The Coconut Flower

"My mother-in-law's mother-in law had a song," says Parul. Parul listens to the song and thinks she can hear in it the heartbeat of women and men of all times: A mother-in-law's anxiety as she retreats, yielding to the triumphant youth of her daughter-in-law; a man's dilemma as he is caught in the tug-of-war between mother and wife. She reminisces the lives of the men and women in her life, sees there the moving shadows the extended family system cast; of the widowed mother and sister; the child bride and the child widow; the apparitions of the unmarried woman and the elderly; fear of tabooed sexual relationships within the sprawling family; caste and dowry; clash of reformed and orthodox view-points. Has society progressed? We still condemn illegitimate pregnancy, demonize women and men seeking love outside a loveless marriage, decry inter-faith marriages, judge people based on color and looks. Can renunciation and compassion cure us? Can judiciousness save us?