The author, Bapsi Sidhwa, is one of the prominent English fiction writers of Pakistan, a Parsi, born in Karachi , brought up in Lahore and now lives in Houston, Texas. She is an internationally acclaimed , award winning writer of 4 novels. Her books have been published in ten countries and has been translated into several languages.
Sidhwa’s novel “WATER” is based on the script of Deepa Mehta’s film “water”. The book narrates a very touching story of a 8 year old child widow ! The child widow , Chuyia, was abandoned by her parents at a widow’s ashram in Benaras after her 50 year old husband died. Little Chuyia is expected to live the rest of her life in the ashram in penitence.
The story is set in a village on the Bihar-Bengal border in India in the year 1936-38 . The author beautifully narrates the Indian village life and the child marriage prevailing at that time. Also throw light to the very pathetic and poor living conditions of widows in colonial India. This book also explains Mahatma Gandhi’s influence on people and his rise to power.
The picturisation by Deepa Mehta is equally good. You will never forget the child artist Sarala, who played the child widow Chuyia. All other actors like Seema Biswas , Lisa Ray , John Abraham , Shabana Azmi etc..paled their roles very well . It indeed is a haunting story of love , faith and courage.
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