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Without Prejudice – Epic Tale Of A Mumbai Bar Dancer

Without Prejudice – Epic Tale of a Mumbai Bar Dancer

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  Without Prejudice –  Epic Tale of a Mumbai Bar Dancer    Sagarika Dash   Devasis Without Prejudice: Epic Tale of a Mumbai Bar Dancer   Novel New Delhi: Niyogi Books. 2017 ISBN 978-93-85285-65-3 Pp 313 | 450 A harlot who is smart and ethical   “Unless the lions have their historians, the tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter”    –  is an African proverb that can appositely be applied with the life of Pallavi, the central character of Without    Prejudice . The novel accounts the journey of a little wide-eyed country girl Munnia from the wild ravine of Chambal towards Pallavi, an intelligent, witty, smart and charming star dancer of the Magnet bar of Mumbai. The author Devasis has very beautifully penned down the minute details of rigor which he put to make his brain child (this novel) see the light of the world. The story of Without Prejudice  unveils in a rural area of Chambal where people earn their livelihood collecting firewood from the jungle and selling them in market. Unlike other countryside areas earning livelihood in, Chambal is not as common as the readers get an impression in the first chapter. As a source of income people give their daughters to wealthy zamindars to serve as their concubines and in return they get some incentives. In that community, the birth of a girl is celebrated because that girl becomes the breadwinner for the family. People of the clan consider it as their moral responsibility to give their daughters to the society and force them to lead a wretched life. “In our biradari we give them away to the society. This is our tradition, our pride” (20).  The novel talks about a tradition bound society where the destiny of the villagers is controlled by a quasi-judicial body known as Khap Panchayat  . It is a union of many villages active mainly in North India and some parts of Western and Central India. While narrating about the tradition of the Khap  the author reveals the power structure that operates there. None from the clan is allowed to meet with the leader of the Khap  without prior appointment. If anyone attempts to do so it is considered as the violation of the power structure. The novel brings into picture some historical facts that operate behind creating a vicious tradition of women trafficking in the Khap . The inception of such a tradition dates back to the last decades of the 19 th  century when the colonial rulers implemented The Criminal Tribes Act  in 1871 and banned the males of some north Indian regions to get employed considering them as ‘born criminals’. The male members became lazy due to long period of unemployment and thus did not wish to work even after the Independence. This forced the females to accept concubinage. “The caste panchayats and the male members saw their ec onomic prosperity in the process. That they were debarred from working for nearly seventy years under British had made them totally lazy, while their women earned for them” (198).  In the case of women trafficking, the leaders of the Khap  used to play a major role. They were not only to solve the internal matters of the Khap  but also engaged in their hereditary profession of women trafficking in their own community. Not only men but some women were also involved in this act to provide proper training to teenage girls so that they grow as charming and witty women to entice their customers. About the grooming process of the central character Munnia alias Pallavi, the author says, “From an innocent teenager she was cautiously and consciously trained to become a focused, materialistic, opportunistic, calculative, yet graceful concubine in a couple of years” (29). Apart from giving a detailed account of training which the young and innocent girls go through to become professional concubines, the novel also makes use of some colloquial languages which is generally used by harlots. During the training process no one ever tries to understand the predicament of a girl. Pallavi although a bar dancer had never allowed herself to go astray from the path of virtue to beco me anyone’s bedmate, except for a few occasions when she was young and was driven by her trainer Madhuri. She not only grows up in years but shows her moral growth too. Through the character of Pallavi the author tries to make the readers aware that the bar dancers are also human beings and not play objects. Pallavi is presented as an assertive woman when she keeps her point before Roy (a journalist turned Pallavi’s friend) regarding the bar and its dancers. “… no one can dishonor us without our consent. As  far as the place being dishonourable, that’s purely a matter of perception” (111).  As the novel progresses Pallavi emerges as a new woman to set example for other women like her. Motivated by Rajkumar’s (a fatherly figure in Pallavi’s life) noble advice and suggestions she decides to defy the age old tradition of her clan and settle down in life. In the words of Rajkumar, “Pallavi has become serious about leaving the age -old practice. She has decided to defy her biradari elders and norms. What an achievem ent that would be for that girl” (127). Pallavi knows that stepping into the bar as a dancer may be easy but getting out of it is a herculean task. She also knows what her past has given her and considers, “Whatever had happened before had happened because we were powerless and too young to understand. It is time to make our own choices now” (135).  The novel while pictures the scenario of the bar and its ambience, it also talks of the generous behavior of the waiters towards their customers. It provides a glimpse of how the waiters speak in broken English and present themselves as the guardian angels for the novice customers so that they can pocket a handsome amount as a tip. This book is divided into many chapters beginning with Munnia’s attainment of pub erty to her entrance into the bar as a dancer who had been kept under the garb of a mujrawali   and again her transformation towards leading a respectable life in the society. All chapters are broadly divided into three parts viz. Initiation, Impression and Inclusion –  narrating the three turning points of her life. The magical power of this novel holds the attention of readers so that none can leave the novel unfinished. The employment of some regional languages (Hindi, Marathi) makes the reader feel at home and understand every bit of feelings which the author wants to convey through his characters. It combines fact with fiction, and reality with imagination. Above all the wonderful narration of Devasis forces the readers to relish the story to its fullest. The cover page of the novel raises various questions regarding the ownership of a woman’s body and the social institutions that create and impose rules on women in the name of tradition. When a reader proceeds towards the final chapter of the novel, all these questions are resolved. A voyage through Pallavi’s life gives an impression that nothing is impossible for  a woman when she is determined. Pallavi is not a rebel like her mother Munni Bai or Neelam who have undergone the consequence of going against the tradition. Pallavi stays in a filthy environment, yet she blooms like a lotus. She is devoted towards her job as a dancer, her duty as a daughter towards her uncle Mangiram and aunty, and her duty as a responsible citizen by paying her income tax in time. While presenting the role of tradition in the life of women the author also talks about the penalty which a woman pays in defying the codes of her community. In the chapter ‘Neelam’s Story’ the author talks about a penalty paid by Neelam and her famil y when she got married denouncing their age old tradition of harlotry. Devasis through this novel has dared to bring into discussion a topic which is considered as a taboo in the society and is surrounded with prejudice. If at all anyone talks of it that is in a very hushed tone. His noble attempt of removing the prejudices from among people by revealing the condition that forces women to join bars as dancers and be victims of people’s lust is praiseworthy. It was very hard to believe that the repercussion of the socio-economic and political conditions of India had been so menacing for women. Without Prejudice tells the untold tale of a Mumbai bar dancer. Although the author takes a character Pallavi to bring her untold and unheard story to the forefront, it can aptly be crystallized in the life of other bar dancers in general who not by choice but by chance have stepped into that dazzling world and become preys of many lusty eyes.