“Remember the Frenchman who asked his grandmother at what age we get free from the temptations of love. The old woman said she didn't know” The Doctor’s Dilemma, GB Shaw.
Sarah Joseph’s
Alohari Anandam ( Per Capita
Happiness) explores the winds of change that perplexes and confuses a Syrian
Christian family in Kerala. Published in 2013, the novel deals with
controversial themes such as loveless marriages, marriage of senior citizens
and lesbianism. Joseph’s characters liberate themselves once the yoke that
they carry become too much for them.
Emma and
John Mathai are the senior citizens who decide to get married with the support
of the young generation and Paul. The typical reaction to a couple who decides
to get married so late- a widower and a spinster- are jokes laden with obscene
humour. However, Joseph treats the theme with much sensitivity and her Emma is
a lovely bride who rejects all makeup and finery on her wedding day that her
niece Ishana has designed for her.
Ishana is
the designer in the family who runs a funeral parlour and a beauty parlour.
Joseph satirises the way in which all church rituals have become focused on
clothes, jewellery and the aesthetics involved. On the occasion of a baptism,
Ishana’s thoughts are entirely on the stone-vessel that she chose for pouring
the water. She represents the new generation who sees marriage as a trap set to
limit individual freedom.
The lovers
in the novel Paul and Anu carry the burdens of their marriages. Paul is married
to Teresa, a lesbian who is forced to marry him. Anu struggles to bear the
weight of her loveless marriage with Cherian. When the idealistic Paul meets the
dreamer Anu, they feel a strange comfort and are drawn towards the lovelight
that they see in each other’s eyes. As Paul says:
“There are people who become happy with the little that they
have...both among men and women. Not just that, the majority is like that. They
try to unravel the knots of this world. Small achievements make them happy.
Small losses hurt them a lot. Their longings for love are of a shallow nature.
But there are people who seek themselves in their mates. They need a life of
deep love. For them, marriage is a failure, if the lover doesn’t complement
their mind, body, intellect and emotions. It is not necessary to have such a
relationship within marriage and that’s when you seek another relationship”
(Free Translation).
Joseph's novel Alohari Anandam, celebrates the joy of living and individualism. Through her beautiful and lyrical evocation of the Song of Songs, she recreates love as a Garden of Eden shared by those who want to experience the happiness of being fully alive, emotionally, spiritually and physically.
