It was the year of political turmoil in Goa. India had launched Operation Vijay leading to the annexation of the state, and Daman and Diu, integrating them into the Indian Republic. But for Shirly Quarachim, it was the ‘coming-of-age’ year, when she hit puberty, put together a mini escape plan to get her father out of prison, got her first boyfriend and also had a younger sibling enter her life.
Mrinalini Harchandrai’s novel Rescuing a River Breeze is a poetic rendition of the coastal state under the Portuguese. Here the growing movement for freedom is beautifully interspersed with everyday life of fisherwomen, cooks, errand boys and rich businesses folk. But what it mostly does is show us how the 13-year-old Shirly’s carefree school days and outings to her father’s mine are cut short abruptly. When he is arrested on charges of treason, her life takes a tumultuous turn where she is no longer a child but an adult who has to be the pillar of strength for her mother. It’s easy to fall in love with Shirly as Harchandrai pours her heart out in shaping this young woman and her everyday life.
At the novel’s outset, we see Shirly experiencing the innocence of childhood. A good section of the book with vivid descriptions is devoted to her and her bête noire, Ana’s shenanigans in their school. It is portrayed with great emotional deftness, where life on the banks of Mandovi hums and whispers stories of childhood fights agaist the backdrop of resilience of freedom fighters, echoing the ebb and flow of a community striving for freedom.
The first big turn in Shirly’s life happens when she is put with Ana in a school musical, composed by the latter’s mother. Daily practice sessions at Ana’s house soon turn the thick-as-foes duo to thick-as-friends. And as Shirly navigates adolescence, the novel delves into her emotional journey, touching upon her experiences at the cusp of womanhood, as she engages in her first romantic relationship, and the challenges that come with the transition.
This historical fiction carefully navigates between the struggle for independence, Portugal’s resistance and the diplomatic tensions. On December 18, 1961, when India invaded and annexed Estado da India, the Portuguese-ruled enclave of Goa, in a war, which just spanned a single day, the governor-general had a key role to play. In the event, that Goa was to surrender in defeat, the the man in charge had received orders from Portugal to adopt a scorched-earth policy. But he didn’t follow the orders, changing not just Goa’s future, but Shirly’s as well at a time when she had lost all hope of ever meeting her father again.
The book, which was longlisted for the McKitterick Prize 2021, is Harchandari’s debut novel. A published poet, the author has used her mother’s experience as a young girl and shaped each character potentially through her maternal eyes. But, what stands apart is that despite the theme of the book essentially riding on people reconfiguring their identities and nationhood, the intrinsic qualities of every character, even ordinary men and women are sketched perfectly. Each one of them brings forth their own unique characteristics highlighting the cultural milieu of that decade. The novel reflects on how the Portuguese vocabulary easily made its way into the native language or how the classical musical forms effortlessly blended with Portuguese elements.
A special mention goes to the beautiful book cover where the calmness of the land hides all the chaos that ensued during the annexation of Goa. Shirly would know that chaos. Or her mother Mamtu, who goes into labour that very day, bringing her third child into the world. Or Shirly’s father, who walks out after being charged with treason. Or the errant cop, Monteiro, whose wicked ways had to come to an end. Simply put, it’s an exquisite tale of wins and losses.