Jeevanmukhi

After completing my absurd novel ‘Gaathe’ I went to office for 2 months (1996) and again fell sick.

Doctors advised me to take rest for about a month. The sickness made my attitude very negative. I was depressed very much.

At that time I was attracted by an article in the Telugu Weekly Swati. It narrated a poignant story of a 70 year old woman in Canada who was waiting for her son from 42 years. The boy was 9 when he vanished from her life. Her husband was caught in embezzlement in a Bank. A computer expert has prepared her son’s photograph of today using computer technology. People say that they have seen such a person. The story has appeared in many Canadian magazines. But still her son has turned up to see the mother.

I felt much moved with this incident. Here is a mother who is waiting for her son. I thought of making a novel out of the incident. But the length was not enough. What is life? It is only relative. We always relate to others. We are poorer than our neighbors, She is beautiful than her sister etc.,

With this idea, I thought of another woman who discards her child. Why should she discard? She is a famous actress. If she is famous and unmarried, but circumstances lead her to get pregnant, what will she do? One is, she is famous and planning to go up the ladder of fame. Secondly, there is a lot of taboo attached to unwed mothers. Well, nowadays it is common to be a single mother. So, I had to go back in time, 1975. What was so special? Emergency, riots, etc.,

So, I decided to make my heroine a counselor. Her name is Vasundharaa. It means earth. Mother earth is synonymous with patience. She loses her son. Her husband runs away with bank money. But she keeps her face towards life and keeps on helping people. She is a nurse in an old age home. She comes to Bangalore from Belgaum to search for her son.

The other heroine is Lalanaa. Lalanaa means woman. She is full of color. She is a famous Hindi movie heroine. She gets fame. She gets caught in a blizzard in Simla and saved by a man. The blizzard continues for a week and these two become lovers. Once the blizzard is over, both go away without even giving the details of each other to each other. She becomes pregnant. She can’t remove the child. She is forced drive her car alone to Ooty. A girl child is born before time. The premature baby survives. She abandons the child in a hut and runs away to Bombay.

The two meet in a train. Actually the story starts from here. Both become fellow travellers in a coupe of a bogie. Lalanaa comes to know that Vasundhara has come to search for her son using her ‘foster’ son’s friend Jnaaneshwar.

She takes a liking for Vasundharaa and asks her to stay in her home. She is also alone in her house. She is cheated by her secretary and hair dresser. She catches a disease which makes her eyes dull and a bad makeup material burns her cheeks to black color.

Vasundharaa becomes totally involved in taking care of her ‘old men and women’ in the old age home. She tries to solve their problems.

Jnaneshwar prepares photos of Vasundharaa’s lost son with many permutations and combinations. The photos get published in newspapers.

In the meanwhile, Vasundharaa narrates her flashback to Lalanaa. In return, Lalanaa tells her story to Vasundharaa. Both are of about 52 years when the story starts.

During a trip to Belur, while the bus is out of order, they are forced to spend time by watching a Tamil movie. Lalanaa shrieks while watching a scene. She feels the chorus dancer who was behind the heroine is her own carbon copy of younger days.

They go to Madras. It turns out that the girl is indeed Lalanaa’s abandoned daughter. The girl has her own agenda. She tries to become an actress and fails because her leg gets amputated. Vasundharaa makes her strong by boosting her self-confidence.

When all the ‘prepared’ photos of Vasundharaa’s son are published in an international edition of a magazine, a couple comes forward saying that her son is with them since his childhood.

The story ends with a surprising note.

After the manuscript was ready, I handed it over to two famous lady authors. Both liked the novel and suggested the same change!

I too had the idea.. but their advice firmed up the idea.

I called the novel Jeevanmukhi... meaning a person with face towards life.

I got rave reviews when it was published as a weekly serial in one of the most famous magazine Sudha.

Even now I feel that is my best social novel.