Madhurima

Words Awaiting Another Voice Madhurima

Words awaiting another voice tells the story of Sneha, the aspiring writer's 'enigma of self' when her beautiful world of dreams comes crashing down with all sorts of rejection-slips as she encounters some of the harsh realities of our consumerist, self-centered culture and society. The narrative is marked by a writerly stream of consciousness-technique, metafictional and intertextual tropes which rip apart the hypocritical and attractive façade of our society. Ironically enough, Sneha is advised to strategise her way to success. In other words, the novel aesthetically offers a criticism of our present times where, in place of 'self-realisation' and 'self-recognition' the relentless and shameless 'self-promotion' is offered as the goal of life in this media-mediated, lit-fest-infested world. The novel also foregrounds Sneha's firm belief in the 'shabda-shakti' or the power of the word. Expressing oneself through written word can give one a tremendous and unimaginable sense of power. Throughout the narrative, the intertextual and contextual appearances of the episodes from Sneha's first (unpublished) novel Chameleon add interesting dimensions as it finally allows Sneha's voice to find space and freedom to reach a wider audience...