Swallowing the Sun

L to R: Author Anita George; Chief Guest Geetanjali Vikram Kirloskar; Former Diplomat Ambassador & now the celebrated author of ‘Swallowing the Sun’ Mrs Lakshmi Puri, and Athlete Anju Bobby George.

I must admit I am a little humbled sharing the stage with you Lakshmi, yet grateful to have this opportunity of engaging here with a personality who has not only achieved a lot, but is also a friend - for whom I deeply care for, & respect (as did Vikram).

Lakshmi Puri.  A distinguished diplomat, former Ambassador, in leadership positions at the UN, leader in the first global organization to promote gender equality, recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights, & others.  And, Now an author who has earned literary acclaim with her debut novel “Swallowing the Sun”.  But as I said before, to me above & beyond, a friend.

Some people's grace transcends intimacies, niceties, or, as you Lakshmi yourself put it, "the pantomime of diplomacy." Lakshmi I remember, you had me over for dinner at home soon after Vikram passed. Sensitively invited an intimate group of our common & very close friends.  Your quiet understanding illuminated my grief. I was a little uncertain of myself, standing alone suddenly.  Almost like the ant! But your empathy & strength acted as a balm.   As we know, a home reflects the sensibilities & the aesthetic of those who live in it.  Lakshmi’s home has the style, an elegance, a little of the international, but with a touch of tradition, tempered with a certain quirkiness.  We had Traditional food, with a twist, served in beautiful thalis.   And an unsaid message passed between us, woman to woman, that grief is not a source of rage but a touchstone to a woman's strength.  It’s amazing Lakshmi how some people like you pass on so much, unspoken.  And now, unwritten & written.

Lakshmi manifests the perfect balance & blend between timeless values & modernity, a progressive mind that can match the best in gender & ability.  Wearing a traditional saree, while leading on an international stage. Of intelligence balanced with empathy, a sensitivity to people & relationships.  Which is perhaps why Lakshmi you have been a very successful diplomat, & now a prolific writer.  That is evident in your personality, in the manner in which you reach out & connect, & expressed now in your beautiful writing.  The perfect balance between the old & the new.

As Anand Mahindra put it, at the Mumbai launch, Lakshmi joins the ranks of writers who have achieved fame while practising dual careers. I'm sure she brings to "the pantomime of diplomacy" the high creativity of her art. It springs from a rootedness in Marathi and Indian culture, that permeates her book "Swallowing the Sun." Her diplomatic skills & her writing reflect this rootedness because, despite the pantomime, people always respond to authenticity.

Swallowing the Sun entered my life when I most needed it.  Just as Lakshmi, you reached out & soothed my heart, so did your  book & your writing.  After my sudden loss, I was beginning to feel much like the ant. So, I was motivated not only by the ant who flies into the sky, but actually swallows the sun!  I got a sense of courage & conviction, through my adversity.  The resonance that great literature evokes, also rewards.

As I started reading the book, in the beginning, Lakshmi your personality overpowered my reading. I guess that happens to all authors' friends, especially when they read the first book. But a few pages in, the power of "Swallowing the Sun" immersed me in the book as I rooted for Malati and Kamala. While on the surface, my childhood and later life are nothing like Malati's, she resonated with me deeply. This ability to connect with every reader is the hallmark of great literature, and I am sure that "Swallowing the Sun" will find its place in the annals of modern Indian literature. Lakshmi, We greatly look forward to many more books, as one of India's prolific women writers. It is a tribute, to the transcendence of the art of writing, that excellent writing can come from the opposite ends of the establishment and anti-establishment segments.

The resonance with Malati was rewarding because Malati's courage and spirit spoke to me independently of the specifics of place, era and plot. Though it’s about women struggling to fight patriarchy against the backdrop of the independence movement. From the norms that tradition binds & suppresses. It’s about Women who don’t just want to “step into the masculine realm but shape it too”. As the book says “the desire to learn subjects & new ideas at the levels of complexity that women were not privileged to access”.  “Tough young women to the world, no wallpapers for craven bees”.  Studying Kafka, playing sport.  Living life.

But it's not activism or overt aggressive feminism, nor rebellion, or insensitive to the environ.

I think of the book as a tribute to the extraordinary, “daring to attain the unattainable” yet anchored in their family, their culture, & the society around them.  This way of harmonious striving towards self-realisation & equality, profoundly resonates with me. As it would with many.  Frankly, it transcends gender & can be true of either man or woman. (In fact, I found the male characters equally strong, yet sensitive). In my eyes, my dear friend Lakshmi is much the same.  As the person & the author we are celebrating today. 

Somewhere Lakshmi in my mind, at the end of it all, you represent the Indian woman, who is not just a gender, but a civilizational value…

The leitmotif of "Swallowing the Sun" comes from the opening lines of the Abhang by Muktabai, the 13th-century poet Saint from Maharashtra:  As given in the book, & I quote from the book.

Mungi Udaali Aakashi 

Teene Gilale Suryashi 

The ant flies into the sky, 

She swallows the sun. 

While "swallowing the sun" is an expression of the potentiality of the innate strength of ordinary people, I think the closing two lines of the beautiful Abhang from the book, also address a cosmic truth, that this strength springs from the human soul's ability, to be untouched by the strangeness and predation of Maya (reality)  I quote from the book:

Muktabai sees all! 

Muktabai laughs! 

And life goes on ….

Thank you, Lakshmi, for giving the world a timeless gift across generations.  Thank you even more for being a friend through my darkest moments, and above all, for being the woman you are.

(As highlighted by Geetanjali Vikram Kirloskar on September 29 in Bangalore, as chief guest at the launch of 'Swallowing the Sun' by Author Lakshmi Puri)