HYDERABAD : It is a fact that India’s urban population functions as they do thanks, to the existence of maids. But how much do we know about the people who make our life easy? What do we know about their backgrounds, their dreams, their aspirations, the difficulties they go through, and what brought them to where they are? Close to nothing. And that’s because however much they might share with us, their experiences cannot be summed up enough in words. It is living them that matters.
Rimli Sengupta, in her debut English novel ‘Karno’s Daughter’, combines honest narration with compelling and touching storytelling to bring you a biography of a maid whose past, present, and vision for the future are something everyone can learn from. As Buttermilk’s story unfolds, you find yourself being unceremoniously pulled into her life, but by the end of it all, you realise that you want to stay there. Right from Buttermilk’s childhood to age 55, Rimli Sengupta wonderfully and unapologetically shows the protagonist in all her colors – the good, the bad, and the ugly.
‘Karno’s Daughter’ stoically talks about issues like the plight of farmers, the struggles of someone who has their feet in two different places, navigating the world while being illiterate, insights into schemes like Aadhaar and how it has affected rural people, the absence of domestic workers’ rights, and how the government treats its poor. While the narrative might be stoic, it has the power to open your eyes to what’s been going on around us and to things that we’d normally take for granted.
While there are many workplace and harassment laws, there are none that quantify domestic workers’ rights as they should be. And ‘Karno’s Daughter’ is an example of what happens when there aren’t laws championing these rights. Because of this, while people like Buttermilk are clearly being duped and try to right it, the system gets in the way.
They are thus forced to take every slight in their stride and move forward with a fortitude that is nothing but admirable. Buttermilk works as a maid in the city, but she is also fighting to sustain her land in her village. From scrubbing floors and doing laundry for the urban working people to harvesting her fields and taking pride in both – that’s what Buttermilk is about. Her strength comes from God, and while her anger would have been justified in a number of situations, she is mostly resigned yet optimistic in going about her life. And that’s how herpride in being ‘Karno’s Daughter’ filters through.
Rimli Sengupta’s writing is clear, fluid, and sympathetic towards Buttermilk and people of her ilk. She maintains throughout the narrative that Buttermilk is the one who educated her about rice farming, something that the country can’t live without. And what do we do?
We treat farmers like they are born to be kicked in the stomach just because a few urban elite thought it their right to do so. ‘Karno’s Daughter’ isn’t a statement. It is a biography. Reading it will give you an insight into the lives of the people we interact with every day, but probably know nothing about. Highly recommended!Publisher: ContextPrice: Rs. 499