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POOJAMMA

The Woman who Redefined Womanhood

M C Raj

The story starts with death and ends with blooming of full life. In between death

and birth the novel brings to life a towering inferno called Poojamma in many

flashbacks. The interpolation of death and birth are not just accidental. They are

designed and carefully planned by many actors in the novel. That makes the

novel an absorbing reading. A woman centric novel that is social as well as

predominantly political! The mesmerizing and strategic power of a woman is

bound to shock the conscience of the male world. The reluctance of the world to

accept woman as powerful is however, the usual stereotype. Politics centeredaround the personality of a woman who takes on caste system in India and

political corruption may invite both light hearted readers and serious ones to

plunge themselves into the many pages of the novel without any serious risk.

There could still be mild tremors in the mindset of those who still look down

upon women as second class citizens.

Nina, the American journalist epitomizes half the story of Poojamma, her mentor.

Immediately after receiving the news of the death of Poojamma, in Karnataka of

India she sets out in Air India towards India. She fills the belly of the plane with

many flashback dreams of her relationship with Poojamma, the indomitable

woman-power. Poojamma is a social reformer of sorts who has opted to live in a

village among Dalits, the historically untouchable people of India. She brings

unity among different castes by educating people on the evil of caste

discrimination and convinces them of the need to live as human beings in

dignity. She becomes very popular among poor people of all castes.

Her popularity sends jitters in the raw nerves of local politicians who take the

help of their bosses in the city to fight Poojamma. But they do not expect the

metal that Poojamma is made of. Eeranna is the local politician who makes

mistake after mistake in taking on the might of Poojamma. Dinesh, the political

guru of Eeranna falls into his net and behaves like a rotten politician. Both ofthem successfully create a quagmire and find themselves irredeemable. They

make it their mission to execute the downfall of Poojamma in order to gain votes

from poor people of their constituency. Their strategies boomerang. They take

professional assistance from their political bosses who are ministers ingovernment and finally succeed to assassinate Poojamma in a dastardly bomb

blast. The provocation for murder plot is the successful struggle of Poojamma in

a huge land grabbing issue in which Dinesh is involved.

The State police are reluctant to take up serious investigation into Poojammasmurder. Nina takes it upon herself as a personal mission to make the

Government of India to order an official investigation of the murder by the

Central Agency. She succeeds through diplomatic channels and discovers in the

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process, the adopted daughter of Poojammas. Nina discovers that Pramila worksas the German Ambassador in Iraq.

The Central Agency finally reports that Poojamma was brutally assassinated in a

bomb blast by hired goons of a minister in the government at the behest of

Dinesh. All culprits are arrested and put in jail. The courts find it as the rarest ofrare case. Even as the judge is about to deliver his judgment the prosecution

lawyer requests the judge not to give death sentence to the culprits but instead

put them in jail for life. When followers of Poojamma protest against the lawyer

he points his fingers to Kala who says that death sentence was untenable in the

value system of Poojammas.

The other half of the story is narrated as a flashback by Kala, the prodigy of

Poojammas who joins her as a domestic help but grows to dizzy heights in thePeoples Movement that Poojamma builds up. The trinity of Poojamma, Nina and

Kala weave the entire story with all its intricacies. The readers is sure to be

caught in this literary cobweb. The way Kala weaves the story of the sexapades

of Dinesh and Eeranna in Thailand and in Delhi stuns the American journo. But

Kala makes it simple to hear as if it is a daily drama in the life of village dames in

rural India. The emergence of Pramila who is the adopted daughter of

Poojammas, her bold and beautiful foray into the house of Eeranna to execute

his political downfall, her ascent to become the German Ambassador in Iraq etc.

add a lot of spice to the story not allowing a moment of boredom to the reader.

The convergence of different castes for peace, the political battles of Poojamma

and her followers, the successful land struggles of ordinary village people, the

reversals of political fortunes of Eeranna and Dinesh, the sexapades of otherpoliticians, the huge popularity of Poojamma among the poor, the emergence of

Pramila the genius daughter of Poojammas, the intervention of Secretary ofState of the US, the setting up of an award in memory of Poojamma, the stepping

into the shoes of Poojamma by Kala etc. etc. add a lot of Indian fragrance to the

mystery of character building and plots of the novel. Add to this the writing style

of M C Raj and you will get confused if you are reading a fiction or a true story.

And indeed the novel is based on many true incidents with a heavy doze of

fictional flavor. Even the personality of Poojamma is a heady mix of fictional and

real life characters.

This novel is bound to take the reader on a roller coaster of many fictional

intricacies. Poojamma is indeed a path-breaking novel in the realization of

womans centrality in human history.