Flares

I was born in Uttarakhand, India, where in 2019 in Uttarkashi district 216 births were recorded over three months in eighty villages and not one was that of a girl.

Being a woman, I feel impelled to reflect on the mindset that has made these “no-girl” villages a disturbing reality. There is immense fear shrouding the decision to have a girl – what with actual incidents of physical and mental abuse far outnumbering the reported count. In March 2021, the Chief Justice of India tried to settle a rape case by asking the accused to marry his victim, the victim’s choice notwithstanding. His thinking permeates deep within Indian society and often results in forced arranged marriages that deprive girls of any agency over their lives. In the absence of familial and societal support, while some women are choosing to stop the suffering by ending their lives, many others have been preconditioned to bury their traumas and silently endure lifelong suffering.

“FLARES” is a day in the life of five women from the Indian diaspora reuniting in California, twenty-five years after finishing high school in Delhi. Despite a uniform starting point, their lives diverge significantly in many ways and converge on the issue of gender-based abuse. Similar to a game of Kho Kho that they grew up playing, my characters realize that no matter which direction they faced, or what they ran towards, at the end of it all, they all got poked. The title is inspired by Fire, regarded as a potent symbol of purity in Indian mythology. There are numerous examples of women being made to walk through flames to prove their chastity. I have used this motif in a contemporary context to explore the litmus tests that women are subject to in today’s world.

My personal connection to this story is that like my characters I grew up in Delhi, immigrated to the US and have lived in both New York and California, where my protagonists come from. I have set this project in the Bay Area, a mecca for some of the best-educated professionals from South Asia. It is also home to unprecedented numbers of domestic violence cases within the South Asian diaspora, making it an ideal setting for the defiant awakening in my characters.

With the spate of brutality against women making news this year, as it does every year, both, within South Asia and within the South Asian diaspora, a closer inspection of our social constructs, that are evidently designed to suppress women’s voices, is in order. By showcasing the strength of survivors whose lives are not defined by their traumas, I hope to dissociate the concept of honor from incidents of gender-based abuse, and aspire to change mindsets regarding the value of a woman’s life beyond her chastity and social standing.