Gently Falls the Bakula

Gently Falls the Bakula, a story of an Indian female with a dilemma of her love for her much loved academic subject History; and the love of her life her husband. The story starts in a district of Karnataka where Shrikant Deshpande and Shrimati Deshpande, along with their classmates wait eagerly for the result of the Essay Competition in the School. The rivalry between their families were never a part of their concern however, Shrikant, supported by his friends always tried fruitlessly to beat Shrimati in studies. Shrimati on the other hand was never a part of the rat race and was keen on studying for the sake of acquiring more knowledge. While getting first rank was the priority for Shrikant, being knowledgeable was what Shrimati always aimed at. The result was as obviously the victory of Shrimati in the competition and her essay on Emperor Ashoka (one of her favorite heroes in history) was read out by their Professor in presence of everyone. Their families always fought over issues and their houses stood next to each other divided by a Bakula Tree in between. Over the time, Shrimati stood first in the district and Shrikant stood second. As her favorite subject was history she opted for Humanities section whereas Shrikant went ahead with science as per his preference, thereby ending their rivalry in studies in the same class. The story beautifully develops into a love affair between them in its purest form. While Shrikant went to study in IIT Bombay and studied there, Shrimati stays back in their town to pursue her Masters degree. Only mode of communication was through handwritten letter between accompanied by some Bakula flowers inside the envelopes.

The story takes a beautiful turn when the two get married inspite of the disagreements between their families. In laws where never supportive for her but she had always tried her best to be an ideal daughter in law to the family. Topped by the family confronts, their personal desires also started changing. The gradual transformation of both of them in terms of maturity, aspirations and drive to succeed in life changes their perspective of looking at things which as a result makes their married life fall like a castle of cards. The once intelligent and efficient Shrimati became nothing but a piece of furniture at home for Shrikant. Craving for the attention of her husband, Shrimati made couple of efforts to build up the broken relationship however, things never turned up accordingly. Sacrificing her own bright career which came with scholarship for her PhD from one of the famous historians, she chose to be with her beloved husband and be an ideal “Bhamati” (the historical character)  as referred to in the book.

This is the story of how the priorities changed for two people in love making them stay as strangers under the same roof. The story ends with their final decision that they take to live the rest of their lived with. The decision that was taken by Shrimati; and accepted helplessly by Shrikant. This is story of all the females in India who dream for their life and build up their destinies with a clear thinking. This is the story of the Shrimati’s hidden in our souls where we, the females, end up thinking more about the male counterpart over us and try to prove ourselves to their families, forgetting who we have actually been altogether. This is the story of how a girl being from a humble background, high values, and simple nature finally ends up choosing her real love in life, with whom she chooses to be with for the rest of her life.

Appreciations to respected Sudha Murthy for the vivid description of human natures although the pages for all the characters. The book also carries a lot of reference to the Indian History across different locations in the words of Shrimati as she communicates with Professor Collins and his daughter Dorothy. The striking difference between the aspirations of the people in different cities and towns of the World is also praiseworthy. The significance of Bakula tree in their lives also looks beautiful as the reader go through the pages. All in all an amazing read with an important lesson for all Indian women. Simple yet powerful is the word for the way of writing.