Bride At Ten, Mother At Fifteen - Autobiography of An Unknown Indian Woman

With the coming of Post-Modernism the era of the mega narratives has ended. The little narratives of the many have become more significant in reconstructing a period. To put it slightly differently, the de-construction of established historical myths becomes possible only when one views history from below. Elise Boulding, the Canadian feminist, uses an interesting phrase for this genre of writing. The Underside of History. Subaltern writing was a major step in this direction since it moved the headlights on the stage away from the 'heroic figures and focused on the periphery. Thereby, the marginalized subaltern was brought centrestage. Perhaps one of the problems with the subaltern school was that merely shifting the focus did not alter the essential perception of the relationship as one of subalternism versus domination. Narratives of individuals, diaries of unknown men and women become important in their own right without falling into the paradigmatic trap of subaltern studies.

The present autobiography by Sethu Ramaswamy is one such work, its importance stemming from the fact that it is written by an ordinary housewife. It is not the narration of a Sarojini Naidu or a Kamladevi Chattopadhyaya who, despite their marginalization in gender terms, were nevertheless very much a part of the mega-narrative of those eventful years of the twentieth century as players and participants. Sethu, however, views her life and times through the prism of the commonplace and the commonsensical. Increasingly these are the narratives that people are going to pick up to understand better the various strands that constitute our social and cultural past.

I am happy that the second edition of my book is being brought out by the National Book Trust, India. And the way in which it was selected to be an N.B.T. publication made me more happy. This is how it came about.... One evening, some months ago, I was pleasantly surprised and honoured to see Prof. Bipin Chandra, a doyen of Jawahar Lal Nehru University, walk into our drawing room. When I told him that Vijaya (who was his student) was not at home, I was taken aback when he said, "I have come to see you, not Vijaya."

Prof. Bipin Chandra, a Padma Vibhushan recipient, a distinguished personage, Chairman of N.B.T. coming to see me! I felt it to be a great honour. The purpose of his visit was to take my book, 'Bride at Ten, Mother at Fifteen'.

**Contents and Sample Pages**