Naan Naanga... by Sivasankari (நான் நானாக - சிவசங்கரி)

Naan Naanaga... by Sivasankari
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The protagonist is a middle class Brahmin lady whose desire to to learn Bharatnatyam. But thanks to the orthodox nature of her and her in-laws family she is denied this chance. She does learn dance for about three years in her parent's place and gives a few performances, but all that comes to a stop when gets married at 20.

After that her life revolves around her husband and children. She had a nursed an ambition that she would realize her desire through her daughter, but fate willed otherwise and she had two sons.

At the age 40, 20 years after marriage, both the sons have gone away from the homes to study and the old passion comes back to gnaw at her. With great hope she tries to express her desire to her husband, but her husband is dead against it, even though she says that she is only going to learn the theory part of the dance and is not interested in giving dance performances. Her husband ropes in her son and her parents to try and and talk her out of this. She persists and leads to a big fight between them which is the first from the time of their marriage.

Eventually and surprisingly it is her mother-in-law who comes to her rescue and makes her son understand that he should let his wife fulfill her desire.

The book highlights the patriarchal Indian society which expects the womenfolk to suppress their desires and continue to serve others. It tries to indicate that it is time we move out that thought and let everyone, irrespective of their gender, have a chance to try and fulfill their desires.

A decent read.

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