Skip to main content

She: Ekla Cholo Re


Book Review

info@hoffen.in
Identity quest is one of the classical themes in literature.  However, gender identity quest is relatively new.  It is also one of the most painful quests, perhaps, because not belonging to either of the most natural genders can be an excruciating experience psychologically.  The agony is aggravated by the attitudes of the ignorant and insensitive general society towards transgender people. 

The authors of the book under review approach the theme in the simplest manner possible: by presenting a trans-woman and her problems.  Kusum was born a male who was very uncomfortable with that gender.  It’s only the body that is masculine.  The spirit is feminine.  The father is unable to accept that reality.  Hence the offspring is abandoned.  But (s)he is happy to get the support of a friend who eventually becomes a surgeon and will perform the sex-changing surgery.  The love between Kusum and her doctor-friend was not merely friendship.  The emotions had something sexual about them.  The doctor is able to sustain his passion for his friend who is now a woman though not capable of reproduction.  The doctor’s father is a thoroughly practical man who tells his son how he would be ruining his life and career if he marries such a woman. 

The relationship is broken.  Kusum carries the scar in her heart.  Eventually another doctor, a psychologist whom she admires, will extend his friendship to her.  How does she respond to this new friendship?

The book can’t be called a novel.  It is a novella at best.  The whole book is just 58 pages out of which only 40 pages are devoted to the story itself.  If you are an experienced reader you can read it in about half an hour.  The narrative is extremely simple and straightforward.  The intention of the authors seems to be to highlight the problem of transgender people and evoke empathy in the reader. 

But the claim on the cover that it is “a story meant to motivate all and sundry irrespective of their circumstances” is not misplaced.  The “ekla cholo re” motif, borrowed from Rabindranath Tagore, recurs reminding the reader about the basic loneliness that all of us have to go through irrespective of our gender identity or any other identity.  The going gets tough at times whoever we may be.  When the going is really tough and you need the support of people, people are quite sure to abandon you.  Then we must acquire the courage to ekla cholo, go alone.


I’m grateful to Santosh Avvannavar, one of the authors, for inviting me to review the book. 

Comments

  1. ManiparnaDecember 9, 2015 at 1:51 AM

    I've reviewed it as well...a decent endeavour towards a controversial issue, trans-gender...:-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalDecember 9, 2015 at 6:14 AM

      The issue deserves better understanding and the authors have made an effort in that direction.

      Delete
  2. Ravish ManiDecember 9, 2015 at 9:36 AM

    It's good initiative for making awareness in society and evoking empathy towards the transgenders with a motivational tone.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Richa SinghDecember 9, 2015 at 9:51 AM

    The narrative looks very interesting and it has been covered in a novella span that makes it all the more tempting. Shall pick this one, i think...

    ReplyDelete
  4. MalinyDecember 9, 2015 at 4:14 PM

    As long as the book is written nicely, I don't mind giving it a read even though it is a novella. The book deals with an issue which is relevant socially and such books usually gather few readers. That is a pity, isn't. Good effort from your side for spreading the word.
    I am happy to be here after so long. When I disappeared from blogosphere, you were tending to a fracture, I remember. I hope you are healthy and healed now. And I see that you have been blogging consistently. Kudos to you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalDecember 9, 2015 at 7:33 PM

      I'm fine, thanks for remembering my fracture :) And glad you are back.

      Delete
  5. sunaina sharmaDecember 9, 2015 at 7:56 PM

    The narrative, as given by your review, appears interesting. Actually, I find the title very compelling. When I started reading the post, I thought 'She' is about a woman and her struggles, about how 'she' fights it out alone. But turned out it is different. By the way, have you read Blue Boy by Rakesh Satyal?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalDecember 9, 2015 at 9:08 PM

      I haven't read Blue Boy. In fact, transgender-related themes and works don't interest me at all. I read this book merely because it was sent to me with a request for review.

      Perhaps, this book under review is no comparison with Blue Boy.

      Delete
    2. sunaina sharmaDecember 10, 2015 at 4:18 AM

      I cannot compare the book without having read it. But I would suggest you read Blue Boy. It is different. It would be nice to have your views on it.

