Thus She Spake: Here the Characters Blend with Real-Life Authors

‘Thus She Spake’, a book written by five women, compiles stories of five female mythological figures in a new way, exploring their voices that look for securing equality with the male figures. Here the five authors speak about their own experiences where they had sought help of the feminism within them. 

Can you imagine Surpanakha, Ravana’s younger sister from the Ramayana out of the garb of her generalized evil character and consider her as an independent woman voicing her attraction towards two royal men whom she liked? Or can you gauge Uruvi, Karna’s wife from the Mahabharata who is usually less spoken of, as one among few of the strongest women of her times who firmly stuck by her opinion, going against her husband? Or Radha as just a human being who wins everyone’s heart with her extraordinary ordinariness? Or Ashoksundari, Shiva’s daughter, who is barely heard of, as a woman of great beauty and inherent power, mostly dwelling in obscurity and tragedy as several independent and strong women do in recent times? Or Rajmata Gandhari out of the veil of a blindly committed wife? You will find all of them in the book ‘Thus She Spake’, that compiles the stories of these four female mythological figures in a new way, exploring the feminine voice within them seeking equality with men.

Five women – Dr Suchitra Kaul Misra, AR Sara, Anu Krishna, Dr Chaya Nair and Sandhya Kunjur — have come up with their interpretation of these mythological characters. There is a Pathbreaker in each of them as they relate to their muses in their respective stories. We speak to them about how they emerged as empowered women, going against the tide and firmly sticking to their views, opinions and choices.

Motherhood gave more power to her career

RajaRajeshwari Nagasigamani (AR Sara) who has carved Ashoksundari’s character in a new vision, is a writer, independent publishing consultant and a coffee entrepreneur. While she was lucky with her parents prioritising her education and career aspirations over investing in jewellery and other material assets for a girl child that usually was the norm during her childhood, it was her parenthood that made her face a tough challenge of choosing her kids over her career in the space of Data Architecture and Business Intelligence, which was her passion. “It was a career I had built over the years with enthusiasm, care and determination, never taking the opportunities that came my way or the support from my family for granted,” she recalled.

8 years back, an incident made her re-evaluate her priorities. She decided to take a break at the peak of her career. Encouragement from her husband, kids, in-laws and parents took her to a new world of imagination and help her revive her old passion for words. However, questions and statements from her well-wishing doubters shocked her.

“Statements like ‘middle-age crisis surely’, ‘Why did you quit?’, ‘Now you are financially dependent on your husband. What kind of a message do you think that sends out to the women who have been looking up to you?’, ‘What kind of example are you setting for your kids?” to downright jeering, taunting voices ‘Are your books even selling?’ are some of the things to which I didn’t bother reacting or responding to most,” she said. 

“None of these or the various other obstacles of varying intensity that I encountered, deterred me from moving forward. I never saw my decision as a regressive move and nor did I lose my financial independence. It has been a journey filled with adventure, learning and challenges along with a deep sense of accomplishment devoid of any guilt or ache.”

She fought with the world for love

For Dr Chaya Nair, a paediatrician by profession, who gave Gandhari from the Mahabharata an image of a rebel in the book, life has been another name of rebellion since childhood. She showed signs of moving against the tide in her school as well as in medical college. After completing her medical schooling and on the verge of finishing her internship, the question of marriage propped up as it was the norm those days to get girls married immediately after graduation.

“I was influenced by my grandmother in matters of marriage. She always told me that I should get married to the person of my choice irrespective of caste, creed or nationality. I happened to meet my friend’s brother, a smart Airforce officer and instantly fell in love with him. When the topic of my marriage was raised, I felt I should marry him, come what may. I took the initiative and wrote a casual letter to him. He replied and our correspondence continued and acquired a different hue. Finally, he proposed and I agreed with a condition that I would do my M.D. and pursue my profession. He agreed and the decision was taken,” she said, recollecting the golden days of romance.

Hell broke loose when she informed her parents about her feelings. “My father was about to hit me. My mother started crying and my uncle started brainwashing me and started telling me all the disadvantages of getting married to a defence officer. He said that Airforce officers, especially bombers, bid farewell to their family members whenever they go for flying as they are not sure of returning home.”

She continued: “I was told that it wouldn’t be possible for me to pursue my profession as there would be transfers every 2-3 years. My father refused to talk to anyone and my mother continued to cry and my siblings looked at me as though I was an outcast.” The lady had her guts to go and tell her father that she would not marry without his approval but she won’t marry anyone else but him. Today, it has been four decades that they are happily married with children and grandchildren.

A broken relationship could not dampen her spirit

Married off at a very young age, Sandhya Kunjur, who has given the character of Surpanakha from the Ramayana, a new colour in the book, had to manage her first-time home and first-time career, hand in hand which was a mammoth task. Advertising was a tough career choice those days that involved rough work hours and handling gender bias at work. Marriage became a challenge for her and she braved up to let it go after 8 years. Post her divorce, she decided to quit work in order to heal emotionally and psychologically and this was certainly not an easy decision for a single woman in the early 80s.

“I decided to challenge my creativity and started a small-scale craft business of hand-woven carpets. I employed ladies from very poor homes so they could make an income and train themselves in a skill. From one employee, I ended with 20 women employees, all from very poor homes in Bombay. They earned sitting at home while they looked after their family. This was when the seeds of developing an NGO began,” said Sandhya.

While she continued her business, she was also lucky to pick up a job where she had to promote a destination for tourism after six years of entrepreneurship. Here began her second challenge, which she tackled marvellously.

“I was now facing an industry which had young MBAs, technically qualified in marketing. My fear as a non-MBA and older by age now made me regret having left my career half-way. Social media, computers and new media had commenced and I had no exposure or experience in this. I had to learn all this from the start,” she added. 

Kunjur’s love for travel and her ardent commitment towards her work enabled her to excel and she was invited to join the marketing team of the Taj group of Hotels where she worked for 18 years.. “My dreams of helping the girl child and women, to stand on their own feet, came true when I started the Ramdev Kunjur Trust, which has succeeded in educating more than 600 girls and 30 boys in the last 10 years and it still continues,” said Kunjur.

Forgiveness: Her key to stand her ground

Anu Krishna, who has beautifully revealed the undaunted spirit of Uruvi, Karna’s wife in the book, is a life coach and a passionate writer. For her, forgiveness is the best healer that helps her with the strength to be herself.

Anu said: “There was a point of time when I realized the importance of forgiveness and I set out on a journey to mend a few relationships from my past. This wasn’t well received by a few core relationships of mine and I did risk losing out on their love and comfort; but the compelling new belief that I had allowed to grow on me showed me the mirror yet again: forgive others to be at peace with yourself.”

“This is why I did go against the choppy waters and went on a forgiveness and reconnection journey and in due course, it all settled. I not only reconnected with a few people, but my core relationships did eventually understand and support me,” she added.

Her love for harmony makes her win

Suchitra Kaul Mishra who has successfully etched out the extraordinary ordinariness of Radha believes in the blend of harmony and persuasion to set her mark as an independent individual. Apart from weaving magic with words, she runs her brainchild, Healing Garden, a boutique wellness retreat with characteristic simple luxury and restorative ambience.

She said: “I take decisions after persuading others. Didn’t need to confront or go against tide. Always believe in expanding my circle of influence and moving forward in harmony.”