Saurabh Tankha
You need to be brave and self-confident to attempt a work like this as your debut. For chances are you can fall flat with a subject that has been talked about and written in a thousand different ways by newcomers and established writers in prose and poetry. But Reecha Agarwal Goyal in her book, Such Is Her Life, talks about someone we have known “as a mother, daughter, sister, wife, daughter-in-law but seldom as a woman, and maybe never as a human” with a “difference”.
What makes this creative work distinct and stand out from the rest is its presentation and the issues Reecha manages to talk about with immense ease and emotional quotient. From the very beginning where she mentions as to how an elderly lady sitting in a park consoles her on disclosing that the baby she was perambulating with is a girl by stating that “Don’t worry. By God’s grace, it will be a son next” and going on to add how “a boy is needed to take care of a family” to which the author replies, “and a girl to take care of two…” to how she was killed when she was seven with a pinch of vermillion and a garland of flowers. Not to forget, how “she shivered every time she was called ‘beautiful’. That is what they had called her before taking turns to rape her” and how “she was there for his parents whenever they needed or wanted her. But that night, when her parents called her in tears, she had to take permission to go meet them.”
Reecha, a mother of two, and an MBA in marketing and finance, also talks about how, for her, there was always an ‘age’ for everything. “An age to start sitting properly. A suitable age to get married. A proper age to have kids.” Wasn’t age just a number? she goes on to ask.
Kudos to Reecha and her writing skills for raking up these burning topics once again in a manner which don’t hurt but asks us if we are doing justice to the very existence of the person who keeps existence alive on earth. The author aptly puts states on the back cover — “A collection of musings that will have you reeling in a wave of emotion long after you are done reading, this powerhouse of work will make you cry, go red in anger, nod your head in agreement, and grasp the finer nuances of what it means to be her in today’s world.”
These are precious words that are bound to open many a shut eyes and stir up many a dead souls. A must read for one and all to educate yourself and the ones around, especially as it comes to you for just Rs 150… And indeed, it is a “A Small Book of Big Learnings” from Fingerprint!
