I read this very interesting book in Portugal many years ago. It was
published in 1963 under the title Monção.
Vimala Devi is the literary pseudonym of Teresa da Piedade de Baptista
Almeida.
Vimala Devi moved to Lisbon in 1957. It was also at this time that the
writer chose her pen name, a name that reflected her desire to project
her pre-conversion Hindu identity and her desire to reflect the hopes
and aspirations of Hindu communities and Catholic from Goa.
Everton Machado described Monção as "the best portrait of Goa
“(alongside the novels by writer Orlando da Costa, father of the
former Prime Minister of Portugal A. Costa).
Everton Machado, a Brazilian, is a researcher and professor at the
Faculty of Arts of University of Lisbon, he received his PhD in
Comparative Literature from the Sorbonne.
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San Cajetan Church, Old Goa, India
/MONSOON/ BY VIMALA DEVI
INTRODUCTION BY JASON KEITH FERNANDES
TRANSLATED BY PAUL MELO E CASTRO
PUBLISHED BY SEAGULL BOOKS, 2019
MRP: RS 499.00
Monsoon by Vimala Devi/ Seagull Books/
I have always believed that in this era of incredulity of
meta-narratives, the strongest perspectives and paradigms that stand
out are those of beings who have been relegated to margins. Among
them, the construction of the category of 'woman' is one of the most
important ones. But, the 'making' and 'unmaking' of woman itself
goes through a complex intersectional process with varied
essentialist frames being imposed on her, which Simone de Beauvoir
has highlighted in her writings. 'Projected Essentialism' via a
phallocentric order is one of the ways that go into making a woman.
A brief discussion of the above background is essential when I
consider the work of Vimala Devi titled 'Monsoon.' This is important
as the work has to be looked into in the specific timeframe when it
was written. Also, the narratives of the author assume importance in
the societal moralities in which 'she' lives as it has a huge impact
on her writings. Starting with her name, /Vimala Devi/, is a
portrayal of her adherence to nationalist rhetoric, as her baptismal
name is /Teresa da Piedadebde Baptista Almeida/. The work was
originally written in Portuguese in 1963 and was titled Moncao. Now,
what appears in my hands is an English translation by Paul Melo e
Castro. This brilliant translation is accompanied by a superb yet
critical analysis of the stories by Jason Keith Fernandes and
supplemented with a rich glossary, which is a significant aid to
understanding the multiple subjectivities within the text.
I took up this book accidentally after going through a list of
'Women in Translation’ series suggested by a friend. This is how I
encountered this gem. I have to sincerely admit that the reading was
tough, not akin to pleasure reading for the sake of reading. Being a
Maharashtrian myself, which has cultural ties with Goa in the realms
of culture, language, region, religion and, most importantly, the
caste-class praxis of BOMBAY MODERNITY. These elements played an
important role in the emergence of strong anti-caste movements in
Maharashtra. The reading was an educative experience and a stark
realisation of the post-structural framework while thinking about
intersectionalities and questions of women within. Though the book
looks slim, it is a treasure of ideas, 'her'stories, the
complexities of thoughts, actions and the slow disintegration of
the /quasi-feudal/ society.
To throw light on what I mean, let's refer to the first short story
titled /Nattak/. The story portrays fissures within the traditional
Goan society where there is a built-up tension pervading in the
domains of language, region, caste, religion and sexuality. I had to
refer to Anjali Arondekar to make sense of how sexuality could be
understood in Goa when there are varied elements of migrations,
stigmatisation, and class-caste bias in the inter and intra domains
of religion. With all these forces acting on the agency-lacking
subject of /woman/, how to make sense of the society in which they
inhabit?
In another story, /House Husband/, with the flow, what struck me was
the making of Vimala Devi herself. The mockery of Catholic customs
by portraying the actions of Catholic women as caricatures points to
the structural tensions pervading the society of which way to go,
Catholic or Indigenous? The story shows the obsession with catholic
etiquettes as farce, creating images that paint Catholic customs as
devilish, which subordinates natural human tendencies. Power
dynamics is at play, along with their dialectics at display in their
ability to influence the writer's opinion. Considering this story in
the light of the Goa Liberation Movement, with /de-nationalism/ as
the fulcrum and formation of the /Tocquevillian/ Public sphere as an
upper caste, elite /bhadralok/, North Indian based, it shows how the
contemporary /Hindu, Hindi, Hindutva/ politics made inroads in
today's Goa. The seeds were planted in the pre-independence and
early-independence period of Goa itself.
