Literary World

      

REMEMBERING MARGARET MASCARENHAS (1969-2019)




It is very sad to know that, Margaret Mascarenhas, a well-known transnational novelist, poet and essayist just passed away on 14th July 2019!

Mascarenhas is well remembered for her novel, Skin (2001) that explores the cross- continental diaspora. She was born in U.S and was of Goan ethnicity. Venezuela is the place where she spent her childhood. She is also the writer of works, The Disappearance of Irene dos Santos and Triage: Casualties of Love and Sex.The latter is her poetry and sketch collection.


    



Skin is all about a “contemporary woman who traces her cross- continental family diaspora which originates with the Portuguese slave trade in the 17th century.” The protagonist of the novel, Pagan Miranda Flores travels to Goa, away from America, away from her job and lover to her Indian family. Her grandmother, Dona Grabriella is on her deathbed when Pagan visits Goa. Esperança, the caretaker, acquaints her with the history of her family. We witness some nostalgic events in the novel as Pagan tries to trace her family roots. This novel seems to celebrate the art of storytelling. Livia, her aunt, helps her with the understanding of her family history.

Pagan’s story of mixed or hybrid culture, seems to be the story much of Margaret herself who traces her paternal ancestry. Discovering one’s roots in culture is like searching for lost feathers…. Skin reflects this. One comes across an array of stories in the novel which brings Pagan closer to her past. Moreover, one finds the history of Indo-Portuguese slavery and African culture. It’s basically the African slavery in Portuguese Goa.

Mascarenhas has used the technique of ‘magic realism’, like Rushdie, in her novel. One instance in the novel shows Pagan and her companions move into a painting of Brazilian forest and come across a lake where they make a wish. Margaret successfully brings out the themes of love and deceit, gender dominance, racial discrimination, search of identity, etc.

Apart from two fictions and poetry, Mascarenhas has written essays and articles which are published in Marg, Colloquio Letras and Urban Voice. She was the founding co-director for the Blue Shores Prison Art Project and also on the advisory boards of the Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts. Mascarenhas was working on her third novel, Another Car Bomb, according to Goodreads!

- Bakita A. Naik
Visiting Professor

The Forest Saga

 Forest Saga, by Mahabaleshwar Sail, is an English translation from the Konkani novel Aranyakand, translated by Vidya Pai. Sail brings out the story of the community of downtrodden. He is a prolific writer with four short story collections and five novels to his credit. He has received many awards like the Sahitya Academy Award for his short story collection Tarangam (1993) and the Katha Award in 2007.

Vidya Pai has translated four novels, several essays and short stories. She received the Katha Award in 1993 and Humanscape Translation Award in 1996.

Aranyakand, translated as Forest Saga, is a saga of a community embroiled in a struggle in a forest. The story begins in a village, focusing on the lives of group of labourers. It seems to vacillate between village and forest. Sail has mainly focused on the hardships and troubles of the downtrodden or outcastes. They face resentment from the villagers as well as the stone crusher officials in the forest. They are indebted to the villagers and so leave the village for the forest, where they are offered the job of stone crushing, deep into the forest. There too they are held captive.

The plot structure does not appear complex. Like his other novels, Sail maintains a linear narrative structure. The novella begins with present state narration and then reflects the past. However, Sail does not use the technique of flashback in this novella, as in his other novels, Havtthan or The Kiln.

He portrays the struggle of the contract labourers and depicts their lifestyle. The author comments on social structures like that of the oppressor and the oppressed. Their suffering echoes throughout the novella and their escape through the forest brings them even more misery and struggle. The question of survival becomes important and they battle against the harsh environmental conditions. The forest dishes out imagery similar to that of a labyrinth.

One comes across themes like poverty, hunger and degradation, mental stress as a result of debt, marginalization, exploitation, death, etc. The concept of death is quite well focused in the novella. “Death stalked their path like a vulture, who would be the first to fall prey?” We see a constant struggle between ‘death’ and ‘survival’ in this forest saga. However, hope sparkles within the group. Community and caste groups have different occupations, comments Sail.

The book has no ‘main’ characters. The so-called ‘lower caste’ labour community itself forms a character as a whole although we find individuals like Ballappa, Gangaram, Hanumant and Rudrappa and Savkar, too. The characters are emotionally affected. Their pain in overwhelming. Only two characters from the labour group do not leave for stone crushing job.

Sail makes use of legends, curses and beliefs in the story. Besides this, the author also gives an account of the love story between two teenagers. Caste and class makes its way into their love story. The novella is infused with similes and few words retained by the translator, such as Chaitra (March to April), Vaishakh (April – May) and others draw our attention.

One finds description of nature, but nature here isn’t beautified. The author reveals the fury of nature. However, we do find mention of Babli trees so common in our forests. The author probably highlights human survival in midst of environment. The group of stone- crushers attempt to leave the forest and return home. This holds a different task for them.

Aranyakand is a tale of sorrow and the struggle of the weaker section of society whose livelihood depends directly on the environment. It definitely highlights man–nature relationships, and the open-ended story lingers in the minds of readers.

Barry Evans: Fame of 'Mind your Language'

https://youtu.be/p6rapbiihNQ

-          Bakita Naik