'AND ALL IS SAID' BY ZAREER MASANI
( PENGUIN
PUBLICATION)
This is the story by Zareer Masani of himself, his
father Minoo Masani and mother Shakuntala. A family biography of sorts. This is
a story of achievement and suffering. A story of
cultural sophistication and inability to apply the same in one’s family life .
A story of three wonderful individuals who could not cope collectively.
Firstly, it is the story of Shakuntala Srivastava who was one of the three daughters
of Sir J P Srivastava an industrialist during the British Raj, he was also a
minister in the viceregal council who owned cotton mills in Kanpur. Shakuntala
was brought up in the lap of luxury and tutored by foreign Governesses, studied
in Nainital and welham girls' school , but revolted and fled to Mumbai in order to be
different and independent. She was talented and cultured, an art collector with genuine insight and interest in that subject, she also wrote books for children and one of her biography on Nehru for children was very popular.
The second story is of Minoo Masani who studied in London school of economics and was a barrister
with left leanings whom Shakuntala met in Mumbai. He had made a place for himself in the freedom movement,
was the founding member of the congress socialist party and an associate of Jai
Prakash Narain. Minoo, later formed the Swatantra
party and turned a right winger ,an original thinker whom our Prime Minister
Manmohan considers his mentor/influence, he was an elected member of parliament
from Rajkot and leader of opposition. His
father had come up the hard way and rose to be knighted and be the vice
chancellor of Bombay university.
The third story is of Zareer their only son, fearful of his father and possessive of his mother,his sexuality causes him much trauma and tribulations. He contributes in the conflict between the couple arising out ambition,lack of commitment and temperament. The child too is torn on occasions between the two religions and cultures - Parsi and Hindu, despite the apparent maturity of his grand parents from both sides.
The conflict between the couple reaches a point of no return when Shakuntala joins Indira Gandhi in 1967 and canvasses for her whereas her husband campaigns as an opposition candidate without his wife in Rajkot and loses. Thereafter their relationship leads to a bitter divorce which drags on for about two decades.
Zareer finds solace in London and becomes a writer
and later the incharge of BBC current
affairs programme, he also wrote biography on Indira which was ironically banned
during the emergency.
What marks the book in addition to the
poignancy of the story is the language of Zareer, so restrained, simple and yet
polished and apt.
The
story is recommended for a film. Our audience is now prepared for
some serious socio-political drama and the story of Masanis is ripe for
celluloid adaptation.
