The Strawberry Patch

Nonda Chatterjee's The Strawberry Patch, consists of a collection of stories depicting the lives of eight different women, set in separate periods in time. What is perhaps most appealing about these short stories is a portrayal of women as not simply two-dimensional feminist crusaders striving against male oppression, but rather, as women with real human stories to tell and the struggles that characterize them. The short, seemingly scattered tales are woven together by a common theme of stoicism and survival.

Against a backdrop of political and sometimes religious disarray, shrouded by an almost sinister play of Fate, one is struck by how Chatterjee's women assert themselves in ways that are unique, awe-inspiring, and even shockingly unorthodox. There is an endless struggle between liberalism and education, and traditional cultural values. The women are initially trapped within societal boundaries, yet somehow find ways to fight, and inevitably transcend, the oppression.

Dulari--in the fourth story entitled 'The Trial'--uses her female sexuality as her greatest weapon. At first it might appear as though she succumbs to the stereotypical notion of a woman as a seductress, but one realizes soon enough that she does so in order to gain a larger freedom. And so, what was/is considered a weakness (femininity), is ultimately transformed into strength. Heeriya in 'Motherhood' is perhaps the lone protagonist who chooses to destroy herself. It would seem that she does not have the vision and clarity to look past the product of sin, the child that had formed in her womb as the result of the man that violated her. However, murdering her own child, then drowning herself is possibly a twisted assertion in itself, a way of revolting against the injustice dealt out to her. Rama in 'The Quilt'--spirited, highly intelligent with "an insatiable appetite for knowledge"--has been dealt a similar Fate as Heeriya. She is raped into submission; her regression is acutely painful and the quilt she weaves serves as her only mouthpiece which recounts the horrific events of her life. Rama succumbs to social pressure, and the quilt continues to be a visual landscape of her disturbed mind, where nothing thrives and everything wilts. But, Rama finally meets Parvathi and Renu; the three women form an unbreakable bond of sisterhood that nurtures her, and ultimately restores her strength.

Some feminist dictums and boundaries are disregarded within these short stories, while other traditions of feminist writers are followed. An instance of the former would be the aesthetic appeal of most of Chatterjee's women. Boruna is a woman of immaculate beauty, while Chandi Debi is a handsome woman, and the epitome of a majestic "Ranima". These women do not in any way lack in intelligence, moral conviction or wisdom (unlike Bronte for instance, who has divided beauty and brains in Jane Eyre, and where her protagonist, Jane, is quite plain faced). Chatterjee has no qualms in combining the two 'qualities,' so to speak, in her female characters. However, in certain cases, it seems as though some such characters are too flawlessly picture-perfect to be believable ones.

The landscape plays an integral part in The Strawberry Patch--it either serves as a prelude to an event about to occur, or as an extension of the minds of the female protagonists. The language is infused with symbolism--the strawberry patch itself (sensual, the "pride of [the] Eden"), the banyan tree (a recurrent motif, depicting strength and fertility), the flaming gulmohur (a symbol of transformation and regeneration), all embody the spirit of womanhood.

As the stories progress, the writer tends to grow more and more didactic, with her messages of love and peace. The visual, symbolic union of man and woman in 'The Quilt' is too 'in-your-face,' and Chatterjee becomes lazy with regards to subtleties, especially in the last story, 'Birthmark'--where the mad woman under the Bauhinia tree drinks her own urine, declaring that "all is one"--and with statements such as "religion is not the dividing factor; greed and avarice are". The writer's political commentaries are perhaps the only drawbacks to her story-telling, and the prose overall is rich without being wordy.

Chatterjee's world portrays women as healers, nurturers, caregivers and ultimately creators in their own right. Life is alluded to as a notoriously fragile cup, which, intermingled with Fate, determines the course of these womens' lives. And yet, it is their resilience and ability to survive both natural and man-made forces that Chatterjee applauds within these short chronicles. Finally, it is the bewitching ambiguity of prose and the realistic portrayal of women as multi-dimensional characters that lends The Strawberry Patch its charm and poignancy.

Rubaiyat Khan is on the editorial staff of The Daily Star.