MATCHBOX

The roots of patriarchy do not arrive like Gods used to do in old TV shows. They grow like kids who are spoilt and believe in having no ethics and follow no rules. Passionate erosion of the basic principles of life drives them to become stronger and wild, in a not-so-good-way. Megha Rao’s recent novel Our Bones in Your Throat creates a story where we get to understand how subtly patriarchy penetrates and chokes us with utmost normalcy. It is appropriate to resist the force of hatred, bigotry and complexities. Yet in the long run of life, we get to see only a few people who believe in resistance whereas others make it as a source of food and belonging. The story of Esai in this novel revolves around people who scissor and stitch the components of patriarchy. 

We get to see how power is driven by men and their sexual vigour in the books of Marquis de Sade. At the same time, while reading Jeanette Winterson’s novels, readers find women who appropriate the obscene and intolerable actions of men since they have been conditioned to believe in these actions by their ancestors forcefully. A novel that speaks about the ecosystem around women living in India cannot overlook the everyday situations which sprout from the body of patriarchy. Megha Rao’s novel begins by peeling the surface of an elite and patriarchal college named St. Margarets. Esai, the protagonist of the novel, is a curious girl with a rebellious mind. The writer comprehensibly describes the consequences of being a ‘rebellious woman’ around people who need to keep themselves nourished by exploiting others. This particular parasitic thought gives some of the most important reality checks which pulls Esai back to observing situations from a pragmatic point of view. It also makes the novel relevant for the readers.

In general, we do not get to understand the wounds of the elongated hands of power. So, in reality most of the times, we are justifying several acts of toxicity. Thus, while reading this novel I was reminded of a thought by Fernando Pessoa where he says, “The feelings that hurt most, the emotions that sting most, are those that are absurd”. Megha highlights a very important principle one should always follow – one who justifies and hides the acts of patriarchy is simply watering the acts of the perpetrator which makes the former more toxic and absurd than the latter one. The act of bullying, in most of the institutions of India, is a naked demonstration of power and yet the nudity is seen like a holy custom. Megha, in the first half of the book, strips what is already naked yet blur to many of us. The bullying culture stays in the bullies who, in future, spill the same on their families, colleagues and others around them. The victims of this culture often suffer from physical and mental complexities who then search for a window to vomit the suffering out of them.

The fantasy element of the book does not operate like a fairy tale. It is weird and claustrophobic, which further elevates the theme of the novel. The exclusion of women who dare to speak in a patriarchal society is nothing new for us. What’s new is how the writer enlightens us about its prevalence in a chronological manner. In the book, Justine, Marquis de Sade keeps before us the conditions of a 12-year-old rebellious girl named Justine who is shackled and imprisoned by a powerful man for not agreeing to what he wanted her to do. Before her imprisonment, she was forced to agree to her rape by his bootlickers and to enjoy the act, at the same time. This novel brought the reality of 16th century. If we go by the rule of evolution, what used to happen back then should have stopped by now. Yet a MLA-MP of a party in power gives a statement that rapes happen because women wear certain clothes which excite men. And on the same page, an opposition leaders says. “There is a saying that when rape is inevitable, lie down and enjoy it”. 

Women are raped to let the society know that men still hold the power and they can do anything they want. Those who stand against the act of the perpetrators have to face the same consequence. Megha Rao’s book also revolves around a lake and the story of a woman who drowned in it since she was declared as a witch. Dacha Avelin once said, “Witches listen to the secrets of the Earth, work in harmony with the powers of the moon and understand the longings of the human soul”. If we go by the not-so-generic definition of a witch, then all those women who stood against Harvey Weinstein are witches. The women who came out to conquer the streets recently to protest against the rapists of the doctor in the R.G. Kar hospital are witches too. Megha draws us to the fantasy where the drowned woman’s story pulls Esai towards becoming stronger than ever. The version of her being a witch makes her stand against all the wrongdoings of the institution. It gives shape to the reality we generally ignore to keep us away from any kind of controversy. What the writer tries to deliver is how even the distance we choose to keep is not going to help us in a world that’s systemically wired to patriarchy. 

Our Bones in Your Throat is not a work of non-fiction, but it delivers the punch that’s required to wake us from an unnecessary sleep. The fictional atmosphere of the novel traverses through love, reality checks, depression, violence and introspection. Its love story gets cheeky in the right places and stays layered when the readers should have clarity of the bigger picture. The political references which the writer keeps using the protagonist works to keep us hooked to the plot. Megha Rao’s book is absurd and sharp at the same time. It crawls to trigger the readers and puts a statement which we should finally address to keep the equilibrium active in this world of chaos.