      Delete
  6. Datta GhoshDecember 10, 2015 at 6:13 PM

    the entire theme looks so compelling. I will suggest Rituparno Ghosh Strred Chitrangada, the crowning wish. The song "Ekla cholo re" is my favorite and has pulled me through some times. Jodi tor daak shune keu na chole tahole ekla cholo re..."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalDecember 10, 2015 at 7:12 PM

      Yes, Datta Ghosh, "Jodi..." the book has quoted a few lines of that song including this one. Since the English translation is given, I could understand it :) though I was familiar with the phrase "Ekla cholo re".

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

  'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below.  Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl
47 comments
Read more

The Subhuman Social Media

Illustration by Copilot Designer I disabled Facebook on my phone yesterday. There’s too much vulgarity, subhuman crudity, on it. And the first thing I read this morning was a Malayalam weekly – Samakalika Malayalam from the Indian Express group – whose editorial lamented the treatment meted out on social media to Dr M Leelavathi, renowned Malayalam writer. Leelavathi refused to celebrate her 98 th birthday because she said she was distressed by the pictures of innocent children dying of human-made hunger in Gaza. She was trolled by the Hindu right wing in Kerala for saying that. The editorial mentioned above requests the “Hindutva handles” to leave alone Leelavathi. If Kerala’s beloved poet and educationist was moved to tears by the sight of little children behaving like insane creatures as soon as they espy some food, it only reveals the deep humanity that sustained her poetry as well as her world vision. The editorial went on to mention that 20,000 children were killed by Is...
9 comments
Read more

Death of Humour and Rise of Sycophancy in India

Front pages of Newspapers in Delhi on Modi's birthday Yesterday the newspapers in Delhi (and many other places too) carried full page photo of Narendra Modi to celebrate his 75 th birthday. It was sycophancy at its zenith in the history of India’s print media. At no other point in the country’s history had the newspaper industry stooped so low. The first Prime Minister of the country was a man who encouraged the media to be critical of him. Nehru appreciated cartoons that caricatured him mercilessly. Criticism, particularly in the press, helped Nehru keep his ego under check. Shankar’s Weekly was the best cartoon magazine of those times. Launched in 1948 by K Shankar Pillai, the weekly featured political cartoons, satire and humorous articles. It criticised politicians mercilessly by caricaturing or satirising them. Nehru was a prime target. And the PM wasn’t upset. On the contrary, he appreciated Shankar Pillai’s efforts to make the nation, particularly its political leade...
8 comments
Read more

A Man Called Ove

Book Review   Title: A Man Called Ove Author: Fredrik Backman Translation from Swedish: Henning Koch Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, London, 2015 Pages: 295   Ove is a grumpy old man. Right in the initial pages of the novel, we are informed that “People said he was bitter. Maybe they were right. He’d never reflected much on it. People also called him ‘anti-social’. Ove assumed this meant he wasn’t overly keen on people. And in this instance he could totally agree with them. More often than not people were out of their minds.” The novel is Ove’s story It is Ove’s grumpiness that makes him a fascinating character for the reader. Grumpiness notwithstanding, Ove has a lot of goodness within. His world is governed by rules, order and routines. He is superhumanly hardworking and honest. He won’t speak about other people even if such silence means the loss of his job and even personal honour. When his colleague Tom steals money and puts the blame squarely...
11 comments
Read more

The Real Enemies of India

People in general are inclined to pass the blame on to others whatever the fault.  For example, we Indians love to blame the British for their alleged ‘divide-and-rule’ policy.  Did the British really divide India into Hindus and Muslims or did the Indians do it themselves?  Was there any unified entity called India in the first place before the British unified it? Having raised those questions, I’m going to commit a further sacrilege of quoting a British journalist-cum-historian.  In his magnum opus, India: a History , John Keay says that the “stock accusations of a wider Machiavellian intent to ‘divide and rule’ and to ‘stir up Hindu-Muslim animosity’” levelled against the British Raj made little sense when the freedom struggle was going on in India because there really was no unified India until the British unified it politically.  Communal divisions existed in India despite the political unification.  In fact, they existed even before the Briti...
16 comments
Read more