Apu’s World

Jane Austen’s novels, especially Emma, Pride & Prejudice and to a lesser extent, Sense & Sensibility and Mansfield Park are among the best loved novels of all time. Their meticulous depiction of family life and its tensions, of love, romance and heartbreak, of society and manners - all make them enjoyable even two centuries after they were written, not to mention the renewed interest in them in the form of movies and TV serials and adaptations. Somehow, the characters she created - Elizabeth Bennett, Emma Wodehouse, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, always led me to think of the author on the lines of these women - young, beautiful, romantic.

Reading Claire Tomalin’s ‘Jane Austen: A life’, it came as something of a surprise that Austen wrote most of her novels when she was done with being a young woman on the lookout for romance, and in fact had very little of it even when she was young. She differs from most of her characters in many ways, and what the biography makes clear is that while village life may have provided her with some of her setting and background, much of her work came purely from her imagination.

Until a few years ago, I used to avoid reading any non-fiction on the grounds that it would be boring. That can hardly be said for this biography. Very interestingly written, it is sympathetic to Austen without making her a saint. What is more remarkable is that it is put together very well in spite of the very little information and evidence available, since Austen’s family destroyed many of her letters. At the same time, it does not appear as if Tomalin is simply indulging in her own fancies; instead, she bridges the many gaps in the narrative by bringing in evidence from Austen’s contemporaries - women who would have gone to similiar schools, attended the same parties, been in similiar situations - and makes a plausible case for those parts of her life.

Jane Austen comes alive - as the young girl who starts writing early, as the young woman whose fleeting romance is quickly brought to an end, as the devoted aunt who nevertheless finds family obligations a strain on her, and as an author with tremendous confidence in herself, and the ability to laugh at criticism.

Two things really struck me after reading the biography; one was Jane Austen’s attachment to her only sister, Cassandra, with whom she shared a room almost her entire life and wrote to regularly whenever they were apart. After her death, Cassandra wrote poignantly, “…I have lost a treasure, such a sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed. She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow, I had not a thought concealed from her, and it is as if I had lost a part of myself.” I found this deeply touching.

The other was how hard life was for women in those times - with absolutely no money of their own, even women from middle-class families were completely dependent on fathers or brothers for their support. If the family fell into hard times or if brothers withheld support, there was little that single women could do. Unlike men who could work their way up by entering into a profession, few occupations were open to them. Tomalin’s biography brings this up, especially in one instance, where the Austen parents abruptly decide to relocate from their country home to Bath, and Jane and Cassandra, both grown women, have no choice in the matter, although the move troubles them deeply.

Married women of course were expected to devote themselves completely to their households, and there was little thought of them needing any independence, although widows could and did fall on hard times. Besides, the lack of contraception and the constant child-bearing did literally kill women, including two of JA’s sisters-in-law. While there is little to indicate that she had overt feminist leanings, it is clear that as she grew older, she considered herself lucky to be a single woman, and to have escaped marriage and constant child-bearing. In fact, her belief in women as people with intelligence, wit and wisdom, as seen in her letters as well as in her novels (rather than the helpless, pliant creatures they were assumed to be) leads Tomalin to suggest that in slightly later times, she may well have been a feminist.

Today, Jane Austen adaptations are in themselves a multi-million dollar industry. It is a sobering thought that well into her early thirties, she was completely dependent on others for whatever little they could give her. By the time her work started earning her some money, she had little time left to live. Despite the essentially cheerful and hardy character that comes across in this biography, one cannot help feeling sad at such a life.

(Incidentally, it appears that Claire Tomalin is going to be at this year’s Jaipur Literature Festival, an event I’ve always wanted to attend and never managed to.)

apu The Literary life, Women & Feminism

So, Karva Chauth has come and gone. While I don’t believe in a festival that lays emphasis on only one half of a married couple fasting for the other half, it doesn’t affect me in the slightest since neither my community nor my husband’s celebrates this festival. However, I came across an article on a woman who gave her husband the gift of a kidney, on Karva Chauth.

It is of course admirable when spouses support each other in this way, through sickness and health. But, some startling statistics for you. Of every 100 kidney donations in India:

• In 64 cases, the recipient is male and the donor female
• In 8 cases, the recipient is female and the donor male
• In 20 cases, both recipient and donor are male
• In 8 cases, both recipient and donor are female

Put another way, 84 out of 100 kidney recipients are male and only 16 female, while 72 out of 100 donors are female and only 28 male.

I could not find any hard data on whether kidney failure per se affects men in a much higher ratio than women, but from what I read on sites such as Dialysis India, it appears not, or at least not with such great disparity. In fact, women are at very high risk of urinary infections which can affect the bladder and kidneys. Globally, it also appears that Chronic Kidney Disease is more likely to be overlooked among women, although the rate of documentation rises for patients already diagnosed with hypertension. This means, the few women who are receiving transplants are likely to be a very small proportion of actual sufferers, especially in India where rural areas receive little advanced healthcare.

Kidney donation in India is a complex subject, and in general, there is a severe shortage of donors as well as a black market in organs. In this scenario, it is evident that men who will be valued in the family as ‘earning members’ can get a kidney much more easily. Women, on the other hand, mostly do not have any such ‘economic value.’ Further, few husbands may donate due to fears that the loss of a kidney may prevent them from doing heavy work. In reality, some of these husbands may have desk jobs, and quite a few poorer women who donate kidneys will do heavy work including getting water from a distance, collecting firewood, caring for large families including elderly people or farm work. That is not of course considered work or valuable in any way.

apu Women & Feminism

I haven’t been in the mood to write anything original here, but I came across some interesting links on diverse topics, which I thought readers of this blog may be interested in.

First, an sobering article on the high maternal mortality rates in India and how different approaches are being tried out to combat MMR, keeping in mind local conditions such as the lack of reliable ambulance services.

Then, it appears that after the disaster that Bride & Prejudice was, the Indian film industry still wants to take its chances on Jane Austen. So, what we have coming up is a Hindi screen adaption of Emma, with Sonam Kapoor playing the lead. I can just imagine the impulsive and charming Emma being transformed into a juvenile and flighty Ekta, sorry, Aisha. Sigh. Coincidentally, I am reading Claire Tomalin’s insightful and creative biography of Jane Austen at the moment (creative, considering the limited amount of material available).

Also, Webster’s dictionary defines ‘Statesman’ as 1 : one versed in the principles or art of government; especially : one actively engaged in conducting the business of a government or in shaping its policies. 2 : one who exercises political leadership wisely and without narrow partisanship. I’m finding it difficult to see how Rajan Zed qualifies, besides being quite unable to understand why he should have a problem with English novels being adapted for India. Sure, one would also like to see adaptations of Indian novels, but, hasn’t he heard of the numerous versions of Devdas?

Finally, Mint is doing an absolutely must-read series on Industrial Safety in India. These are the kind of nuanced, well-researched and objective pieces that are increasingly hard to find in any Indian newspaper. So, if Mint is not on your usual reading list and you haven’t seen these, please do go read them.

apu In General