In this age of nuclear and proton families, A House in the Old Style, evokes nostalgic images of a fast disappearing Indian institution, ?joint families?. It is not so much about a conventional joint family but about those vacations when we make a desperate attempt to revive the ?jointness? of the disintegrating families. If you have been missing or are deprived of that archetype grand old figure at home, who has a ready stock of spicy stories to offer at every occasion, the book can compensate to an extent. The narrative successfully brings out issues stemming from generation gap and tells in an unhurried manner, the story of a octogenarian who lives in a colonial mansion at Allahabad with his extended family. His son from his second marriage returns and raises uncomfortable questions? The book is slow paced but readable narrative revealing that beneath every family that appears ?normal?, there are sticky spots which are varnished over to retain the delicate homeostasis that a joint family needs to survive.
While talking of Britishers in India, the grandfather says, ?Not like the dacoits you have in mind. More civilized. They gave us Shakespeare and Shelley and took away our wealth.
The orders to loot were given by people who wore elegant clothes, carried big titles, had gracious manners, threw huge parties where there was dancing and music, built great houses and libraries.?
Sudipta Datta
The first thing that strikes you about Bela Lal?s debut novel The Night of Kaamini is its cinematic possibilities. Even an onslaught of summer has to have a filmic touch: ?Summer had not set in yet. But it was hanging in the air like a child peeping in from the door?. And like a symbol, like a flag for summer, the mango blossom was in full bloom.? It?s a sweeping saga set over four decades starting with Partition and history comes alive in her vivid descriptions and portrayals of characters. Only, there?s a feeling of d?j? vu ? we have read quite a few Partition novels, haven?t we? ? and the dramatic twists often remind you of a soap-opera. One can?t read Lal?s novel without being reminded of Attia Hosain?s Sunlight on a Broken Column and even Vikram Seth?s A Suitable Boy.
But first, the story: There?s Thakur Ram Prasad who is so enamoured with a pair of ?kohl-rimmed eyes?, that you immediately sense the effect ? not all pleasant ? it will have on generations to come. His daughter Kaamini will take the brunt of it but granddaughter Mita too will have to unravel shocking secrets of the past to make a future for herself. Lal breathes life into her many characters ? and that makes it a more than interesting read. What?s more, you get a lesson in history, from the trying 1940s to the turbulent 1980s. She also holds up a mirror to society, showing us how some things ? caste pulls, well-entrenched patriarchal mindsets, especially in north India and so forth ? don?t change easily enough.