Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
Kishwar Desai’s Origins Of Love examines the surrogate motherhood industry in India against the backdrop of desperate parents from the Western world.
Review by Anjana Basu
Womb renting has been proving fairly lucrative for many women in India who are using it to bring much needed money home to their families – the more so since many of the womb rental requests come from couples in the UK or US. This is where Kishwar Desai’s second novel begins – with an HIV positive English baby in an incubator and no clue as to how she was infected, barring the fact that she was carried in an Indian womb.
Desai’s social activist cum detective Simran, whom we met in her first novel Witness The Night, is determined to find out how baby Amelia was infected, the more so since the child was conceived and carried at a fertility clinic run by her friend Anita and her husband.
Simran has become a single parent by adopting the girl Durga from Witness The Night but that hasn’t stopped her irrepressible mother from trying to find her a husband. Desai wisely refrains from weaving too much of the previous novel into this so that Origins of Love stands on its own. She moves the location to London, a city she knows well and introduces Kate and Ben, a couple desperate for a child, so desperate that Kate is willing to go in for surrogacy and spend nine months in India. Each chapter brings in a new scenario widening the picture that Desai draws of a world where women can be easily exploited and unscrupulous doctors can make fortunes for themselves.
Simran’s investigations into Amelia’s origins and the death of the baby’s English parents runs parallel to Kate’s determination to find the right womb for her child and to Anita’s futile hunt for an embryo shipment that has been hijacked by the police and diverted to another hospital in Mumbai, with slices of the life of Sonali who thinks that renting out her womb will spare her abuse from her pimp Rohit.
It’s a tale linked by wombs and emotions – with even a touch of romance as Simran meets Edward, a serial sperm donor and begins to find him attractive. These stories make for compulsive reading in themselves.
Desai is far more at home in the London, Mumbai, Delhi scenario than she was with the dark undercurrents of the Punjab. She has a deft hand when she draws the currents and cross currents of official corruption, including the ambitions of female politicians who find themselves without heirs in a country where power is usually passed down bloodlines. The fact that she was a journalist is very apparent in her detailed research.
The novel is not primarily a piece of detective fiction – Simran is a nosy activist who goes asking questions where she is not welcome to help a friend. However, given the fact that the book focuses on the social consequences of surrogate motherhood, it isn’t necessary for Desai to provide a thriller, though there are thrilling undercurrents and a Bengali villain.
Against Western affluence and incomprehension, Desai sets a world of Indian poverty. Never, she suggests, will the twain meet, though occasionally the two worlds can co-exist peacefully side by side.
Publishers: Simon & Schuster
If you’re planning to purchase Kishwar Desai’s Origins Of Love do consider buying it through this Women’s Web affiliate link at Flipkart. We get a small share of the proceeds – every little bit will help us continue bringing you the content you like!
Readers outside India can purchase Origins Of Love through our affiliate link at Amazon.
Women's Web is a vibrant community for Indian women, an authentic space for us to be ourselves and talk about all things that matter to us. Follow us via the read more...
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
People say that women are the greatest enemies of women. I vehemently disagree. It is the patriarchal mindset that makes women believe in the wrong ideology.
The entire world celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8, 2024. It should be a joyful day, but unfortunately, not all women are entitled to this privilege, as violence against women is at its peak. The experience of oppression pushes many women to choose freedom. As far as patriotism is concerned, feminism is not a cup of tea in this society.
What happens when a woman decides to stand up for herself? Does this world easily accept the decisions of women in this society? What inspires them to be free of the clutches of the oppression that women have faced for ages? Most of the time, women do not get the chance to decide for themselves. Their lives are always at the mercy of someone, which can be their parents, siblings, husband, or children.
In some cases, women do not feel the need to make any decisions. They are taught to obey the patriarchal system, which makes them believe that they are right. In my family, I was never taught to make decisions on my own. It was always my parents who bought dresses and all that I needed.
14 years after her last feature film Dhobi Ghat, storyteller extraordinaire comes up with her new film, Laapataa Ladies, a must watch.
*Some spoilers alert*
Every religion around the world dictates terms to women. The onus is always on women to be ‘modest’ and cover their faces and bodies so men can’t be “tempted”, rather than on men to keep their eyes where they belong and behave like civilized beings. So much so that even rape has been excused on the grounds of women eating chowmein or ‘men will be men’. I think the best Hindi movie retort to this unwanted advice on ‘akeli ladki khuli tijori ki tarah hoti hai’ (an alone woman is like an open jewellery box) came from Geet in Jab We Met – Kya aap gyan dene ke paise lete hain kyonki chillar nahin hain mere paas.
The premise of Laapataa Ladies is beautifully simple – two brides clad in the ghunghat that covers their identity get mixed up on a train. Within this Russian Doll, you get a comedy of errors, a story of getting lost, a commentary on patriarchy’s attitude towards women, a mystery, and a tale of finding oneself, all in one. Done with a mostly light touch that has you laughing and nodding along.
Please enter your email address