Victory Tea Estate
Author - Sophie Judah
Publisher - Palimpsest, Rs 300
The author brings out several emotions through the theme of forbidden love and its implications. The novel digresses through time and space, from london to India, to show the stories of all central characters, writes AKSHITA RAWAT
Set in a beautiful backdrop of the Eastern Himalayas, Victory Tea Estate by Sophie Judah is a novel about the life of an orphan girl who boldly asserts her wish to live with an Englishman whom she loved. It did not matter to her that her choice came at the cost of her reputation in society along with the label of a mistress.
The novel in a popular narrative style begins with a subplot of an old lady who is the protagonist of the novel and follows her life right from her birth. Chanda, the protagonist, is an illegitimate child of an Englishman who lives with her mother. Her father had refused to take any responsibility of the child and it was only his sister who supported both the mother and daughter financially as much as she could. After her return to England, their life changed significantly. To add to Chanda’s tragedies, her mother faced a sudden demise after a snakebite.
The main plot of the novel begins after this, having an independent Chanda working and living in a tea estate. She finds excitement in the figure of John Templeton in her life. He is the English planter of the estate, living in a bungalow there. Certain events in her life bring him quite close to her. She finds herself interacting with him every other day. Chanda gives in to her inner desires one day and decides to live with him even after getting warned by Templeton about the implications of such a decision. Their class difference can never unite them. She has to live with him only as his mistress.
As important a figure Templeton is to Chanda, she also takes an important place in his life. Chanda enters his solitary life and helps him in his moments of crisis. They both share a relationship which is way higher than that of a man and his mistress. They love each other without realising it. Mistress or not, Chanda’s life keeps running well and subsequently, the lovers also have children. It is almost a perfect family. But sadly for Chanda, her happiness is short-lived.
She always knew the day will come when Templeton would start his own ‘English family’. And so, it comes when Templeton returns from his six months long vacation to England. Templeton marries his childhood friend Amy who was waiting for him back in England. Amy loves Templeton with all her heart. And even though Templeton knows he does not really love Amy the way he loves Chanda, he marries her because he pictures a happy ‘English’ future with her. Amy becomes the mother of Templeton’s children giving him the kind of family he wanted.
However, their marriage brings forth the ill fate of not only Chanda but also Amy and Templeton. He
has wronged two women and all
his children in one way or another. Amy and Chanda could have been each other’s friends in the estate had it not been for Templeton’s flawed decisions. And hiding his past from Amy makes matters worse.
The novel takes many time leaps to follow the growth of all the children too. The feelings for their father change with due course of time. It is only his eldest son from Chanda, Christopher, who seems to have an immense respect for him. The other children see Templeton only as the man who had wronged their mothers. A kind of rivalry also sparks between the ‘legitimate’ ones and the ‘illegitimate’ ones.
When it comes to blaming someone for all the tragedies that engulfed John Templeton’s families, one really cannot see a culprit. Amy and the children may hold Templeton responsible for it, but he ultimately becomes a pitiable character.
The focus shifts back in the end to Chanda and Templeton and their unique relationship. What remains constant is that through every thick and thin, these two are the only support system of each other. The undying love is always there.
However tragic Chanda’s life had been, it seems to be better with Templeton along with her. There is never a moment in her life when she blames Templeton for any misery. Nothing changes her love for him. She is only remembered for always loving Templeton — in a good way by some and in a bad way by others. And this forms an even greater tragedy of her life. The label of ‘mistress’ or ‘rakhail’ did not leave her side even in her old age.
The author, Sophie Judah, has brilliantly captured all the colours of a colonial tea estate. Through three generations of people living in the Victory Tea Estate, we see the aesthetics attached to all the eras. Judah’s father was an ex army man who was in NEFA during the war with China. The story of Chanda is inspired from a story of an Anglo-Indian schoolteacher who met her father several years ago. The depiction of World War II through Templeton is also owed to the stories her father used to tell her about the wars.
The emotion that Judah manages to bring out within the theme of forbidden love and the implications of such a relationship is indeed commendable. At the same time, the novel also digresses through time and space, from london to India, to show the stories of every character who are all centered to the Victory Tea Estate. It ends where it started but shows a kind of redemption for the children.