Awakening Kali

Awakening Kai is a powerful poignant story that tackles issues of gender discrimination and also the challenge of mental illness. Chaya the book’s lead character is the fourth daughter in an affluent Bengali family, and because of her plain looks considered a burden to her family. Conscious of this fact from a very young age, Chaya learns to suppress her emotions and hide her pain, almost leading a disconnected dual entity. Set against the backdrop of India in the 1930’s, the story also offers light cultural insights of pre-independent India the struggles and tribulations of idealism and survival in a turbulent landscape.Life offers her a loving husband, however eventually the pressures of raising children with modest means prove too much for her resulting in her disconnecting from the world. Her husband Arun, stays with her through thick and thin sometimes getting weary in the process. Possibly, one of the start truth this story illustrates is that years of neglect and rejection cannot be wiped away with future care and neglect.  Chaya who has not

Life offers her a loving husband, however eventually the pressures of raising children with modest means prove too much for her resulting in her disconnecting from the world. Her husband Arun, stays with her through thick and thin sometimes getting weary in the process. Possibly, one of the start truth this story illustrates is that years of neglect and rejection cannot be wiped away with future care and neglect.  Chaya who has not learned to experience and share joy, and has conditioned herself to suppress her sorrow ultimately cannot cope with a full dimension of emotions that she experiences in her adult life.The strength of the book rests in its powerful story, which draws the reader in and pushes them to follow the story of Chaya and Arun every inch of the way, hoping for a happy ending, hoping that eventually Chaya will come out of her darkness and find the happiness she deserves. The book

The strength of the book rests in its powerful story, which draws the reader in and pushes them to follow the story of Chaya and Arun every inch of the way, hoping for a happy ending, hoping that eventually Chaya will come out of her darkness and find the happiness she deserves. The book is, however, longer than it needs to be and on occasion stretched. To offer the reader a realistic compromise we end with Arun’s death but Chaya comfortably settled in old age with successful children and the peace she deserves.