As a child, Mala Mahesh loved hearing stories about village life that her grandparents narrated to her. Her grandmother often spoke about an ancestor who endured endless humiliation and harassment because she was unable to conceive. Mala felt it was unfair to blame a person for a problem beyond her control. And that inspired her to pen a story imagining the pain and isolation of such women and the impact the situation had on their lives.
The result? Her first book, the captivating Padma, which intersects the stories of Padma and her descendent Naina, based, respectively, in the early 1900s in Manilkara, Kerala, and in modern-day Mumbai. Both face a similar situation in one sensitive matter - the inability to conceive. The book takes us on a journey with these two incredible women across different time periods and situations.
This intersection was not something the author had planned on; it came to her during her research. She had initially wanted to write a story set in the early 1900s in Kerala, about a character named Padma and her struggles with infertility. She was surprised to find that the taboo surrounding infertility still exists globally. That's where Naina's character stemmed from. Besides infertility, Mala touches upon relevant themes such as patriarchy and gender inequality as well.
This story is from the October 2022 edition of Femina.
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This story is from the October 2022 edition of Femina.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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