Book Review: Sreemoyee Piu Kundu’s 'Sita's Curse' | Hachette India

Sita's Curse: A Trailer on YouTube

When I read the first page, I was taken aback. This certainly was my first erotic fiction. But, I wasn't scandalized, I was just surprised. That a woman, in a patriarchal society like ours had the guts to write about another woman who was bold enough to break free and give in to her desires and find ways to pleasure herself.     

When I met Meera Patel, or Mrs. Meera Patel, wife of Mohan Patel, I imagined her exactly as Sreemoyee had described her. For me Meera was a living breathing human being, a woman with normal sexual desires and wants. I could reach out and touch Meera's soft skin. So real is Sreemoyee's writing. 

As the story progressed, touching slightly upon the incestual relation between Meera and her twin brother, Karthik, I was caught up and thrown along with the upheavals Meera went through. When Meera found Karthik's body, I cried with her. I felt her pain. 

The story moves ahead, Meera grows up, dreams of a husband, a sexually satiated marital life, without even knowing what sex meant. Along with her grows her desire to be desired, as Karthik desired her. Meera kept looking for that one true lover who would pleasure her till she could scream her lungs out. All she got was a good-looking Mohan Patel, who left her along after making her a Mrs. 

Mrs. Meera Patel stays with her parents for a year before her husband calls her to Mumbai. Many intimate encounters, many partly consummated love sessions later, Meera's now fuelled up desires get a life of their own. She moves to Mumbai dreaming of a big house and a pleasure-filled life with Mohan, her handsome Mohan Patel. Reality bites and bites hard. Mohan Patel has a problem, and Meera is left wanting for more. She realizes she could do a lot to fulfill her desires herself. Female masturbation is hardly spoken about. A book about a woman who feels absolutely no guilt in finding pleasure herself or in the arms of other men, finally paying for sex, is something that might be frowned upon. A woman is taught to pleasure her husband and not look for anything for herself, least of all demand sex from her husband. The mandate is clear: the man must seek the woman for sex, not vice versa. 

The book also boldly touches upon the convoluted love affair between religion and sex. Be it Tantrics or so-called religious god-men, the way older women push their daughters-in-law into darkened rooms, into the eagerly waiting arms of the babas of the world, is something that is rarely spoken of. Every child born of such a union is considered a 'prasad.' Meera, when she is seduced by the Maharaj, in turn fuels the Maharaj's darkest desires and ends up making him a lover. The hunted becomes the hunter. 

Meera's life is a quest, a quest for love. She traverses along with the four male characters, like a beautiful butterfly, touching their hearts and opening up their intimate desires. Meera's journey into Yosuf's eagerly awaiting arms has a lot of punch. In today's India, when women are slowly allowing themselves the liberty to unleash their libidos and demand satiation, Meera stands like a Phoenix bird, awakening to herself and to her lovers, realizing the futility of subduing her desires. 

When she does surrender, the coincidences build up. Mumbai witnesses the worst floods ever and Guruji is implicated on national television. Meera's world slowly falls apart when she sees Yosuf's dead body on TV.     

What struck me most were the names: Sita, Meera, the chanting of Ram Ram, Madhubala the parrot. Sita maiyya, a woman who was shunned by her husband not because she slept or desired another man, but because she spent some time in another man's custody. Why did Sreemoyee choose Sita? Are all women subjected eventually to the trauma that Sita went through? Was Ram a man who could satiate his wife? Over the years we are conditioned not to think about or even ask questions about sex. This book breaks all such barriers and talks only about sex. Yes, there certainly is a lot of sex, but it is not forced, it flows, like a slow rhythm building into an orgasm.                

As a liberal-minded woman, I believe, as a society we are yet to come to a stage where women can choose their mates and have a satisfying sexual encounter without getting unwarranted labels. From the land that gave birth to The KamaSutra, a book like Sita's Curse must be welcomed with open arms. It is a bold attempt to shed the layers that hide the beauty of opening up to our sensuous selves. Every liberated woman of this century must read this book.  

Parting shot: In every Indian woman, there is a Meera Patel, waiting to be liberated. When are you getting liberated? I just did. 

Why one should read this book: For the story; a very strong central character: Meera and the strong storyline

What some readers may not like: The strong sexual flavor or the genre itself

Rating: I give this book 4.5/5.  

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