Sunanda Belgaumkar and some of her works

There are many famous literary personalities from Dharwad which is aptly labeled as the cultural capital of Karnataka. We keep hearing about many of these famous people from time to time. However, there are several people of Dharwad origin who have reaped a decent literary harvest but are not widely known. This is an attempt to tell you, a little I know, about one of the refreshing novelists from Dharwad – Mrs. Sunanda Belgaumkar.

Here is some biographical information about her before we look into her literary accomplishments. She was born and brought up in one of the most aristocratic families of Dharwad – Mahishi family. Her ancestors, who owned many properties, were very rich. One of the main roads that connect station road and NH-4 is named as Mahishi road after her father or grand father. Her father was a famous doctor in Dharwad. Some of her siblings still live in the majestic compound on the Mahishi road. After completing her studies, she got married to Mr. Belgaumkar who was a chartered accountant. They lived in Bombay for a few years initially. After that Mr. Belgaumkar moved to Africa and spent next three decades working in different countries in Africa mainly Zambia and Sudan. Sunanda also accompanied him to Africa. They have two children. Son is a finance professional trained in UK and daughter is a qualified doctor. Belgaumkars live their retired life in Bangalore.

There are several things that impress me about Sunanda Belgaumkar and her works. First of all, how quietly she has worked without really yearning for much recognition. It is heartening to see someone like that when many people want recognition soon after they pen a line or two. Another impressive thing is that she wrote extensively in Kannada even while she lived out of India. It must have been difficult to engage in creative literary activities in Kannada while living in totally alien culture of Africa. Another impressive thing which is evident from her works is the fact how well versed she is with different cultures of Dharwad. She has been so successful in bringing out the cultural aspect of Dharwad so much so that I have read and re-read two of her novels just to reminisce the culture and way of life of Dharwad. If you read her novels, you will go back in time machine - that’s how she managed to preserve the time in her books. She has won a few awards from Kannada Sahithya Academy and other organizations. She definitely deserves them.

I have read two of her novels namely ‘NaSu’ and ‘Zavedhi’ and a short story that was published in Kannada monthly ‘Mayura’ sometime in 1995 September. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading and re-reading her works. You may also try them and see if you like them. I will briefly write about these works.

‘NaSu’ seems like a strange name for a Kannada novel. There is no Kannada word or phrase called ‘NaSu’. But, ‘NaSu’ is a heart wrenching story of a boy born and raised in an ultra orthodox Vaishnava Brahmin household of old Dharwad. Timeline for the novel is around 1935-1950. Story is set in the Hosayeallapur area of Dharwad which was (is) is the bastion of hardcore Brahmins in Dharwad. If you want to experience the most orthodox Brahmanism, you got to go there. Even today there are people who love to live following the age old traditional brahminical lifestyle which many have given up long ago. Main character in the novel is Narayana, the eldest son of a scholarly Brahmin. Unfortunately Narayana is born in the wrong household. Somehow he and studies are a mile apart which keeps boiling the blood of his very scholarly father. Although Narayana is required for virtually everything in the household as he is too good at everything other than studies, he is always deprecated and insulted just for his lack of interest in studies. Novel is full of several characters which make up the neighborhood. His father is disgusted so much so with Narayana that he routines scolds him “Naayi SooLemagana” for virtually everything. That’s how the name of the novel is ‘NaSu’. Narayana has forgotten that his name is Narayana as all he hears is ‘NaSu’ from the time he gets up in the morning to till he goes to bed. His father likes Narayana’s younger brother who has shown a lot interest in studies and seems to have the spark which his dad adores and hopes to make him an ace doctor. This puts ‘NaSu’ in even worse shape. However, ‘NaSu’ does not mind it all. Dad’s contempt and regular beating only make him more hardworking and he becomes indispensable by engaging in selfless service of the whole neighborhood. Despite his selfless and relentless service, there are only two people who recognize him for his worth – one is his mother and other is his grandmother (father’s mother). Portrayal of these two helpless women is done so well; you will literally feel the pain and agony they seem to experience. Narayana’s father pampers his younger son, Vishnu, a lot. He lives up to his dad’s expectations by consistently topping all examinations. Dad puts him in a medical college in Bombay. The narration of their first trip to Bombay and beautiful description of how Bombay was in 1950s is simply great.

