Vijaya Rajadhtaksha has been writing for fifty years and is one of the most celebrated Marathi writers today. She is the winner of the Sahitya Akademi award in 1993 and the Janasthan Puraskar in 2017 and has presided over theAll India Marathi Smmelan in 2001. Keerti Ramachandra is one of India's leading translators, majorly translating from Marathi and Kannada into English. Her translations include 'Dirge of the Dammed' and 'Mahanayak' (Vishwas Patil), A Faceless Evening and other Stories (Gangadhar Gadgil), Of Closures and New Beginnings (Saniya), The Dying Sun and Other Stories (Joginder Paul) and Hindutva or Hind Swaraj (UR Ananthamurthy).
The Song of Life is a collection of stories written by Vijaya Rajadhyakha between 1958 and 1998. 'Illiterate' is the story of the illiterate wife of Pethe, a warden of a student hostel in Bombay. His stand against a student protestor results in his having to back down unjustly. Pethe's illiterate wife tells him to resign and move on because 'one you're not wanted, you shouldn't stay'. A decision that's strong, clear and even violent in its execution, but full of practical wisdom. 'The Whirlpool' takes us to the love nest of a couple - it seems perfect - except that the woman suddenly feels that she does not deserve this happiness. You can quickly guess where the story is headed. Beautiful.
In 'What the eyes can't see', a short story that expands like a cinema, singer Rohini accidentally meets a student of the famous sculptor Ravindra on a visit to Ajanta caves and the meeting between the recently blinded sculptor and his ex-girlfriend, throws up a misunderstanding that caused their split years ago when they were young students. A misunderstanding that is now cleared since his eyes cannot see. In 'A trial once more' Vibhavari, who marries John against her family's wishes and goes abroad, is told by John that he is in love with his secretary some thirty years after their wedding. Feeling unwanted by her husband and her grown-up children, she turns to the family she spurned to get married and finds them welcoming her with open arms.
'The Swing' is about Sumitra, an interfering and controlling mother, who takes a transfer to keep from interfering in her daughter's life. The coming of her old Kaku, gives her life some purpose, some fresh perspectives to life. In 'Nirvana', set in Satara, Tatya seeks Nirvana and renounces his family ties in search of the same. The death of his son brings him back from his quest for nirvana, but the old man gets his last wish fulfilled through some rituals just before his death. A fitting farewell. In 'Parallels' a family of three, a mother, her pregnant daughter and her son, relive their life while waiting for the daughter's delivery on a rainy night in Bombay.
'In the 'Sunset Hour' Tarutai, an affluent and spirited young lady gives up her family to marry her love in an NGO type of a setting. But Achyutan is a habitual flirt and has serial affairs causing Tarutai to choose once again to live on her own. Now paralysed in her sunset hour, she receives Achyutan who comes to visit her and tells him to go and leave her in peace. Once again, strong, decisive.
In 'Today' Saraswati, a career woman, decides to shift to Trichur where she heads an obscure institute, to be able to spend more time with her differently-abled son. When her interfering mother tells her not to give up her career for her son who cannot make out the difference between her and a servant, Saraswati, who has until then lived in fear of her mother, asks her mother if she would have abandoned her had she been differently-abled.
In 'Janaki Desai Asks', Janaki, an affluent girl who considers moving in with Sujit who finds himself being attracted to other women, decides to take time off from the relationship, but desists from getting into another relationship herself. Clearly, she has no need for men in her life anymore. 'In 'The Song of Life' we deal with a husband who finds his wife's behavior has changed ever since her second pregnancy. She is very distant and he cannot understand why. His wife however, goes through so many emotions, as she becomes last priority with the advent of her children. She gradually loses desire in her relationship, in love and sex. It somehow conveys what is so hard to convey - what the woman is struggling with and the man's inability to understand. Once again clearly one can see how superior the woman is, despite her vulnerability. 'The Lotus' deals almost entirely with desire between a married couple - the man's wanting, the woman's wanting, the way they desire each other and the subtle undercurrents that guide their sex life which changes its shape as they grow older. A trip to Matheran, just the two of them, drives home the change to her.
The stories were written over a period of four decades and one can sense a change in the energy and the visual imagery of the stories. Every single story has a clear, powerful theme that comes across so clearly that it will be difficult to forget them, the scenes, the characters and even the settings. The last two stories, dealing intimately with the themes of intimacy, of desire, of the subtle ways in which it flowers and dies, are dealt with beautifully. To write so clearly, unabashedly and honestly about human relations, in their most intimate spaces, about the human body and its desire, is a rare quality and one that I feel only a few writers can do justice to, writers who belong to a higher level. Vijaya Rajadhyakha belongs there - her themes of strong women who give up their everything for love, who take decisions that are unapologetic, even with greater love. Before them, the men seem very poor samples indeed. Keerti Ramachandra has done a great job of translating the stories and this is perhaps her best so far - 'The Song of Life' soared as I read it - so good was her translation that it had an energy of its own. Great characters, superb visual appeal, deep understanding of the human psyche and stories that remain with you. Thanks Vijaya Rajadhyakha for writing them and Keerti, for doing such a great job so readers like me can read and appreciate.