The above line of thought continues in the character of 'Dhruva',
who appears in the three stories. She is a classic representation of
an essentialist Indian, Sanskari woman, which is desired and
expected by Manusmriti, Matsya Purana and Medhatithi discourses. Her
husband, who initially also aligns with these Sanatana traditions,
is later swayed by enlightenment and rational logic when he goes to
study medicine in Portugal. In fact, the roots of scientific temper
penetrate deep in his mind, which creates tension between the then
prevalent Goan feudal order and his liberal, rational humanistic
outloook. It instigates him to question the majoritarian patriarchal
discourses and see them from the lens of logic. The characters and
the events projected in three stories – /Dhruva, Fidelity and
Returning/ – are so powerful that they stay with you after finishing
the story. The shades of characters of Dhruva and Chandracanta are
interesting, as well as disturbing, but they are changing as well as
static too.
The questions of the Annihilation of Caste and what way liberation
is still a mirage even in Goan society. The Ambedkarian pragmatic
solutions are not followed on the pretext of radicalism, but the
point missed is that his methodology shall create a pathway for a
genderless society. This is the most feared and, thus consequently,
is abhorred by the heteronormative and status-quoits order who don't
want to disturb the non-pragmatic, dogmatic, yet continued
distribution of social and cultural capital. Movements
like /Bhakti/ and philosophical approaches like /Maitree/ have been
proposed as the new way, albeit a /protracted revolutionary /way, to
an egalitarian order. However, the feudal setup deters it from
penetrating the women's consciousness. This is prominently achieved
in guarding the sexuality and denial of choice to women, making them
a subject of gendered subjugation. These cathartic questions are
asked and invoked in the story titled /Padmini/.
In all, there are sixteen stories and important permeating themes in
these stories are the dialectics of the
declining /Mundacar-Bhatcar/ system, a quasi-feudal setup comparable
to the /Jajmani system /of Northern India and the/ Balutedar
system/ of Maharashtra. The time span of these stories shows that
there is a distinct hyphenated cosmopolitanism forged by
Portuguese-British modernity. Yet the force of Indian nationalism
stands as a counter-current to that idea. Within these dialectical
encounters, there emerges a fetishism for /denationalisation/ by
leaders like T. B. Cunha, who want to model Goa on the lines
of /Bhartiya/ culture and try to forge organic connectivity with the
Majoritarian yet Brahmanic conception of the Indian National
Movement. Thus, making a public sphere modelled on the civic virtues
based on /Tea and biscuits polite elitism/, as stated by Partha
Chatterjee. To make this work, a recourse to Orientalism was also
made. Hence, what is obtained is a /Hindu Public/, a syncretic
mixture of Hindu nationalism and neo-liberalism based on the
foundation of gendered as well as religious minority crushing.
(curiously, there is no Muslim character in any of the stories)
A classic depiction of Caste is what appealed to me in these
stories. Caste operates differently in these stories. I would beg to
differ from Jason Keith Fernandes, who states that it is devoid of
the notions of purity and pollution in Goa. But, my reading and
interpretation says that it is already being played in the
background and what is foregrounded as Caste(s) is Nobility and
Ancestry. In fact, there is social osmosis wherein Caste(s) pervades
Christianity, which is so evident in the writings of Bama and
Sujatha Gidla. However, the fact can't be negated that Catholicism
acted as balm across gender, caste and class praxis shown in the
other works of Charu Gupta, sociological analysis of conversions
in /Ahmednagar/ (now with a new sanitised name imposed to suit the
contemporary rhetoric - /Ahilyanagar/). This claim to the idea of
'being Brahmin' is evident in claims of the Catholic elite, which is
naturalised for Hindu Brahmin. The writing, though written in the
geographical proximity of Portugal, follows the same Indianised
discourse of /bahujans/ lacking agency and always being oppressed
via class-caste praxis. This is disappointing but also reflects a
general Gandhian /harijanic/ tendency, Bahujans lacking agency and
their conditions invoking sympathy. The stories show some deep
connections of language, religion, class and caste in the society of
Goa, with a million mutinies on the verge of explosion. In these
circumstances comes the annexation of Goa by India (1961), which
overshadowed these fissiparous tendencies under the broader category
of Political Independence.
The text is a timely translation to understand contemporary Goan
society, which is today modelled as a prime example of the Uniform
Civil Code, which conceptually is branded as the only panache for
all ills of society in India. In fact, understanding 'Vimala Devi',
too, points to the backward linkages for understanding the Political
sphere of Goa. The translation by /Paul Melo e Castro/ gives a
distinct Goan flavour to the text, taking the reader to the then
times and generating images that illuminate and educate the reader
to foreground a neglected and much taken-for-granted territorial
part of India. The text dents the idea of Goa as a tourist and
materialistic hub but creates an image of complex cultural geography
with many discourses pervading the public and private spheres.
Vimala Devi as an author for me, though imbibed in the discourse of
parochial Hindu nationalism, is a great revelation for me, and I
hope to read her other works, which educate the 5G generation like
me to understand the power(s) of discourses emanating from multiple
agencies and viewed from the narrative of women rather than
phallocentric 'his'tories.
https://www.outlookindia.com/books/book-review-monsoon-by-vimala-devi-weekender_story-330221
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