There are several things which go in parallel. Somewhere in the beginning of the novel, the novelist gives an interesting twist to the story by creating a rift between one particular Brahmin in the locality and rest of the folks. Story developed is also very nice. This particular Brahmin is really good looking and is not happy with his skinny wife. A famous goldsmith in Dharwad gets arrested while fleeing Goa during Portuguese liberation. This goldsmith happens to have a beautiful sister and she comes to this particular Brahmin, Hayagreevaachar, for help as she knows that he has good contacts in police. Hayagreevaachar uses his clout and gets her brother released. His sister falls for this "aachar" partly for his help and partly for his looks. There starts an affair between the two and it becomes the news. Hayagreevaachar ,not caring for his reputation, continues the affair and it continues till his mistress dies while delivering his baby. Mistress holds this Brahmin in such a high esteem so much so that she absolutely wants a boy from him. After her death, it is a downward spiral for Hayagreevaachar due to depression and some supernatural phenomenon developed by the author based on some mythological story. Family of Hayagreevaachar is known as "bindagi aachari" due to an old copper vessel (i.e. bindagi) which has been worshipped in their house for generations. Specialty of the vessel is that it is home to a king cobra which does not harm any one in the household till everything was fine. Ever since Hayagreevaachari started his affair, cobra becomes nasty and pooh poohs aachari if he gets into the worship room. Author brings about the anguish of the family so well that you will feel the pain. Portrayal of Hayagreevachar’s ignored wife is marvelous. She acts as though she accepts this entire ordeal as part of her ‘Karma’. Portrayal of this woman as completely selfless reaches climax when she willingly prepares special food for the mistresses during her pregnancy.

There are several other parallels also. Novelist wanders from character to character narrating their individual idiosyncrasies. There are several girls in the families and how they grow and how they get into various problems unique to Brahmin women are all very well traced. Novelist also describes incidents typical to conservative Brahmins in Dharwad like clandestinely eating prohibited eatables like onion bhaji, smoking beedi and going to mandatory movie after the last exam etc.

Novel ends with a great heart break. Narayana’s younger brother who is the blue eyed boy of his father goes to England. His father sends him across the seas against much resistance from other members of his orthodox community. He goes off only to let down his father big-time by marrying a white woman in England. Father falls sick due to this. Narayana relentlessly serves his dad but dad takes out all his frustration on him because he is a soft target. Story again runs into multiple tributaries as all kids (Narayana’s contemporaries) are now grown up and have their own lives. Friends marry each other's sisters. Some girls go astray and get into some problems. Narayana keeps coming to everyone’s rescue with his completely selfless persona. But, the contempt he receives becomes unbearable for him at the end. He contemplates at the end with great regret about what he has achieved by being so selfless. Why does no one recognize him for good qualities in him? Why even his own father, even after he is betrayed by his favorite son, fails to love him? Narayana who has sacrificed all his personal pleasure for the welfare of all around him decides to leave the home for good. End is similar to the end in ‘Bangarada Manushya’ movie and Narayana’s character is similar to that of Rajkumar’s. In “Bangarada Manushya” Rajkumar also lives only for others and is misunderstood for his benevolent acts and leaves home at the end to bring the move to a very sad end. Same happens here and Narayana leaves home without knowing where he is headed. Most heart wrenching is the letter he writes for his dad before he leaves. Written in all wrong Kannada as Narayana could never master the art of basic reading and writing, it still brings about the pain and hurt in Narayana.

After you read this novel, characters will be so well imprinted in your mind that they haunt you over and over again and every time I read this novel I feel the pain of Narayana personally. Great novel.

Another novel is Zavedhi. Name may sound strange. Yes, it is. If I remember correctly ‘Zhavedhi’ means journey or distance in Swahili - predominant language in East Africa. In this novel, novelist makes best use of her stay in Africa by describing all beautiful places in east Africa such as Ngorongoro crater, Mount Kilimanjaro, Victoria falls, Lake Manyara etc. Read it and you will at least like the best description anyone has written about Africa in Kannada.

If ‘NaSu’ is a treatise on Vasishnava Brahmins and their culture in Dharwad, ‘Zhavedhi’ is a complete handbook on Smartha Brahmins and their culture. The grip that the novelist has on dominant cultures of Dharwad is magnificent. As the novelist herself claims in one of her novels, as she lived a very intense and passionate life in Dharwad, she could get to the core of all dominant cultures of Dharwad with such mastery. Novelist does a great job in bringing out the subtleties in the cultures in her works.

