Review of Vimala Devi's Monsoon

[Selma Carvalho]

My review of Vimala Devi's extraordinary work titled 'Monsoon' as translated by Paul Melo e Castro, with an introduction by Jason K. Fernandes.

"Given some amount of fidelity to the source language, Monsoon is an extraordinary capture of mid-century Goan society, mores and landscape. The detailed descriptions of the houses and households in particular are of interest for the sheer opulence they conjure up, a gilded age indeed which faded far too soon, and it is easy to see why for so many Goans, there persists a saudade for a paradise lost. From the story ‘The House Husband,’ ‘Happiness in his case was a mansion the size of an abbey stuffed with ancient china, inlaid cabinets, ivories, jewels, gemstones, thick gold bracelets, a well-stocked larder and acres of productive land.’ This grandeur may well have been aspirational rather than real, but even as aspiration it points to a certain lifestyle. From the story, ‘Decline,’ ‘In a flash, Grandmother returned to life. Once more we could see her in the dining room, confidently and serenely directing the servants from her armchair, or out on the land, overseeing the harvest, watching on as the mundcars, heads bowed, stocked coconuts in our godown.’

Doubtless this extravagance was restricted to very few and even then, it barely disguised the fact that the landed gentry were mostly impoverished, the land had little value, the harvests yielded little profit, manufacturing and agricultural reform were non-existent. The grand families became agents of the colonial administration, heavily reliant on government jobs. The struggling classes either departed for Bombay or eked out an existence tilling the paddy fields. This is the liminal space that Devi inhabits between a struggling modernity and a collapsing past."

Read full text here on JRLJ.

https://www.joaoroqueliteraryjournal.com/nonfiction-1/2022/2/28/footnotes-on-vimala-devi?fbclid=IwAR1knJ8UuTdG_ggcZEP09SfRxf8JvkC6FA0sRI98mjbF9bgTPCKzsvvdMaQ

All best,

Selma