Ekta | wisdomekta

  “Yes, my dear Noora, and then, as you say, God is a river! All religions are like rivers, and they flow to the same sea.” The River That Remembers is yet another gem from amazing writer Mona Verma. This is my third read from the writer after Daivya Sutras and Lost and Found in Banaras . The book binds the lives of Yashveer, Mahua, Devika, Amy, Emma, and Noor against the backdrop of India’s struggle for freedom from the British Raj, culminating in the Partition of India in 1947. The story tactfully yet emotionally shows how history enters ordinary homes and changes everything. It is a novel about love, faith, family, loss, and the memories that remain long after violence has passed. At the heart of the novel is Mahua from Ghakkar Mandi, now eighty years old, frail, and drifting between past and present. Through her fading memories, the story slowly unfolds, revealing the emotional lives of those around her.  What stands out most for me after reading novel is - The painful t...

  On the eve of Women’s Day, as I turned the last page of my second read (1st-  Daivya Sutras  ) from the author Mona Verma, my heart ached for the girls and women who had to endure the piercing pain of being tagged as “manhus” as they become child widows trapped in a fate they never chose. Yet, alongside this sorrow, another feeling of pride rose for those who dared to resist. For the women who questioned, who spoke, who broke, who walked away from the suffocating grip of this cruel tradition. For the ones who took the first trembling step so that others could one day run. The story is begins with the three-year-old Brinda is widowed after being married for a few hours, her family refuses to take her back in. Deemed ‘munhoos’, she finds her way to Nirmala Ashram in Banaras where she leads a life of child widow under the watchful eye of Vasanti Bua and her friend, Debi. It is also a tale of a promise kept by the brother of Brinda, Jhulan. The story begins with a flood, a...