don’t want to be in a partnership that complicates their lives further. They need an equal partner with whom they can figure out life as a team, playing by each other’s strengths.
We all are familiar with that one annoying aunty who is more interested in our marital status than in the dessert counter at a wedding. But these aunties have somehow become obsolete now. Now they are replaced by men we have in our lives. Friends, family, and even work colleagues. It’s the men who are worried about why we are not saying yes to one among their clans. What is wrong with us? Aren’t we scared of dying alone? Like them?
A recent interaction with a guy friend of mine turned sour when he lectured me about how I would regret not getting married at the right time. He lectured that every event in our lives needs to be completed within a certain timeframe set by society else we are doomed. I wasn’t angry. I was just disappointed to realize that annoying aunties are rapidly doubling in our society. And they don’t just appear at weddings or family functions anymore. They are everywhere. They are the real pandemic.
Let’s examine this a little closer.
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