Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
Anita Agnihotri’s Seventeen, a collection of short stories, many from India UnShining, delights with its insights into human nature.
Review by Aparna V. Singh
Seventeen, a collection of seventeen short stories by bureaucrat-writer Anita Agnihotri (translated from the original Bengali by Arunava Sinha) is an illustration for any aspiring short story writer on how fiction can begin in fact and yet not be limited by it.
Agnihotri draws inspiration for many of her stories from the have-nots of this country – the landless peasants, the migrant workers, the abandoned wives, the unemployed. Yet, she does not fall into the trap of ‘reporting’ – this is fiction that serves better to illuminate India UnShining than most ‘factual’ pieces could.
Each short story is beautifully crafted and Agnihotri draws you in with her well fleshed out characters. Their dreams, idiosyncrasies and disappointments are all too real; as are their failures – and there are many of these, some evident to the world and some within the inner world of the mind, for the short stories in Seventeen plumb human nature for its dark side.
The casual cruelty of human beings to one another, the human instinct for self-preservation regardless of the consequences to another and the heady intoxication of power for even the most ‘normal’ person are all shown up gently but firmly. At the same time, there is also unfulfilled love that has stayed deep over the years and the hardy nature of marital life that survives the hardest of knocks. This is perhaps why these short stories work so well – even if the setting is an unfamiliar tribal village in West Bengal or Odisha, the characters are universal and the stories poignant.
Nor is powerlessness only a question of land or affluence. In one story after another, while the themes of power, agency and control are explored, it is sometimes an outcast wife, sometimes a mother-in-law, sometimes a migrant worker, sometimes a man or woman from a middle-class family but in a strange land and at others, as in the case of the title story, young people striving for control over the direction of their own lives. In one story, ‘Remembering’, when a member of the dispossessed class acquires some power, he is no less caught up in it than anyone else. There are no defined places here for heroes and villains, which only serves to highlight the dark possibilities inherent in all people.
In only one story did I find these shifting borders problematic; in ‘The Peacock’, where the story is narrated from the perspective of a young man who has attacked a woman with acid, I found the sympathetic handling of the attacker disquieting. While it is true that human beings are complex creatures who cannot be neatly divided into good and bad, I did not like the fact that the attacker emerges as a far more ‘real’ person than his victim, who seems to develop an unreal relationship with him post the attack and is reduced to being a plot point.
Agnihotri’s narration in almost all the stories is so skillful that plot, characters and description all serve to take one another forward; rarely is any detail introduced superfluously. In a very few places, there is an overuse of metaphors, but happily, this is rare and the writing is mostly taut and engrossing.
Publishers: Zubaan Books
If you’re planning to purchase Anita Agnihotri’s Seventeen 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!
Founder & Chief Editor of Women's Web, Aparna believes in the power of ideas and conversations to create change. She has been writing since she was ten. In another life, she used to be 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