Tyanantar: Thereafter

Tyanantar is a story of an ordinary woman whose husband suddenly leaves her and goes away on his own quest of the meaning of life. Completely unprepared for this, the woman is at first stunned but gradually comes to accept his decision and her own isolation and loneliness. In the process she learns to live her life on her own terms. This journey teaches her to be independent and humane.

The woman learns to recognize the meaning of human relationships. Her own relationships - with her friends, her family members and her own son - are put to an acute scrutiny. She realizes how fickle, middle class sensibility and values are and she exposes the sham of people around her who consider family a sacrosanct institution and duty as a vocation of a married woman. They judge every woman in terms of her faithfulness to her husband and her devotion to the role of a wife and a devoted mother that tradition has carved out for her. The woman refuses to be a prisoner of these straightjackets, learns the values of truth and honour, abandons the fakeness of her previous beliefs and becomes more humane and understanding. She develops a new awareness of her own body as well and emerges as a mature adult who has learnt to live life on her own terms.

Sanya, Writer and literary critic, Maya Pandit, Professor and Dean, English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad

Saniya had worked with Hindustan Lever and Voltas briefly. Currently, she is engaged with copywriting and translation and has been involved in social work as a counsellor and trainer.

Maya Pandit (translator) is a Professor at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, and is involved in teacher development projects. She is an activist in the women’s movement in Maharashtra and has translated writing by women, including dalit women’s autobiographies, as well as the writings of radical Maharashtrian intellectuals like Jyotiba Phule into English.