Access The Madras Affair Fabricated By Sundari Venkatraman Shown In Hardcover

is no escaping the fact that blue eyes and a lone dimple can play havoc in the mind of a woman! Especially a woman like Sangita whose life so far has been no bed of roses.
A delicate beauty, she has never known real love, as her husband, Giridhar, keeps her teetering between apprehension and unhappiness.
The only gift he gives her is her son, Sandeep, who is the centre of her universe, When he conveniently dies, she is far from devastated,
However, she cannot escape the curses and the barbs thrown at her by her parents who are stuck in a time warp, somewhere in the beginning of theth century.
Her mother, Radha, especially, makes her life a living hell, blaming her for being a widow, forcing her to believe that her life has come to an end.
“A womans place is with her husband, Sangita, She has no respect if she stays away from him, "
So when, at, the beautiful and vulnerable Sangita comes across the devastatingly attractive Gautam at the hospital where she works, she is overwhelmed.
Her mind refuses to accept the fact that this Adonis could be interested in her, "Brown hair with golden streaks, very fair skin, Indian features till you catch his eyes, Electric blue. " She describes him, thus, to her sympathetic sister in law, Rekha,
Gautam, who is at the hospital because he has fractured his arm, is bowled over by the lovely lady in simple pastels, who refuses to allow him any liberties.
He wonders whether she is a figment of his imagination, "She was like a butterfly fluttering near a flower, ready to take flight at the slightest disturbance,
Gauatm realizes that it is difficult to break through Sangita's defences, In her mind, all men are chauvinists, looking down upon women in general,
The relationship between Gautam and his grandparents, Ganapathi and Vimala, is a delightful one, They dote on him, and there is a playfulness that comes across, revealing the deep affection that they bear one another.
Having witnessed the vicissitudes in Sangita's life, they also have "a soft spot for the young woman who carried the troubles of her small world so bravely on her slender shoulders.
"
Gautam plays his cards carefully, He decides to make friends with Sandeep first, "One thought dominated the childs mind, He urgently required a father to set his grandmothers mind at peace, "
Does Gautam succeed in breaking through Sangita's defences What roles do Sangita's brothers, Rakesh and Raghavan, play in the whole plot How can stark conservatism and traditional mumbo jumbo be overcome What is the ploy that finally breaks the camel's back
Sundari Venkatraman is a storyteller par excellence.
Her narrative flows like a stream, with all its little eddies and waves never once does the flow stop, and this is the skill that comes through in all her books.
One is compelled to continue reading till the very end, The writing is natural, never forced, and the very simplicity of the plot keeps the reader hooked,
Another plus for me is how the novel is so well grounded in Madras, There are references to the social evils that were prevalent in the past, but never once, do these take away from the love story that is the hero of the plot.
Kudos to Sundari Venkatraman for having sustained the tempo of the story without once turning preachy!
Verdict: A tale well woven into the fabric of Madras, with all its features and foibles!
Positive.
Engaging, Wellnarrated. These are the topthings I liked about Madras Affair,
The story of Sangita's journey of rediscovering herself amp both emotional as well sensuous aspects of relationships is the theme of the book.

MA is very fresh take on the widowremarriage concept, Usually, books on this subject have the tendency of getting preachy or boring, but no MA was an expectation and indeed a wonderful one.
People talk about the social aspect of this issue MA explored a personal journey of the woman considering this big step in life.
It's society, the new man in her life and tormented memories of past, from her lens,
I think the author did an outstanding job of making her book stand out,
It's true that in our country even in metro cities like Chennai, people like Sangita's parents amp Gautam's grandparents live in amile radius.
It's the unfortunate contrast of our confused society, And this contrast was another thing, author researched very well and brought to life in simple words,
The only thing I didn't like was how Gautam finally managed to convince Sangita's parents, I understand every author has their own story to tell amp it's unfair to suggest on how they'd like to conclude.
But provided she was projected as head of a group that works for women I was looking for some seething rebels in the story which is placed in her early days.

