Fragments of a Life: A Family Archive

$27.20
$34
(20% off)
Item Code: IDF867
Author: Mythily Sivaraman
Publisher: Zubaan Publications
Language: English
Edition: 2006
ISBN: 8189013114
Pages: 228
Cover: Hardcover
Other Details 8.7" X 5.7"
Weight 470 gm
Fully insured
Fully insured
Shipped to 153 countries
Shipped to 153 countries
More than 1M+ customers worldwide
More than 1M+ customers worldwide
100% Made in India
100% Made in India
23 years in business
23 years in business
Book Description
About the Book:

Mythily Sivaraman's grandmother, Subbalakshmi, lived in the early years of the twentieth century. Married at 11 and a mother by 14, Subblakshmi lived a hard life, dealing with her husband's frequent absences, with illness and neglect. Over the years, she became more and more reclusive, focusing on the one thing that perhaps gave her hope: her fierce desire to read. In these meticulously researched and loving book, Mythily reconstructs her grandmother's life from the fragments of papers and notes, and an occasional diary that she left behind in a tin trunk. In doing so, she explores the silences that surround women's innermost feelings. Subbalakshmi records even the most mundane of activities such as going to hospital, embroidering things for her daughter, but remains silent on the many other important events in her life.

Mythily's painstaking research into both the wider context and the intimate details of Subbalakshmi life sheds light on the Tamil Brahmin culture with its strong silencing of women and denial of their thoughts and feelings. It explores the ways in which silence and secrecy often become an Armour and a survival strategy for women. The book directs the reader to new archives for seeking out history, for with women, silence and speech, the written and the unsaid, the occasional fragment, the odd noting, the library ticket, the shopping list...all of these provide pointers to their lived lives and locations. In its portrayal of the life of one woman, the author weaves together different strands to five the reader a rich and complex book that contributes to new ways of approaching women's history.

About the Author:

MYTHILY SIVARAMAN, a political and social activist of thirty years standing is currently the national Vice President of the All India Democratic Women's Association. She is Subbalakshmi's granddaughter.

CONTENTS
Foreword by Githa Hariharanvii
Prefacexi
1.The Natal Family1
2.Subbalakshmi's Marriage17
3.A Loyal Friend: Grace Samuel34
4.Fight to Madras41
5.Subbalakshmi's Growing political Awareness49
6.Subbalakshmi and the Charkha64
7.Women's Issues in the 1920s71
8.Connoisseur of Arts79
9.Some of Her Favourite Things93
10.Friendships Made107
11.Gurudev112
12.Backwaters Again122
13.Pankajam's Marriage126
14.Life after PRG's Retirement130
15.As Mother and Grandmother135
16.Subbalakshmi's South African Dream143
17.Religious Faith150
18.The Celibate Couple160
19.Sita-Savitri Conscience164
20The 'Dumb Dark Hours'170
Epilogue183
Afterward:
The Blue Tin Trunk By Uma Chakravarti186

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