A Life Examined
Usha Thakkar
REMINISCENCES: THE MEMOIRS OF SHARADABEN MEHTA by Purnima Mehta Bhatt Zubaan, Delhi, 2008, 325 pp., 595
December 2008, volume 32, No 12

The structures of the institutions of family, society and the state acquire new dimensions when seen from women’s perspective. Factors like religion, social values and hierarchies intertwined with patriarchy play an important role in moulding women’s lives. Critique of history from a feminist perspective and the need to have a better understanding of history have brought women’s autobiographies, memoirs and narratives centre stage. Trivial as they may seem to be, they are an important tool to have insights in social history. They provide glimpses of women’s lives, their aspirations and frustrations, joys and sorrows, space and limitations. They not only encompass individual lives but also unfold the process of the making of society and forming relations among its members. This book of Sharadaben Mehta’s reminiscences is important in this context. Interest in women’s writings received a boost after the surge of the second wave of the women’s movement in the mid-nineteen seventies. It was realized that women did not make up one homogeneous group and there are many stages in the development of feminist consciousness.

Search for women’s writings and memoirs in India have started yielding rich results. Women’s autobiographies from Bengal and Maharashtra are particularly noteworthy. Feminist scholars like Geraldine Forbes, Tanika Sarkar and Malavika Karlekar have done commendable work on women’s autobiographies.

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