Zubaan has been at the forefront of bringing literature from the North East to the larger reading public for a while now. In its effort to do so, it has been responsible for publishing a series of books focused on a particular State of the region. The latest offering sustains and consolidates such an intention but also differs from the previous offerings in that it combines writings from the latest entrant to the North East, the State of Sikkim, with those from the Darjeeling and Kalimpong Districts in northern West Bengal. Along with shared geography, these regions are inhabited by the same ethnic groups, Lepcha, Nepali, Gorkha, Bhutia and Tibetan amongst others and share similar experiences of colonialism, migration, troubled politics and challenging economy. While the availability of novels and collections of stories from the North East, especially in English translation, are no longer as rare as they used to be, those brought out by Zubaan stand out because they always offer writings by women, writings which are arguably feminist, and writings which are diverse and inclusive in terms of thematic concerns and writers. Often, the writers range from the well-known to the completely unknown, homemakers to researchers, with a focus especially on voices belonging to marginalized communities. Also, increasingly, one finds that these collections bring together not just fiction in the form of short stories and poems but also essays, short memoirs and other forms of non-fiction writing that often provide much-needed context to understand the fiction better.
Perhaps the most dominant thematic concern that runs through the writings in this collection is, unsurprisingly, of migration. What is significant to note though is the focus on a gendered perspective on migration that many of the writings touch upon. The rampant poverty that almost all the writings highlight makes migration not a choice but a compulsion for most women.
However, Nangsel Sherpa and Shuvangi Khadka’s essay differentiates between migration that takes place from Nepal to Darjeeling in search of livelihood and that which takes place from Tibet to Darjeeling necessitated by the fear of persecution. But the necessity of migrating fuelled by a desire for social mobility is also a desire that some of the short stories such as ‘Tincture of Hues’ and ‘Orphaned’ draw one’s attention to. However, what is striking is the fact that the women in these stories who choose to move to bigger cities or express such an intent, seem abundantly ready to forsake their families, even young children, in order to realize their dreams of a ‘better’ life. It is precisely such a motivation that makes a feminist reading of such stories challenging as the desire for a better life is mostly conflated with a life that offers material riches and comforts. Further, the fact that women like Sushma in ‘Tincture of Hues’ hinge the realization of such dreams on a paramour rescuing and aiding her flight from home and poverty further compromises any possible radical reading of such a wish, seemingly a quest for freedom.
While the prospect of a better life is the predominant reason for migration, there are other contributing factors too. It is a well-known fact that many who join the armed forces belong to the State of Sikkim and the Gorkha community of Darjeeling and its surrounding areas. Therefore, an essay on ‘Military Wives’ is rather illuminating in how the ‘geographically mobile subjects’ grapple with this constant need to shift wherever the husband is posted, navigate the ‘power dynamics and position of women within military families’ or grapple with both loneliness and multiple responsibilities if they are left behind by the husbands.
Somewhat ironically, one also comes across women in short stories such as ‘A Letter to Baari’ or poems such as ‘Shadow Within’ whose bodies have been inscribed by the violence unleashed by the Gorkhaland movement, women whose lives continue to be haunted by ‘Blurred images/of muddy boots’, despite the distance of time and space they had consciously and painfully crafted. Thus, these stories and poems also signal another theme, that of the impact of the Gorkhaland movement born out of a demand for a separate State, a demand that arose out of a need to protect and celebrate an ethnicity and a culture that is divergent from the dominant Bengali identity, culture and language that the rest of the State and its people identify with. The tragic fallout of the movement is poignantly borne out not only in the writings already mentioned but also in stories such as ‘Nobody’s Daughter’ that highlight how women inevitably become collateral damage when such movements sadly get hijacked by those that see violence as the means to the desired end.
The violence that women are subjected to by state and non-state actors is only compounded by a violent and repressive patriarchal society that one encounters in many of the writings in this volume. The pervasiveness of patriarchal atrocities come across as unusually stifling as stories such as ‘Dastoor’ elucidate how they thrive under the garb of custom and tradition. Such a hostile environment is exacerbated by rampant alcoholism, abject poverty and lack of employment whose intersection is reflected in many of these writings. Consequently, one also comes across women fighting and trying to forge an identity of their own and ‘dukka’ or toil becoming a defining aspect of their life. One of course notes a certain resilience women from the hills are often seen to demonstrate, and a resistance towards conditions that make life incredibly difficult as well as unbearable to many of the women one comes across in this collection. This note of resistance though is fairly muted in many of the writings, and one can reasonably ascribe it to the fact that women’s writings from these regions are only starting their journey in these parts, or perhaps that one is only beginning to discover them. It is towards the last half of the collection that this note of resistance becomes stronger, noticeably in poems such as ‘The Curtain Over Your Eyes’ and ‘The Woman of Kali Yuga’, and essays such as ‘On Loitering in a Himalayan Town’ that offer a female gaze on the predominantly male prerogative of simply loitering about. The most significant note of resistance though is struck by the attempts at recovering voices of women of past generations, those who suffered the most and were denied any expression of it. Therefore, you have poems such as ‘My Mother Doesn’t Clip Her Nails’ and ‘Hamro Boju’ celebrating the labour, hardships and resilience of mothers and grandmothers; and essays such as ‘My Great-Grandmothers’ Photographs’ shedding light on lives that had been left shrouded in darkness for a long time.
Beneath Magnolia Skies is a voluminous work and there is still much left to say and recommend about it. One of the things one must point out before concluding is how the various writings go beyond thematic concerns and provide a rich tapestry of life and culture of those who live in this region. ‘Mujingna Khiyangna’ tells the story of the titular woman whose trials and tribulations make their way into Limboo folktales; several stories and essays familiarize readers with a way of life, beliefs and practices common to the region but unknown to others. Then there is the retention of words in Nepali and other local languages in both stories written in English and in translation, often accompanied by a footnote that gives one a peek into a world that is vibrant and complex. This one is a remarkable collection; one feels enriched after reading it and it leaves you with a desire to know more, read much more about a people and a region we know very little of. One just wishes the volume was structured better, either thematically or perhaps genre-wise because the degree of unfamiliarity with the region makes the jumps a bit challenging for readers.
Shibani Phukan is Associate Professor, Department of English, ARSD College, University of Delhi, Delhi. Her areas of interest include writing from the North East, women’s writing, and translation studies.