“Zhavedhi” is about a mining engineer working in the copper mines of Zambia. He is estranged from his wife and kids and lives alone. He is a middle aged gentleman with a very good heart but extremely short tempered. He comes from a large family and large families also have too many misunderstandings and he has been a victim of one such misunderstanding which breaks apart his beautiful family of two cute kids and wife. His wife decides to live for the sake of her kids. His extended family and wife live in Bombay and he lives and works out of Zambia in Africa. He frequently shuttles between Lusaka (Zambia) and Bombay on business but stays in hotels instead of staying with his family. He has some deep seated bitterness in his mind from several happenings in his family during his childhood and adulthood.

Once while living alone in Zambia, he gets an opportunity to visit neighboring African country of Tanzania on business. He mixes pleasure with business and takes a ‘safari’ of some beautiful wildlife sanctuaries in Tanzania. He gets an interesting African guide who keeps cracking jokes of all levels of decency like saying “Africa has only one Mt. Kilimanjaro, my girl friend has two” etc.

It is while visiting world famous Ngorongoro crater, the story goes to flashback. Ngorongoro crater is home to a variety of wild creatures and the drama that nature unfolds in Ngorongoro is mind boggling. It is a drama enacted everyday but never repeated. The touring party spends extensive time enjoying a large lion pride with one lion and several lionesses. This perfectly resembles the household of the hero back in India. In his household also there was only one dominant male (his father) and several females. Since they spend an extensive amount of time in Ngorongoro, he starts associating different lions and lionesses with his family members. There is one vicious lioness called Cleopatra which is vying for the attention of the lion king but lion is interested in another lioness. Cleopatra attacks all other lionesses out of jealousy and still fails to win the heart of the lion king. Lion king may have had mechanical sex with Cleopatra but his heart ticks for the other lioness that is too injured (by Cleopatra) to engage in love.

Mr. Giliyur (the mining engineer, central character of the novel) recalls a similar incidence from his childhood. How his dad was seduced by some other woman in the household, how his mother coped up with the trauma, how his father fathered an illegitimate child, how his mother voluntarily helped to legitimize the child as her own, how this vicious woman wrecked havoc in his life by sowing seeds of suspicion between him and his wife and so on. Each lion and lioness seems to bear resemblance to a member of his family. Something happens in the lion pride and all lionesses attack and maim the vicious Cleopatra and he finds solution to his personal problems in that incident. He reunites with his family and lives happily ever after.

In parallel to the main story, there are several tributaries and parallel story develops in Bombay. Novelist goes about describing the lives his wife and growth of his son and daughter who become singers. As in the other novel, there are several characters which make up the household and they all also bring interesting touch to the story. Overall the novel reads great and you would not keep it down till you finish it. Selected parts of Africa are described so well that you have to read to believe it.

Next is a long-story that appeared in Kannada monthly ‘Mayura’ in September or October of 1995. If two novels described before centered around two flavors of Brahmin culture, this story focuses on aristocratic Lingayat culture. In this story the author traces three generations of an aristocratic feudal Gowda in a village neighboring Dharwad. Story brings out the subtle aspects of aristocrats and their lavish tastes. Gowda of each generation has weakness for women and keep a mistress. Mistress of each gowda wants to kill him and run away with his property. No one succeeds but Gowda’s clan is cursed by a strange curse. Mistresses die of a strange phenomenon with their bodies found in the cattle shed with gunny bag on them. This is probably something again based on some myth. The final generation gowda gets into problem when his son (or daughter) chooses to marry a Brahmin woman (or man). Gowda does not endorse it but gets isolated as his son chooses to move out. Aristocratically his ebb is on decline and Gowda just can not do whatever he wants as he could have done in the past. He comes face to face with his progeny in Siddarudh math in Hubli and his son and his fiancée sing a beautiful song in the praise of the seer there and he ultimately agrees to their marriage. It is a very beautiful story.

I am sure Sunanda Belgaumkar has written many more novels and books that I have not read. Her works take me to true Dharwad of which I have only faint and fond memories. When I grew up I used to hear bits and piece of the lifestyle back then from my parents and these novels complete the picture.

Sunanda also stands out for her quiet work. She has never craved for publicity like many others. Before I discovered her works, works of novelists from Dharwad fell into distinct categories like fire brand feminism (like Veeena Shanteshwar), commercial pulp (like Geetha Kulkarni), miscellaneous (like Shantadevi Malwad) and each was either too stereotypical or too realistic. Sunanda’s novels offer a refreshing change.

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