teenu vijayan

4.5 stars for this amazing book #Decodingbookswithme Women, dreaming by Salma translated from Tamil by Meena Kandaswamy. As the title says, this book is about women who dared to dream. Through the course of journey, we meet Meher- who dared to leave her husband Hasan when he wanted to get remarried. Hasan who enjoyed controlling every aspect of their married life is suddenly left powerless and this is what drives his illogical behaviour for the rest of the story. Meher even though took this brave step, was in no way spared from the society's judgement and ridicule. Divorce is never easy and the collateral damages are never unavoidable. But where do we draw the line? In this story we see the two kids facing the brunt, oscillating between both parties, their childhood marred by the ugliness that adults have voluntarily inflicted upon them. Their dreams crushed mercilessly, growing up without any emotional or as a matter of fact physical support either, they grew up with deep trauma. What struck me was the sheer lack of accountability that the adults had towards the kids. How do you justify hurting people knowingly? This is a question I have been struggling to answer myself and this story again made me sit and rethink about this. There is a part in the book where the father purposefully sends his son away so that he can't meet his sister or mother, the sheer magnitude of manipulation and plotting one could do just to get some petty revenge made me almost revolt internally. But such is life and sadly we have many monsters lurking behind the masks of fake smiles and gestures. The second thing I enjoyed was the unexpected female friendships, or let's just say companionship that the women showed here. Sister in law's standing up for each other even when they might not agree on all accounts, but knowing how important it is to have that one shoulder to lean on. Or that one reasonable voice that can pull you out from ebbs of hopelessness. Praveen-Meher-Saji : 3 generations of women, all with dreams as different as other and still somehow navigating through life. That's how life is I guess, to hold on to some little hope we have. To believe that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. To dream even when they seem impossible. To lessen others suffering. To work on oneself and to understand that even blood relations can be toxic, you needn't hold onto them. As a matter of fact, this is true for every relationship in life. I will take that as a lesson from this book. Love reading a book that evokes so much emotion in me.