The Purple Line, a debut novel by Priyamvada N Purushottam, tells the tale of six women whose lives intertwine because of their gynaecologist. The story is narrated by Dr Mrinalini Krishnamoorthy, an empathetic, observant gynaecologist, who has no qualms performing abortions. She feels that women should be given the right to decide especially in a country like India, where the primary job of a woman is child bearing.
The six women, each facing different circumstances, and on different levels of the economic strata, are bound by the unifying stage in life — childbearing.
There is Zubeida, a muslim woman, who was denied her childhood, education and married off early.
She gives birth to three boys and is in a relatively happy conventional marriage, but yearns to have a girl child, so that she can give her daughter the life she never had.
Alternatively, there’s Megha, a woman married into a orthodox patriarchal Marwari family, where she’s ill treated for having given birth only to girl children, and desperately wants a son.
There’s also Leela, a woman with a composed facade, which she refuses to let down. Always collected, restrained and calm, she goes through a shattering experience that brutally tears down her world.
The author narrates the story of Pooja, a bubbly sixteen-year-old beautifully. After falling in love with the cricket captain of the school, she becomes pregnant.
Purushottam talks of teenage pregnancy, and premarital sex artfully, perfectly encapsulating the fear, uncertainty and the perils of an unwanted, unplanned pregnancy and the feelings of the depressed teenager.
She makes profound statements that leave a powerful impression on the reader.
For example when Dr Mrinalini Krishnamoorthy performs a hysterectomy on a 25-year-old woman, the author writes, “I felt that I was removing her womanhood, that I was robbing her of her womb before she had even made love for the first time. But now I realize I was wrong; I could remove it all and she would still be a woman, a living, breathing, thinking woman, because we are what we are inside our heads and not inside our bodies.”
She speaks of the different facets of pregnancy, where it is an obligation or a joy or a desperate wish.
It brings to light the different situations that women face in the tumultuous India of today, a country where the role of a woman in society is undergoing revolutionary changes.
The book reminds us that the anachronistic practice of male baby preference, and chronic patriarchy are still prevalent regardless of the economic strata one belongs to.
In equal parts profound, light hearted and epiphanous, it is a book that every woman would empathise with and relate to. The Purple Line manages to be simple and does not go over the top.
Its simple language and powerful descriptions make it a book that deserves every accolade it has won.
Introducing the idea of reproductive rights, without meaning to do so, in a way that is not preachy, the book inspires thought and conveys a much needed message in the changing society.