Apart from that, the story is simple yet engaging, You end up loving Sangita amp admiring Gautam, Gautam, in particular, I liked little more all because his charms and most importantly his patience with his lady love to break the shell.
We need more Gautams in our society, we definitely do,
Highly recommended!
The Madras Affair
Author: Sundari Venkatraman
Publisher: Readomania
Rating: Four

Intro:

You are in for a surprise for Sundari Venkatramans, The Madras Affair releases today.
The author who displays effortless finesse in narrating romance stories pushes up the bar higher this time and successfully experiments with a new genre.
Yes! It is romance but successfully explore the condition of a woman, a divorcee, her sexuality, struggle from an unsuccessful marriage, in a ultra conservative family firmed in stone aged values around which her whose life revolves and her destiny, meeting the man of her life and her success as head of an NGO.
The result is bang on, The author should be credited for exploring the dark side of life, not overdoing it and toning down with the flow ensuring that its not heavy.
Its simply a superb read, crafted with lyrical words and perfect take on social conditions of woman, sexuality and romance enmeshed in sync each other with the right dose.
The Madras Affair is one book that will touch your heart and soul, Mesmerizing, enticing and simply superb, It belongs to all the women struggling and leading a successful life,

Blurb:

Sangita, head of Penn Urimai an NGO for downtrodden, homeless and abused women was not always this successful and confident Born and brought up in the city of Madras and widowed at just twenty, Sangita builds an iron wall around herself till she meets Gautam who makes her aware of her sensuousness and charms.
But Sangita not only has to fight her familys orthodox and outdated rules, but also her own inhibitions and hesitations before she can walk into the future with her blueeyed lover.
Will Gautam be able to solve Sangitas dilemma or will she be forever trapped in her past



Narration:

Sundari Venkatrman has a natural ability to connect with her readers and the chemistry she shares with them is palatable.
Its a mirror in the world of Sangeeta, her pain, angst as she injects in the character, a degree of complexity that is very welldefined.
Sangeetas misery never ends when she thinks she earned respite, Its touching when the cop knocks on the door of Sangeeta to inform about the bad news and she feels liberated looking at her only son, Sandeep.
The latter is a character that will melt your heart, the innocence of a child wanting a Daddy, Its scripted in a sensitive manner and gently touches the heart of a child and its imagination, The author makes Sandeep one of the pivotal character in the book, adding charm and spark to ignite the romance between Sangeeta and Gautam.


What I like with Sundari Venkatraman is that she always introduces charming and endearing characters, be it the young child Sandeep and the pet Butter Scotch as well as Sandeeps lovable grand parents.
Its the clash of ideologies in a civilized society with good grand parents and Sangeetas evil parents,

Read full review on:
sitelink wordpress. com/ She
She is Sangita. Introduced to us as the head of an NGO for downtrodden and homeless women, But not many eons ago, Sangita was one of them, Ah well, not homeless but a woman doesn't need the deprivation of a 'house' to feel homeless, now does she An abusive husband is a gift enough to make one feel so.


Sangita's first marriage is introduced to us as abusive and violent, Marital rape is such a hushed up subject, both in India and on the western shores, Ms. Venkatraman has not glorified it nor has she made it the core subject of this novel, But the anger is equally potent and can be felt only by a woman after reading the story, The most criminal part in this whole story is when a woman is told time and again,

"A woman's place is with her husband, Sangita.
She has no respect if she stays away from him, "
I only have one word for this Bull!

What many don't realize is that an abusive person wants only one thing.
. .

"They were unable to understand that Giridhar was doing his best to break down her will, . . "

That sums up Sangita's circumstances,

Lady with dignity, .

But Sangita is not shown as a downtrodden woman in any frame of the story, I would call her a subdued fighter, When she first hears about her husband's demise, I loved the lack of pretence in her,

"I feel as if an extremely vicious curse has been lifted off me, ” She gave her sisterinlaw a small, nervous smile,
Frankly speaking, if she had mourned the death of her husband, I would have shut down the book, So kudos to Ms. Venkataman for being very honest with the emotions here, Time to be a angel is over, :D

It is sad when a woman and an innocent child are blamed for the death of man who was riding a bike after consuming alcohol.
But I suppose, the way of society is still in its infancy stage and reasoning is yet to be a developed 'organ' in a human body.


And in the midst of all her troubles, she meets Gautam,

He

He is Gautam Sinclair, Ms. Venkatraman's blue eyed boy. A man who comes with his own set of weaknesses and strengths, A man who comes across as a normal human, Leaving his American way of life behind, he settles down in India to teach, When he meets Sangita for the first time, he is bowled over by her simplicity and beauty, But with the constant fear Sangita had with regard to her parents, she is unable to accept his love, From the time he met her, he understood her, Like two soulmates meeting after a long time,

The Story. .

When Gautam meets Sangita, she is a widow with a young child, Moreover the society she lives in does not encourage widow remarriage, Gautam has lived in the USA all his life and all the taboos of the society are beyond his understanding.


