Ideas for women

review
A team of four German girls of Indian origin led by Dharma open a women-only retreat in India; and trot out and prove a novel idea of how the stressed-out working women can destress and go back rejuvenated…

Dr Eva Bell, a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, is a seasoned novelist; and her ‘Power Surge in Eden’ is an exciting story of four feisty and accomplished German girls of Indian origin, who as a coherent team visit India to serve it in a thanksgiving gesture and also to trace their biological parents who had left them post-delivery for adoption by childless German couples.

The girls experience thrills and chills, moments of fulfilment and sighs of resignation, cooperation as well calumniation, in a story replete with suspense and surprise at every turn, and meandering through a maze of relationships from the altruistic to the grossly egotistic. Meet-cute couples, romantic affairs, teenage marriages; premarital and extramarital liaisons; seductions and rapes; abortions, broken homes and divorces; inter-caste marriages and conflicts; personality and attachment disorders; mega-swindles and subterfuges make your platter full.

The four girls are: Dharma, a psychology counsellor; Ena, a Master in Social Work; Lillian, a farming and gardening expert; and Nancy, an experienced Master in Hotel Management. What exactly is their Indian mission? It’s basically Dharma’s idea who “had worked in London for a year… to help Indian immigrant women with their many problems… The organisation that employed her was committed to the welfare of educated, middle class Indian women.

They were the casualties of the 21st century, performing an incredible feat of juggling home and profession and trying to excel at both. They were rapidly turning into split personalities, putting on a face of cool composure and professionalism at work, but reverting to traditional harassed housewives at home, forever trying to please their husbands and children and receiving no appreciation or gratitude for their work.”

Dharma is of conviction that women sometimes want to be alone, away from husband, children and responsibilities. “That doesn’t make them unfaithful or negligent. Lack of ‘time alone’ can damage relationships, stifle creativity and even lead to psychological problems in women.” To cater to such women, Dharma resolves to “open a Health Resort called Eden a place of tranquillity, where stressed-out working women can periodically come for short stays, to de-stress and go back to their homes and jobs refreshed and rejuvenated.”

This idea germinates and gels in her mind when she is gifted an estate in a scenic hilly countryside in Karnataka by her unknown biological father. And the girls open Eden in Sep 1993. Nancy serves as chef and house mother; and Lillian, takes care of the farm and garden. Besides being the owner-cum- manager, Dharma along with Ena associates with the Mercy Mission Hospital in the neighbourhood and is into community health to create awareness in rural women.

The girls, like the Missionary Hospital earlier, come under the scanner of the activists of a certain “fundamentalist” or “Right wing” group or political party (“the wrong political party”) and have to face challenges and tense moments, warranting legal and police intervention. Here the author comes across as someone with a one-sided antipathy to these outfits, and one-sided empathy to the Christian missionaries.

One-sided, because the ground realities which are otherwise right from Gandhi’s times have led to anti-conversion legislations, by many states in India. Anyway, this minor perceptional difference doesn’t mar our fun. Interwoven are the interesting subplots of Veda, Dileep Shenoy, and Dr Monica Lal. Veda, a young entrepreneur, runs a chain of restaurants.

Her husband Prakash Swami is a powerful MLA of another caste. The story of Sumi, Veda’s mother, is as mysterious as that of lawyer Dileep, who when twenty left for the USA and returned only after twenty-five years to practise at Mangalore. Dr Monica, a just retired government docsteals into Eden, leaving no word to her son Tony, who is doing a degree in journalism and eventually becomes a news reporter.

Monica’s husband and Tony’s father Wing Commander Harry Lal had been killed in a suspicious accident twenty years ago, and the ‘closed’ case is now reopened. The finale leaves enough hint for a sequel, and let’s hope the writer comes out with one.