The Selector of Souls (69 page)

“Justice can also happen, Vikas.”

“Ha! Three years ago we exterminated thousands of Muslims and all that happened was inquiry after inquiry. Each time our money and connections move us closer and closer to the magic word. Power. Power suit, power lunch, power drink. Total Power!

“And we will come to power again, because those who go to the polls worship Mother India and don’t read English. Majority rules, darling, the majority Hindu community!” He winces, and all of a sudden has run out of energy. He lies back on the pillow, his face grey.

He must be very tired, his whole body must be hurting. How pathetic he looks with his leg suspended, and one arm in a cast. Her gaze drops to the syringe, to her hand holding the syringe. “In a few minutes, the great Prince Vikas might turn into a frog. Or come back as a woman,” she says.

“Bloody rubbish.” Vikas strains to sit up, to get at her, as monitors of his vital signs arc and flash all around. “Touch a hair on my head, and you’ll be in trouble.”

“Sometimes,” Anu says, “people in intensive care can become paralyzed after accidents. Some fall into a state of coma for long periods. It’s a strange feeling, Vikas, like going back to a time before birth. You’ll be unable to lift a finger. You’ll be dependent on the kindness of nurses, as you were dependent on the health and kindness of your mother. Would it be better for you to die than to live?”

True fear, the kind Anu felt every day for nine years, dawns on Vikas’ face.

“Help!” he yells.

Everyone will hear. But most will feel it’s Nurse Anu’s dharma to answer.

She turns her cheek. The one with the faded scar, in which sensation is not the same as in the other. She could be considering his plea, she could be steeling herself against him.

The needle in her hand approaches Vikas’s skin. Her gaze rises for a moment—outside, the sun is lifting off into incandescence. The wisdom of the universe vibrates around her.

Demographers estimate that 45 million baby girls were missing in India in the nineties, and 42.4 million from 2001-2008 as a result of prenatal selection. Worldwide, 160 million girls are estimated missing since the 1970s. Those missing girls inspired this novel. Some characters began from
A Pair of Ears
, a short story included in
English Lessons and Other Stories
(Goose Lane, 1996). Readers of
What the Body Remembers
(Knopf Canada, 1999) will recognize Mem-saab as Roop, Sardar-saab as Sardar-ji.

In the US, I am obliged to Dr. Melita Beise, Ron Cesar, Jim Ptacek, Dr. Catharine Malloy and Hari Iyer who gave of their time for interviews. Judy Bridges gave me friendship and working space at Redbird Studios. I appreciated the comments of fellow novelists of the Redbird Writer’s Group led by Elaine Bergstrom (pen name Marie Kiraly). I thank members of SAWNET, the South Asian Women’s listserv for wide-ranging opinions on issues of contraception, abortion, motherhood and fertility. I am very grateful to Indira and Jit Singh Pasrich for their generous hospitality and a writer’s studio in 2008. The Ragdale Foundation awarded me fellowships in 2009 and 2010. I appreciate Susan Tillet, Regin Igloria and the many writers and artists I met during my residencies, for their deep respect for the creative spirit. My greatest debt is to my husband, David Baldwin, whose love, patience and humour over seven years helped me bring this book alive.

In India, Dhanshri Brahme of the UNFPA, social worker Sandhya Gautam, Sister Monica Joseph and the sisters of Jesus and Mary, the sisters of Loreto Convent Delhi, Mrs. Janet Chawla of Matrika, Dr. Sharad Iyengar and Dr. Kirti Iyengar, founders of Action Research and Training in Health, and Firoza Mehrotra of UNIFEM contributed time, ideas, expertise and concern. Dr. Kimberley Chawla of East West Medical Centre scoured Indian newspapers daily for articles that would help me, reviewed several sections of the novel and provided invaluable medical expertise. Any errors thereafter are my responsibility. For warm hospitality, intense discussion on development issues, and the experience of the hills, I thank Aloka and V.K. Madhavan of the Central Himalayan Rural Action Group (
Chirag.org
) in the Kumaon hills, and Subhash Mendhapurkar of Social Uplift Through Rural Action (
Sutra.org.in
) in Jagjitnagar. Conversations with a man of huge spirit and courage, Father Cedric Prakash of Prashant, ranged from issues of fundamentalism and caste to Indian Christianity. I am deeply obliged to Tejinder Singh for his generous hospitality in Shimla, and expeditions to Karsog and Kotgarh. These places contributed, along with Kumaon, to the creation of Gurkot and Jalawaaz. Warm acknowledgement to traditional healer Bhagirathi Devi and her family for a homestay in Sunkiya, India.

