Devi's Breastgiver

So, recently I read Mahasweta Devi's short story "Breast giver", and probably it is the ever growing questions inside that keep thoughts about Jashoda alive. 

I remember the author's name as during my graduation days, a friend had asked whether I had read her, what did I like about her...some questions like these.. Back then, I hadn't I think. I have read Mahadevi Verma a bit, and her life as well as her ability to understand even animals, put their life into words, her compassion and love had made a place in my brain. 

Well, back here, with these thoughts I had started my (most probably) first Mahasweta Devi's story. To call them story, would be wrong, because even when we have lived in entirely different centuries, things have moved amazingly fast from her times to mine, a lot of the sufferings, values and conditions can be related to with much ease. And to be honest, this ease in relation, feels unsettling as one goes on..

There is so much to be read, to be known , to be talked about and to be changed. And yet. . The web of everyday lives catch us in a hamster's circle, continuosly moving but going nowhere.. 

Anyway, I don't want to tell you the gist or even give a glimpse of the story. I will just tell one thing about Jashoda, that she was a mother by profession, a professional mother. What does this even mean? Well, go find out!

Be it the tinge of East and West Bengal, or the Brahmin and others, or even the changing family structure,values and lifestyle itself...what doesn't seem to budge is the oppression.. 

Women, who are they? Why are they? And also, the innate connection of woman with becoming a mother. Is motherhood a liberation or a tyranny itself? Just thoughts. 

- Yours,

R.