Even altered bodies, even those that had endured surgery and loss, were permitted their architecture, their symmetry, their right to adornment (p. 182).
The protagonist stands in a shop and reads the list: ‘Equalizers and enhancers, Post-reconstructive surgical Bras, Post–surgical camisoles, Post-mastectomy Bras’ (p. 182). After her surgery, she is trying to find alternatives for her lost breast. Manjil Oruval written by Nirmala Thomas and translated into English by Radhika P Menon as Snowed Under, is the story of a woman who navigates between sickness and healing. Diagnosed with breast cancer, Aswini Ram, a highly successful engineer, tries to come to terms with the sudden twist of fate. Her life crisscrosses between the schedules of a disinterested husband, Mohan, and of a daughter, Keerthana, who is busy with her studies at the medical school.
Aswini’s breasts are named Kalyani and Kalavani. It was Mohan who had named them so during their initial days of marriage and bliss. But after the diagnosis, surgery and chemo, Mohan acts cold and distant. ‘Mohan for his part, had neither questions nor answers. No anxiety, no time, no desire to know the details…. Mohan was desirous of a body only if he had anything to gain. He was such a bore that he could not think of the civil war within her body’ (p. 179). Aswini feels quite alienated in marriage. She is sick most of the time post chemo, with little support from her family. She does not want to see her ‘Girl-Power group’. She abhors the so-called well-wishers around her. She knows that they would only ‘pry open her wounds and coax out her grief, as though she were expected to lay it before them neatly arranged and ready for inspection’ (p. 182).
Instead, she finds solace in ‘Rana Pratap Singh’ with whom she shares imaginary conversations. Rana, an imaginary historical figure, is her confidant. The historical Rana Pratap Singh stands for courage and resilience. Aswini adopts his imaginary, invisible presence as constant companionship. She complains, laments, takes advice and jokes with Rana, that throughout the novel we find Rana to be more real than the other characters. ‘Hey Rana Pratap, Wish the cancer was on my tail or my head. How can I reveal all those details about my boobs to these people, Rana? See the embarrassment and the anxiety on their mugs?’, she asks him. Rana Pratap Singh also makes up for the other absences in Aswini’s life. ‘Mohan had nothing to say, nothing to ask’ (p. 126). But Rana comforts her, and advises, ‘Stop pitying Aswini. The summer will be over soon’ (p. 204).
Where biomedical science focuses on curing the sickness, medical humanities focus on understanding the illness. It expresses the social, cultural and personal dimensions to the human experience of suffering, healing and mortality. The novel tries to address questions on how a patient slowly relies on oneself than on the others, as body adjusts and tries to heal. Aswini talks with herself, answers herself and pumps in self-confidence. Self-talks help Aswini get a clearer focus on her random thoughts. She voices her opinions to others without inhibition. For instance, she doesn’t care to concede and agree with everything that her friends tell her anymore. She helps Vidya, one of her friends, in finding a very crucial answer to her query about life and love. Aswini is not a weak character from the beginning, but she becomes stronger in the process. Her world is turned upside down when her meticulous timetable is disrupted with the onset of illness. After she starts to depend on herself more than friends and family, she grows sturdier in mind. She also learns to stop her ‘chemo-tongue’ from being bitter to people around her. The novel does give space for her anger and frustration. It shows how medicine treats the body, but many times forgets to address the angst of the mind. The pages also address a basic question which adults often ignore: when was the last time that someone touched this body? (p. 253). At the hospital, they wear gloves and at home, no hands embrace Aswini. As an immigrant in Canada, she misses her mother, the homely meals and her younger sister who would have sat with her.
Towards the end, Aswini reconciles with her fragmented self and domestic life. The metaphor of snow and freezing cold which shows the mental state of the patient slowly thaws, and Aswini steps back to life, not as a victim but as a survivor. The coda by Dr. MV Pillai notes how the psychological reality of the condition often goes untreated by medical science. Snowed Under is an eye-opener to those who are fighting cancer and also to those who support the ones in the battle.
Nithya Mariam John is Assistant Professor & Research Guide, P G Department of English & Research Centre, BCM College (Autonomous), Kottayam.