The Song of Life is a collection of stories written by Vijaya Rajadhyakha between 1958 and 1998. 'Illiterate' is the story of the illiterate wife of Pethe, a warden of a student hostel in Bombay. His stand against a student protestor results in his having to back down unjustly. Pethe's illiterate wife tells him to resign and move on because 'one you're not wanted, you shouldn't stay'. A decision that's strong, clear and even violent in its execution, but full of practical wisdom. 'The Whirlpool' takes us to the love nest of a couple - it seems perfect - except that the woman suddenly feels that she does not deserve this happiness. You can quickly guess where the story is headed. Beautiful.
In 'What the eyes can't see', a short story that expands like a cinema, singer Rohini accidentally meets a student of the famous sculptor Ravindra on a visit to Ajanta caves and the meeting between the recently blinded sculptor and his ex-girlfriend, throws up a misunderstanding that caused their split years ago when they were young students. A misunderstanding that is now cleared since his eyes cannot see. In 'A trial once more' Vibhavari, who marries John against her family's wishes and goes abroad, is told by John that he is in love with his secretary some thirty years after their wedding. Feeling unwanted by her husband and her grown-up children, she turns to the family she spurned to get married and finds them welcoming her with open arms.
'The Swing' is about Sumitra, an interfering and controlling mother, who takes a transfer to keep from interfering in her daughter's life. The coming of her old Kaku, gives her life some purpose, some fresh perspectives to life. In 'Nirvana', set in Satara, Tatya seeks Nirvana and renounces his family ties in search of the same. The death of his son brings him back from his quest for nirvana, but the old man gets his last wish fulfilled through some rituals just before his death. A fitting farewell. In 'Parallels' a family of three, a mother, her pregnant daughter and her son, relive their life while waiting for the daughter's delivery on a rainy night in Bombay.
'In the 'Sunset Hour' Tarutai, an affluent and spirited young lady gives up her family to marry her love in an NGO type of a setting. But Achyutan is a habitual flirt and has serial affairs causing Tarutai to choose once again to live on her own. Now paralysed in her sunset hour, she receives Achyutan who comes to visit her and tells him to go and leave her in peace. Once again, strong, decisive.
In 'Today' Saraswati, a career woman, decides to shift to Trichur where she heads an obscure institute, to be able to spend more time with her differently-abled son. When her interfering mother tells her not to give up her career for her son who cannot make out the difference between her and a servant, Saraswati, who has until then lived in fear of her mother, asks her mother if she would have abandoned her had she been differently-abled.
In 'Janaki Desai Asks', Janaki, an affluent girl who considers moving in with Sujit who finds himself being attracted to other women, decides to take time off from the relationship, but desists from getting into another relationship herself. Clearly, she has no need for men in her life anymore. 'In 'The Song of Life' we deal with a husband who finds his wife's behavior has changed ever since her second pregnancy. She is very distant and he cannot understand why. His wife however, goes through so many emotions, as she becomes last priority with the advent of her children. She gradually loses desire in her relationship, in love and sex. It somehow conveys what is so hard to convey - what the woman is struggling with and the man's inability to understand. Once again clearly one can see how superior the woman is, despite her vulnerability. 'The Lotus' deals almost entirely with desire between a married couple - the man's wanting, the woman's wanting, the way they desire each other and the subtle undercurrents that guide their sex life which changes its shape as they grow older. A trip to Matheran, just the two of them, drives home the change to her.
The stories were written over a period of four decades and one can sense a change in the energy and the visual imagery of the stories. Every single story has a clear, powerful theme that comes across so clearly that it will be difficult to forget them, the scenes, the characters and even the settings. The last two stories, dealing intimately with the themes of intimacy, of desire, of the subtle ways in which it flowers and dies, are dealt with beautifully. To write so clearly, unabashedly and honestly about human relations, in their most intimate spaces, about the human body and its desire, is a rare quality and one that I feel only a few writers can do justice to, writers who belong to a higher level. Vijaya Rajadhyakha belongs there - her themes of strong women who give up their everything for love, who take decisions that are unapologetic, even with greater love. Before them, the men seem very poor samples indeed. Keerti Ramachandra has done a great job of translating the stories and this is perhaps her best so far - 'The Song of Life' soared as I read it - so good was her translation that it had an energy of its own. Great characters, superb visual appeal, deep understanding of the human psyche and stories that remain with you. Thanks Vijaya Rajadhyakha for writing them and Keerti, for doing such a great job so readers like me can read and appreciate.
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