Sudha Murty, an Engineer, a Teacher and a Philanthropist apart from writing many books. A lady with multiple roles is always an inspiration to the society. A book by Sudha Murty holds the flavor of life, a simple life. She writes in Kannada and English. Her writings are easy to understand and full of values.
Mahashweta is a story about a girl named Anupama who is a very talented girl. She comes from a poor family. Her mother passed away when she was one year old and her father gets remarried to Sabakka, who comes across as very evil person. She doesn’t care much about Anupama and is also jealous of her beauty since her daughters are very ordinary looking. Anupama is a very good student as he survives majorly on scholarships as her father is not able to provide for her.
She also does a lot of Theatre and it is during this time, she comes across Dr. Anand who she comes across accidently and she sells tickets to Anand for the play that she is performing as Mahashweta. Anand, in awe of her beauty like every other man in this world is not able to say no to Anupama and ends up attending her play. The moment he sees her performing his attraction turns into love and he is totally smitten by her.
Anand is a handsome and rich man so Anupama also starts to like him secretly but she is aware of the difference in their social status, so she controls her feelings, but Anand is completely in love with her beauty and he can’t wait to get married to her and starts to make it clear that he will marry only Anupama and not the other girls his mother is trying to set him up with who are from a higher class. Anand’s family consists of his mother and sister. Both his mother and sister are very arrogant and proud of their social status and they try their best to convince Anand to not get married to Anupama but Anand does not listen to them.
Since Anupama comes from a poor family, the wedding is sponsored by Anand’s family which infuriates both Anand’s family and even Sabakka, Anupama’s stepmother as she wants her daughters to get married to a rich household like Anand’s. Anand and Anupama end up getting married but all hell breaks loose when Anand decides to move to England for further studies in the field of medicine. He wants Anupama to join him there but his mother declines as she wants Anupama to do some Pooja and she promises Anand that after the Pooja, Anupama will join him in England. With a heavy heart Anand moves to England and convinces Anupama that its just a matter of two months and she will join him too. Anupama constantly feared that something bad might happen if Anand moves to a foreign country but Anand convinces her by his loving words that he will always love her and only her and Anupama gets convinced.
Anand moves to England and Anupama starts feeling sad and her heart gets heavy as she has to live with her mother-in-law and Dr. Anand’s sister Girija, who happens to be jealous of Anupama’s beauty. As the days went by, Anupama began to get bored and depressed as she did not feel at home in her in-law’s house and suspected that she would always feel like a stranger. The only comfort she had was from Anand’s calls and letters. One day she exchanges her purse with Girija and ends up having access to Girija’s purse by accident, she sees contraceptive pills in them and confronts Girija but Girija creates friction between Anupama and her mother-in law which makes Anupama more sad. Finally after many days the Auspicious day of the Pooja arrived and Anupama couldn’t be more happier as after this Pooja she would be reunited with her husband and she will be out of this house, but a red hot piece of coal falls on Anupama’s foot severely burning it, Anupama didn’t pay much attention to it and poured cold water on it and continued the Pooja. After the Pooja, Anupama does not get any relief and she notices that the burn had turned into a large blister.
A couple of days later she notices that there was a small white patch on her foot. Initially she did not bother but day by day the patch was getting bigger. Anupama was worried but she didn’t share her problem with anyone but started to see a skin specialist who tells her that she is suffering from Leukoderma. Anupama realizes that this might spoil her marriage and this is what exactly happens, when her mother- in-law gets to know about this she insults Anupama by blaming her and her family for trapping their son and ends up throwing her out of the house. Anupama has no option but to go back to her father’s house where she is equally disrespected by her stepmother. Anupama sends a letter to Anand telling him her side of the story and thinking that since Anand is a doctor , he will understand that it is a medical issue and she didn’t have this patch before the wedding and starts waiting for Anand’s reply.
Meanwhile she faces a lot of humiliation and her own father does not stand up for her. Anand never replies to her and she starts thinking that maybe she wrote the wrong address, but after sometime when she meets Dr. Rao she gets to know that it was the right address and Anand chose not to reply to her which breaks her heart and she decides to take up her life as she was abandoned by everyone and didn’t have a reason to live, but she changes her mind on her friend sumi’s insistence and moves to Mumbai where Sumi was living and working.
She moves to Mumbai and starts living with sumi and her husband Hari. Hari ends up having evil and sexual thoughts for Anupama and since he helped Anupama get a job he expects Anupama to reciprocate his sexual feelings but Anupama does not give in. She moves out of Sumi’s place and starts to look for options but she doesn’t find anything. After some time her friend Dolly asks her to live with her in her house as she used to live only with her mother and had lots of space. Anupama was very thankful to her. Anupama finally starts to enjoy her life.
She and Dolly got along very well. However Anupama started feeling bored in her office. She began the feel for a change and one day Dolly told her about a post of Sanskrit Lecturer and Anupama couldn’t be more happier as she knew the language well and takes up the job. Dolly gets married and moves to Australia with her husband and Dolly’s mother is going back to Goa so Dolly asks Anupama to stay in her house and look after it since Anupama had become a part of their family.
After some time Anupama meets with an accident and that’s when Dr. Vasant and Dr. Satya enter her life. They are doctors who take care of Anupama and soon begin to form a close friendship with Anupama. They become such close friends that when Satya gets sick and heartbroken it is Anupama who takes care of him and these three form a close bond. Vasant starts to like Anupama and confesses his feelings to her in the hope of Anupama saying yes to him but Anupama declines his proposal and wishes him all the best.
Overall Anupama comes across as a woman who learned about life the hard way and does not want to get into another relationship.
It depicts a woman’s inner strength as she discovered herself in the best way she could when no one was there to assist her.
It also reminds us not to judge person by his/ her face and shows that everyone has beauty hidden beneath. Its a very strong story that touches the heart. This story is combination of grit and determination of a woman to live her life. In a way it also show us the mirror of what our society is.
Do let me know your thoughts in the comment box below.
Read more book reviews.
Leave a Reply