Sangita on the other hand cannot break the chains of tradition yet the attraction she feels for Gautam slowly consumes her.
But her earlier marriage has left her with many scars, Will she be carrying all her scars into this new relationship Will Gautam be able to accept Sangita with all her baggage

The Love Story.
.

Every love story must have a villain, And so does the love story of Sangita and Gautam, The society. Widow remarriage is slowly catching up in our society but it was not always so, What surprised me in Sangita's case is that it is her own parents who were against her remarriage, In the beginning, it was only Sangita's mom who did not get any brownie points from me when she made Sangita go back to her abusive hubby.
As the story unfolds her lack of sympathy towards Sangita really riled me as a reader, Moreover Sangita is shown as a woman who wants to please everyone, So will she be able to convince her parents regarding her second chance

Growth of Characters, . .

I might sound biased here but for me, as a woman, Sangita flowered as a character, But I cannot say the same with Gautam, He is really ashades of emotions for me, In some scenes you will love him while in some he comes out as arrogant, There is one scene where his human weakness is totally naked for all to see, . . and a few to admire, It takes a lot of guts to give your protag a few moments of weakness especially when one expects him to be the savior of Sangita.


Touches of Reality,

Every story of Ms, Venkatraman has a touch of reality, Feminism is subtle. Some might protest even at the lack of overt feminism, But it's there. It's not the kind where a woman can blatantly stand against a man or will demonstrate feminism holding a placard.
It's more subtle. Its more deep. It's more real. Sangita is an ordinary girl who becomes extraordinary due to her circumstances,

The above five are for the beautiful flow of the story and the meticulous editing by Indrani Ganguly.
There two things which I should mention here,

I felt the 'weak moment' of Gautam did not suit his character portrayal,
The backstory of Sangita's life could have been reduced to one telling, By the time Sangita tells Gautam everything, we already knew it, That tends to take us away from the main plot of the love story,


But the above points are my perspective as a reader, it is not a grammatical error nor does it hamper the flow of the story.
Many of you might think otherwise, . . but to prove me wrong, you of course, have to read this one, :D

Would I recommend this to anyone, . .
A must read for all Romance lovers,

The Line that Stayed with me, . .

“Oh,” interrupted Sandeep impatiently, “Im not talking about my Giri Daddy, He died. Are you going to be my new daddy” he asked again,
Such innocence!

The Madras Affair was my first choice among Sundari Venkatramans books, simply because of the title! The moment I started reading the story, I was hooked because it is set in the lates, exactly the time I went to live in Chennai with my brand new husband.
I still call it Madras in my head, The book was like a trip down the memory lane for me!

The protagonists, including the minor characters are very realistic.
Sangita is the quintessential Indian woman from an orthodox family who struggles with her identity and suppressed emotions, Her family seemed real to me because people like that still do exist, especially in the smaller pockets of our society where religious and social dogmas are used as tools of suppression.


Sundari has depicted Sangita as her own greatest enemy, But then, it is true for most women who are brought up from childhood on

a short leash, Like the baby elephant reared in captivity, never realizes its own mammoth strength as it grows into an adult elephant that it can actually break the flimsy chains with just a jerk and be free.


The scenes of domestic discord are very realistic, especially with Radha patti and Gopal, I used to know some people like that and have seen this rubbish enacted many times in reality, How ironic that women should smite down their own sisters instead of providing the much needed support and affection, Who needs enemies when we have mothers like Radha who slash at their daughters confidence and crush their spirit I burst into laughter when Radha pattis partially comical lamentations end in Bhagavane as though she were the victim! Yes, maybe she is just as much a victim who grew avaricious to protect herself from the system.


Gautam is truly the knight in shining armour who turns up to rescue the damsel in distress, The adorable English professor knows how to woo his lady with poetic earnestness, The chemistry between them was so sweet, The yearning, the passion of young love and the blossoming of friendship was all depicted very beautifully,

We need loving grandfathers like Ganapati and kind brothers like Raghavan too,

Giridhar was horrible! Again, an honest picture of an abusive, sadistic tyrant,

I dont know if the modern, confident women of today would identify with Sangitas character, It is so easy for most women today to take quick decisions in both professional and personal matters without being bound by archaic social rules.
But a simple, shy woman from a traditional set up with a lot of baggage would understand Sangitas predicament better.


Sometimes there is no choice because we just dont see them as choices, but as rebellion and sin.


It was good to see her grow into a mature woman by the end of the book and not depend completely on Gautam to define her existence.


Loved this book from start to finish! I dont know Tamil but I would still say, Romba nalla airukke, Sundari!.