NEW YORK (TIP): In an event at the United Nations on July 27, Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri, a former ASG at the United Nations spoke about her novel “Swallowing the Sun” .
The one-and-a-half-hour event at ECOSOC Chamber was led by the Permanent Mission of St Lucia, and co-sponsored by the Diwali Foundation USA , UNAOC and UN Women. The Permanent Mission of India supported the event.

‘Swallowing the Sun’ tells the story of Malati, a young girl growing up in Maharashtra caught up in the freedom movement’s fervor, and how she navigates sisterhood, friendships and revolution.
As a young girl, Malati fights and defeats the school bully of her village school in Maharashtra. From then onwards, backed by her progressive father, she and her sister Kamala push the boundaries constantly. After an eventful girlhood, the sisters become the first women in their family to go to college.

I am tempted to carry here Rajiv Dogra’s critique of the book before I return to the description of the event. The canvas Lakshmi sketches on is large, with multiple players. Yet, there is no distraction in its gripping narrative. Its plot transports us back to the times between the early and the mid-20th century.

It was an age when feudals were still the lords of all that they survey, and the poor were in the depths of misery. This was also the time of shuttered dreams; of a nation in chains, of vast masses in slotted misery from birth and of the girl child whose dreams died young. This in effect was a time of stasis, where no movement and contentment confusedly merged into each other.

The British rule was all-pervasive and so was the fear of its retribution. In a long- delayed response by the Indian people (after 1857, of course), the first faltering attempts at revolt began to incubate. It fired at least some of the young with rage, often singeing them with the consequences of being found out by the system. Against this background, Lakshmi Puri’s novel is about the eeriness of transformative change. ‘Swallowing the Sun’ transports us back to this era when despite the odds, a few dared to break new ground.

The first among these was Baba, a simple peasant with lofty ideas and loftier courage, who dreams big for his three daughters. The eldest Surekha is one of the most eligible among young girls in Ratnagiri. Naturally then, there is no shortage of suitors and it is just a matter of time before she is married to Malak Vilas Rao, the finance minister in Vaishali Maharaja’s court. When, after their marriage, Baba and his other two daughters are about to depart from the opulence of Malak’s palace, Surekha implores, “Baba, you all will go back and I will have to stay and sort out the illusion from reality.”

Remarks like this illuminate the narrative and shake you up with their unexpectedness. And, as later events reveal, Surekha largely sails through life successfully, with dignity and aplomb.

Malak comes across as a self-assured and dignified aristocrat who stands by her and her family like a rock. But in this cast of strong characters, it is Baba who impresses the most with his courage while facing dacoits, with his pioneering spirit in transforming a barren land and above all, by defying the conservative society and sending off his two younger daughters, Kamala and Malati, to Ahilya Ashram, a boarding school for orphans.

This is followed by another bold step when Baba takes them to Bombay for admission into the male-dominated Elphinstone College. Even more daringly, he puts them up as paying guests with a couple. Bombay becomes their karmabhoomi, the cause of their agony and ecstasy in life. It is here that the impetuous Malati flowers into adulthood. Lakshmi is at her descriptive best. Again and again, details come back reframed or reanimated, as the reader becomes one with Malati, admiring her for her gumption, decisiveness and her conviction that she had chosen the man she wanted to live with.

Kamala and Malati had already broken society’s glass ceilings by going to a boarding school and then to college in big Bombay. But there is more. Malati’s teaching spell at Banaras Hindu University, her brush with the revolutionaries and the descriptions of the hauntingly charming Banaras pockmarked with filth remind the reader of an ancient but flawed city. The many splendored book is epic in proportion, spread over 412 pages. Yet, there is not an extra word, nor an unnecessary twist to the narrative. In fact, the characters stay with you long after you have read about them.

The book brings forth subtly the trials of a nation in bondage, and reveals the human side of the families who otherwise seem to be blessed with plenty. Above all, it is a story about Malati, who dared to dream. That Lakshmi Puri should have used a rancorless pen to write this magnificent book is only to be expected. And that she should have written about women breaking glass ceilings was also natural. After all, she herself has broken many, including when she went on to lead ‘UN Women’.

Swallowing the Sun is an epic feat of remembering and storytelling. Through the eyes of its feisty young heroine, Malati, the novel recreates one of the most tumultuous periods in modern Indian history—the struggle for Independence. Malati’s steeliness and fearlessness enable her to defy the constricting patriarchal traditions of her time and take on all those who try to cow her down. As a young girl, Malati fights and defeats the school bully of her village school in Maharashtra. From then onwards, backed by her progressive father, she and her sister Kamala push the boundaries constantly. After an eventful girlhood, the sisters become the first women in their family to go to college. They end up in Bombay, a hotbed of political ferment, where, even as she is whirled along by the irresistible current and excitement of the battle for Independence, she negotiates the small and big aspects of everyday life—love, loss, failure, and compromise.

Coming back to the event, Lakshmi Puri sat with Muhammad Naciri of UN Women to answer a couple of questions.

The dignitaries who spoke on the occasion included President, General Assembly Dennis Francis, Amb. Rambally, PR of St. Lucia, Paula Narvaez Ojeda, President of ECOSOC, Amb. Mher Margaryan, PR of Armenia , Amb. R. Ravindra, Cd’A, PMI, and Ranju Batra, Chair the Diwali Foundation USA. DSG Amina J. Mohammed, Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, Head of UNAOC, and Amb. Sima Bahous, ED, UN Women addressed via video.
Attendees included many diplomats and guests from various walks of life.