Madhu Kishwar’s writings in
Manushi
inspired Anamika Devi’s ten-armed form. I owe the pink poster image to artist Nivedita Jadhav of the Asmita Collective. I am indebted to the late film critic Amita Malik for many discussions over the years on the subject of motherhood, creativity and their relationship to a woman’s self-respect.

In Canada, my gratitude to Brian Brett for his urging to explore paradoxes, and bring more balance to the narrative. Thank you to Satwinder and Parm Bains for most gracious hospitality in Vancouver, and Cindy Birks Rinaldi for her love and steadfast encouragement. Grants from the Canada Council provided a vote of confidence and capital infusion for research exactly when I needed it.

My first readers David Baldwin, Jaya Bhattacharji Rose, Laurel Boone, Judy Bridges and Ena Singh provided valuable suggestions and corrections. They may disagree with opinions expressed in this novel.

I am grateful to my insightful and probing editor and publisher Anne Collins, at Knopf Random Canada, for taking the characters to her heart and sharing my vision. Many thanks to Angelika Glover for her diligent and careful copyediting, and to the managing editor, Deirdre Molina, and to vice president, creative director, Scott Richardson, for designing this book.

My agent Samantha Haywood marketed
The Selector of Souls
, and offered guidance, support and enthusiasm. David Bennett, Meghan Macdonald and the rest of the team at Transatlantic Literary Agency supported her efforts. Attorney Marian Hebb has watched out for me since 1998.

Readers familiar with the works of Madhu Kishwar, Margaret Abraham, Patricia and Roger Jeffrey, and Amartya Sen, will recognize background reading. I am indebted to Rabindranath Tagore’s diaries (1932) for the airplane metaphor for two-dimensional detachment ethics.

Among the many books and magazines I consulted, I recommend: the online archives of
The Economic and Political Weekly of India; Myths, Rituals and Beliefs in Himachal Pradesh
by M.R. Thakur;
The Power Behind the Shame
edited by Janet Chawla;
Divine Enterprise
by Lisa McKean;
The Body Hunters
by Sonia Shah;
New Nukes
:
India, Pakistan and Global Nuclear Disarmament
by Praful Bidwai and Achin Vanaik;
Weapons of Peace
, by Raj Chengappa;
Guru English
by Srinivas Aramundan and Anupam Rao’s
The Caste Question
. For global histories of sex selection, I recommend
Fatal Misconception
by Matthew Connelly;
Unnatural Selection
by Mara Hvistendahl; and
The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future of the World
by Michelle Goldberg.

“Chhoti si Aasha” was written by P. K. Mishra. “Zindagi Aur Kuch bhi Nahin” was written by Lakshmikant Pyarelal. Ramesh Menon’s translation from Canto II/16-21 of the
Bhagvad Gita
is used by permission of Rupa Publications. The quote from
Song of Krishna
(5) by Viswantha Satyanarayana translated by Velcheru Rao is reprinted by permission of the University of Wisconsin Press. A more extensive bibliography is available at
www.ShaunaSinghBaldwin.com
.

S
HAUNA
S
INGH
B
ALDWIN
was born in Montreal and grew up in India.
The Tiger Claw
, her second novel, was a finalist for the Giller Prize in 2004 and is forthcoming as a film. Her first,
What the Body Remembers
, was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction and was awarded the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for Best Book (Canada and Caribbean region). It has been translated into fourteen languages. She is also the author of
English Lessons and Other Stories
, the collection
We Are Not in Pakistan
and co-author of
A Foreign Visitor’s Survival Guide to America
. Her short stories have won literary awards in the United States, Canada and India. She holds an MFA from Marquette University in Milwaukee, where she currently lives with her husband.