THE PROSTITUTE’S DAUGHTER
Author : Juliet Philip
Publisher : Om, Rs195
If you ever find yourself confined in an inescapable situation, Juliet Philip’s book The Prostitute’s Daughter offers a way of confidently handling the unpleasant realities of life, says ANKITA ARORA
If you ever find yourself confined in an inescapable situation, Juliet Philip’s The Prostitute’s Daughter is a book which offers a way of confidently handling unpleasant realities. The story is about a young girl who has spent “16 long, heartbreaking years of loneliness and lovelessness in India.” Kamada Das, the prostitute Tara’s daughter, is determined to leave the streets of “Bombay” and study in America where her career choice extends beyond prostitution. The novel, then, comes across as a personal narrative charting Kamada’s life’s trajectory from sheer perseverance to tranquil fulfilment punctuated by innumerable struggles in between.
The 16-year-old’s dream “to escape this horrible place”, the “betel stains”, and “the entire geographical area’s energies” is resonated at a manic pace on every page of the novel. But, as she plans her escape, her journey towards happiness is obstructed in many ways. Emotionally, the young girl’s world is turned upside down, when, by the middle of the novel, her mother reveals a secret, adding to the many impediments already afflicting her youthful mind. She is socially unaccepted. And, as a result, she is plagued with insurmountable phobias.
Beginning with an epigraph by WB Yeats, Philip makes Kamada set out on a mission to escape unbearable childhood memories and an equally intolerable present with the help of her imagination. Her true family in the novel is the one which is being constantly concocted by weaving the threads of her creativity. The novel is full of talking potholes, friendly cauliflowers, fork-fighting gremlins and singing cockroaches. Kamada’s way of lending voices to the fruits at vending stalls or her way of conjuring fantasy creatures everywhere highlights her desperation “to create a life on my own choosing and not one that was chosen for me.” The reiteration of her will to be “the hero of my life,” “the architect and author of my own life,” is a testament to the said desperation.
The piece de resistance of The Prostitute’s Daughter is Kamada’s ability to break free from life’s fetters with the help of her unique gift to “become Alice in Wonderland and go down (her) creative rabbit hole of thoughts.” Whenever in trouble, Kamada comes up with a new game. Essentially speaking, each game she fabricates is meant to bring Kamada closer to her dream and move a step further in the Carrollian game of chess. In this novel, be it the Stairgame or the Broken Telephone game, they take her a step further towards her dream. Her way of interweaving fantasy with reality in this manner eliminates the thin line between the two, which, in turn, makes it the task of the universe to fulfil Kamada’s long desired dream.
In real life, throughout her journey to the ‘safer’ world of the USA, Kamada’s only true friend is a multipurpose blue folder which she carries everywhere. The folder, “her constant companion,” shields her breasts from the imaginary chimpigogs and snakepigs, organises the clutter in her life, carries her plans to earn a degree in chemical engineering, and shields her phobias. The folder, too, lives Kamada’s dream. Hence, she grows stronger as a person because of the closeness she experiences with her blue folder.
Kamada also looks for actual friends in real life. She investigates the question, “What do I add to the friends’ circleIJ” Sadly, for her, the living friends she thinks she has are either imbued with absolute betrayal or tinged with fantastic elements which are meant to disappear in the near future. Simultaneously, this raises the question, whether Kamada will ever be able to make real-life friends after she restarts her life from the scratch in an alien countryIJ The last line of the novel underlines the mentioned concern. She writes, “I wonder how long it will take me to bury my phobias and stride toward success without clutching my blue folder.”
Encapsulated with roaring metaphors, Kamada’s voice transports the reader to the sights, sounds, and smells of the streets of Bombay. The reader gets to enjoy the bumpy rickshaw ride stuck in traffic while critically inspecting the roads of Bombay through Kamada’s eyes. They also get to taste the masala dosa with her. Her magical reverie creates an opportune moment for the reader to sharpen his senses and spot the world, which, in Yeats’s words, “is full of magic things”.
Kamada attracts the reader’s attention from the first line of the novel: “I am Kamada, the prostitute Tara’s daughter. I will be the hero of my life.” Her firm tone remains unaltered throughout the novel.
Her gripping narrative constitutes iteration of sentences like “I will taste victory”, “I will write my story with ... my heart and my soul”, and “my story will be a parable.” As a writer, Philip’s attempt to display the go-getter attitude through a 16-year-old girl succeeds in drawing the reader into following her in every difficult situation and be there for her as a pillar of support.
All those who love escapades, adventure, and have a penchant for fulfilling their idees fixes, will certainly find a doppelganger in Kamada Das.
The reviewer is a PhD Research Scholar in Comparative Indian literature in Delhi University