Very rarely do we come across Novels that make us realize the true beauty of a woman. Ms. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni introduces us with a lovely woman who has troubles in choosing her love or abiding by the duties that she has undertaken. A woman has many roles to play, but letting her heart rule over her mind or making her mind make decisions on her man, is what this story revolves around. Love often is misinterpreted as lust but here, the usage of the ‘mistress’ is purely to express the emotions of a woman to her art. Chitra expresses her very realistic approach regarding the woman of substance with the instance of Tilo, an Indian woman, bestowed with supernatural powers and the right knowledge of spices by and old lady. Tilo runs a Grocery store in another land and provides her customers with remedies for their woes with the help of spices. Just the way spices add taste to the food she believes the character of a person is related to each of the spices in her store. Curing the homesickness of the families staying away from home in an alien land she finds herself in a predicament when she falls in Love with a Man from the foreign land. She has to make her choice in choosing her lover or her love for the spices and her duties. The novel revolves around how Tilo manages to make her decision and satisfy the urge of romance in her life without letting the loyalties she owes to her profession and also to the faith through which she was imparted with the magical powers. In this fictitious story about an Indian in modern day Oakland, the author bridges the distance between the heart of a sensuous woman and the mind of a giver to her art. With the correct blend of sensuality, desires and horror, Chitra reveals the true Mistress of Spices!
2 comments:
havent seen movie yet but your post says that I have to watch that movie now.
akshy shali: havent seen the movie, nor read the novel, only thing i know is that ash lookes stunning in the red sari..well coming back to the topic, and waht i cud make out from the post is that as a mistress is ruled by her boss and has to do things according to the boss, it seems that the wrd mistress here is to signify that the lady is a mistress of her very own spices, where she has to be loyal to her spices, do things that please her spices and the magical powers and not thing abt her own feelings..that is why she is the mistress of spices.. i think that is the jist of the novel..so i think i dont want to read the novel now..what do u say miss manalee..chow to all
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