Published by Vishwakarma Publications

Foreword by Sunanda Mehta

Resident Editor, Indian Express.

Do you know the 20 things a woman should stop wearing after 30? The answer: 1-20 the weight of other peoples expectations and judgments.

This was a text I received just the other day.

These were also the words that ran through my mind as I turned the pages of this book- reading, mulling over and absorbing each of the 14 stories that, so true to the book’s title, mirror the changing image of the Indian woman- right from her roles and responsibilities as a woman to the rediscovery and redefining of her own identity.

The world around us has changed dramatically over the past two decades- thanks of the advent of information technology that has broken down global walls and encompassed the entire human race into one virtual world. While the ramifications of this new age advancement are manifold, nowhere perhaps has this been a bigger catalyst for change than in the sphere of feminism. The entry of the world into our personal spaces has affected fairly rapid and successful unshackling of the fetters that had suffocated womanhood for far too long and opened up newer horizons- both in terms of opportunities and attitudes, in the physical and mental spheres.

This is especially true perhaps of my generation of women who grew up in fairly conservative environment and found their true liberation in a world they only stepped into years later – and in many cases in step with their children. For the new world today is one that has largely freed the woman from the heaviest burden she had to carry on her shoulders- that of expectations and judgments. The weight very cleverly stacked under a pedestal that the world conspired to put her on to in turn demand of her an unending line of sacrifices and compromises. A pedestal that she reluctantly ascended, for she knew that once on it she dare not rock the balance with the added weight of her own ambitions and aspirations in life.

It is this burden which has now shifted with the times, allowing the women in India to breathe of the freedom they hitherto only learnt of during their childhood through books and stories but which they saw becoming increasingly elusive as they step into adulthood and into the traditional roles laid down by society’s diktats.

Darpan reflects that change in the air. Be it the contrast between the obedient Anju and the rebel Milli and how life evens out the difference in Prateeksha, the miscalculations of Ameeta in How Was She To Know or the hidden strength of Chandra in The Dilemma. The stories talk of how a woman can handle loss (Neela in Merry Wives at a party and Moni in The Baby’s First Step), parental responsibilities (Munni in Rakhee) and a redefined sense of life’s surprises (Kusum in Feelings). Most significantly what leaves a lasting impression on you are that the stories are told at a leisurely pace, devoid of melodrama and are more of narratives from the book called Life rather than stereotyped stories that need to have a structured format and an ending where all the loose ends tie up. In many of the stories in fact the end is left open to interpretation, making this both a compelling read and a thought provoking experience. And if there is anything that does tie it all together it’s the sublime message that the only thing that works as far as liberation of the women is concerned is the right to take their own decisions in life and in that control their destinies. Some may be right, some may be wrong but the power to steer your life in a certain way, sans guilt, is what real freedom is all about. It’s the true Darpan of our ultimate evolution as a specie.