The novel is historically factual and S.J. Joshi has done lot of research on the lives of his characters. The discussion of women's education in the book is entangled with various issues of the period like child-marriages, status of widows, widow-remarriages, the motivations of social reformers and so on. As he describes it, life in the late nineteenth century in Maharashtra was preoccupied with the ancient rituals and traditions with no hope for independent thought or action, thus preventing all progress.
Pune was the home for the most of the progressive thinking people of somewhat affluent means, since their affluence provided them with some shelter from societal pressures. But outside Pune there was a Brahmin man, a poor postal clerk, and a widower, Gopalrao Joshi who was possessed by the thoughts of widow-remarriages and education of women.
His progressive thoughts tripled with his frustrations with the stagnant, bourgeois society and his untamed rebellious nature made him a much-despised character in the society. Having failed in finding a widow for remarriage Gopalrao was forced to marry a 9-year- old pockmarked girl named Yamu. This is the story of that young girl Yamu who was renamed Anandi after her marriage, and Gopalrao who was determined to educate his wife.
It was a struggle to get Anandi to share a room with her husband during the day for her lessons. Meetings between a husband and wife during the day were unheard of in those days. But once she learned to read Anandi discovered for herself the joy of reading and knowledge. Gopalrao moved from Kalyan to Alibaag to Calcutta, any place where he would be left alone to teach his wife. The transformation of Anandi from a reluctant pupil and obedient and scared wife to self-assured and independent woman was a bittersweet process. It was this part that gripped me in the book when I read it 20 years ago.
The conflict in the novel is manifold. On one level, Gopalrao and Anandi were facing oppressive society, but for Anandi the struggle was much more complex. She soon realized the superficiality of traditional rituals and learned to probe deeper for the meanings in them. When faced with the issue of dress once she arrived in America, she mused over the verses from Gita. The skin and the body are just the cover for the soul. If the soul could not be destroyed or corrupted, then why she wondered, should the clothes which from a secondary cover corrupt her soul? As progressive as he was Gopalrao was still a man of his times. He worried that Anandi would become so independent that she would not need him anymore. This insecurity drove him to constantly harass her through letters while she was struggling to adjust and study in America. Even though he was not physically present, he and the ancient traditions were constantly present in Anandi's mind. In America she was trying to adjust to weather, her new environment, a medical school, trying to reconcile her own traditions with the needs of the day and to top it off, there was this image of Gopalrao constantly chiding her. Gopalrao wanted to be known as a "Progressive Thinker" and a "Social Reformer." Anandi was merely an instrument to this. But therein lies the triumph of his cause. It is not only her achievement of becoming a doctor, but her insurgence as an intelligent, and independent woman that made Gopalrao's experiment a success.
How Anandi managed to get admitted to Women's Medical College of Philadelphia, and to book a passage to America is a humorous saga in itself. Gopalrao tried to pretend to become a missionary in order to come to America. That ploy did not work. But his relentless efforts to connect with American contacts bore fruit when a certain Mrs. Carpenter read one of his published letters while waiting in a dentist's office. She became the sponsor and a much- loved "maushi" -- an aunt for Anandi in America.
Anandi's long, lonely trip aboard a ship to America is another enlightening chapter in the novel. If I have to find a fault with the novel, it would be Joshi's description of America. It is less than adequate but serves its purpose.
Gopalrao was known to be a mischievous troublemaker, and in the novel there are numerous incidents depicting this. It is at once humorous and sad.
All in all, the novel transports one to the late 1800s and into the lives of Anandi and Gopal and moves one to the core of her being.
Book Description: The story of India's first woman doctor. Translated from Marathi and abridged by Asha Damle.
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