Till Death do us Part

Five elderly women and men in their lives: husbands, lovers, sons, and friends. All living in the margins of society, ageing, enduring, struggling to make two ends meet. These touching tales, with their humour, delicacy and warmth, are each centred on a woman character. There is Kuli (‘Talaq’) who finds herself unexpectedly divorced in the heat of a quarrel, but decides to defy societal taboos with her ex-husband, companion of many years. Mohini, lonely after her sons leave home, vows that since her husband objects to her verbosity, she will henceforth talk only to the crows and cranes (‘The Saga of Kagaboga’). Kamal (‘The Poet’s Wife’) discovers how harsh the indifference of today’s world can be while Anandi (‘He said, Pani’) moans the sudden loss of her only friend and the simple pleasures of their companionship, even as insensitive forces question her links with the old man. Finally, there is the ageing actress, Kusum (‘Love Story’), who, after a lifetime of devotion to her lover, finds herself alone, and questioning what it was all about. This volume, spanning over three decades of writing, shows an unusually tender side to Mahasweta Devi, widely known for her satiric prose and biting indictment of societal inequalities. Mahasweta Devi is one of India’s foremost writers. Her powerful fiction has won her recognition in the form of the Sahitya Akademi (1979), Jnanpith (1996) and Ramon Magsaysay (1996) awards, the title of Officier del’Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres (2003) and the Nonino Prize (2005) amongst several other literary honours. She was also awarded the Padmasree in 1986, for her activist work among dispossessed tribal communities. Vikram Iyengar, currently engaged in research in performance studies, is also a Kathak dancer. He is based in Calcutta.