THE STRENGTH OF A WOMAN

As a child, MALA MAHESH loved the stories of her ancestors that her grandparents regaled her with. Inspired by the story of one who was not able to conceive, she wrote her debut book, Padma. She chats with Shraddha Kamdar on her approach, the development of the characters, and the climax of the story

-  Shraddha Kamdar

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.