Tales of love and loss through womens eyes

HYDERABAD: “Mostly women,” observed one among the largely female audience who had come to attend the book launch of feminist, writer and rights activist Vasanth Kannabiran’s ‘A Grief to Bury: Memories of Love, Work and Loss’ on Saturday evening. A collection of narratives of 12 women, the book explores what marriage and widowhood meant to them, after long years of fulfilling lives in the public and personal spheres.The interviewees are women born in the pre-independence era who attained prominence through their work in a setting far removed from the present world.Sahitya Akademi Award winner Abburi Chaya Devi, one of the dozen in the book, remarked with  candour how grief of losing a partner is beyond  personal and dictated by society.“Though I had a wonderful life, I never grieved when my husband passed away as I do not entertain self-pity. However, the other day a friend who said she blamed her inability to attend an event on ‘not being a free-bird like me’ reminded me of my widowed status,” remarked Chaya Devi.Speaking at the launch of her mother’s book, lawyer and feminist Kalpana Kannabiran said, “The book cracks open the biography of a heterosexual family through the economic and political lives of women who were mothers of my generation.”For the author Vasanth Kannabiran, it was a day of reminiscing. “I miss those who have been featured in the book like Meenakshi Mukherjee and could not see the final manuscript. I would also like to thank my English teacher Madhavamma who believed I was a prodigy- for nobody gets anywhere without a teacher.”Before ending her speech, she paid homage to her husband KG Kannabiran saying, “I miss Kannabiran too.”The book was released by Prof Ramakrishna Ramaswamy, vice-chancellor of University of Hyderabad. “Reading the book leads one to think of the reactions that follow a life which has passed on,” observed the vice-chancellor.  Others who attended the event include Sutapa Chakrabarty, vice-president of Human Rights Law Network, economist K Saradamoni and Kathy Sreedhar, founding director, Unitarian Universalist Holdeen India Foundation.The book has been published by Orient BlackSwan and is priced at Rs 725 for a hardcover.