Book Review: The Scent of Pepper by Kavery Nambisan

Kavery Nambisan’s the Scent of Pepper is an unputdownable book that captures the essence of the Kodavas; a fierce, proud, martial race; owners of vast estates, the envy of the local feudal gentry. The exotic locale of coorg with its backdrop of hills, off the south-west coast of India is captivating.  Men and the women characters are, very real, regal and positives forces. Nambisan is a natural story teller, capturing our interest and imagination as she weaves magic with her words and description, “As the red blush in the west merged with the violet darkness, the lamps inside the house were lit. The festive sounds of kombu, kottu and dudi filled the house. Bride (Nanji) dropped a pinch of saffron rice into the copper pitcher at the doorway and bent down to touch his (Rao Bahadur) feet.”

Baliyanna of Kaleyanda family is a wealthy land owner and England-educated veterinary doctor. His education and employment keeps him humane and in touch with reality. Dignified and respectful of women and their identity, Baliyanna marries child widow Nanji to give her life. Nanji had been married off at thirteen and became a widow at fourteen.The thin-faced gir in a coarse white sari knotted over the right shoulder, captured Baliyanna’s interest and his heart.

The novel opens with the second marriage of seventeen year old widow Nanji to gallant Baliyanna. We watch through the mind and the eyes of Nanji as she enters as the bride of Baliyanna into the house of noble, Kaleyanda clan. Her task starts the next day as she starts to sort out the household and the lazy servants while the pampered Chambavva watches indulgently. Hard working Nanji accustomed to hard labour has the house, pantry, yard and the nook and crannies of the house spick and span in no time. She is the darling of the yeravvas, the tribal labourers as she toils with them and pampers them with food, medicine and care. She is the veritable cornucopia; the symbol of plenty. Under her care, the Kaleyanda fields, coffee plantation and orchards bloom. The river yields abundant fish. The pepper vines laden with pepper scent the yards. Even Nanji births many children with her trusted servant by her side and is briskly up and about the next day. Clara, wife of English planter Rupert from Coorg, is childless and marvels at Nanji, “Such a frail-looking creature and she had borne thirteen children, her skinny body was the site of so much achievement.”

Nanji is in fact the master of the house as she steers the fortunes of the Kaleyanda family into prosperity. Realizing her capability as a good manager of home and family, Baliyanna relaxes into the role of an equal partner. Though plain-looking, uneducated, and from a poor family, Nanji is unerring in her judgment, astute in business and practical in her approach to life and its problems. Of all the women characters Nanji is outstanding as a woman of strength, character and dignity.

Kavery Nambisan portrays women of four generations as assertive and independent. They are shown as empowered by progress and education. The first generation Chambavva, the mother-in-law, is kind, perceptive and resolute. She is a sort of a revolutionary. She allows her son to marry a widow. The second generation Nanji is strong-willed and independent. The third generation Mallige, her daughter-in-law is educated and sophisticated, and modern in her thinking. The fourth generation Neelu, the daughter of Mallige, though city-bred is partial towards her heritage. She comes back to the village after her education to better it.

The Kaleyand men have the disease of depression. The first one to slide into its lap is her father-in-law, Rao Bahadur. When he succumbs to it and takes his own life, Chambavva, who had never done a day’s work in her life, goes away to stay in the Crystal Palace, the house of the widows. The women had lived their lives, their needs buried under the larger needs of the family. Now, the house echoed with the childish glee of the women who had learnt to live there unafraid. Nanji takes the death of her children, her father-in-law, the depression of her husband and all the miseries of her life, in her stride. Even when her son Subbu is born lame, she perseveres in her own treatment and affects a cure. When Baliyanna loses the will to live, Nanji never gives up hope. The ancestors show her the way as always. Nanji chose to believe, sorrow wasn’t permanent unless you made it so. She defends herself from all negativities with her iron will and relies on herself to live honourably.

Nanji is not a paragon of virtue. She is human after all. Nambisan has created well rounded  characters, with their strengths and frailities. Nanji has excellent relationship with her mother-in-law Chambavva but as a mother-in-law herself, she disdains her daughter-in-law Mallige as her sweetness and serenity is a constant irritant to her. She had great contempt for Mallige’s natural daintiness and delicacy of manner. Only Nanji saw her as an incompetent housewife and grumbled at the useless embroidered stuff, lace and sweaters that Mallige produced. That could be one of the reasons Mallige eventually chooses to settle down in the city for a long distance marriage. 

The story takes us through the backdrop of British rule, Gandhiji’s freedom movement, Subbu joining the army, Baliyanna’s death, birth of Subbu’s daughter and son, Mallige relocating to the city and Subbu returning to claim his place in the land of his ancestors. Mother and son live their life of gentle, unhurried existence with the love of the land pulsating in their veins and uniting them in thought. The way Subbu cares for his mother, like his own child is very touching. Nambisan knows how to plumb the depth of feelings through a few well rounded words, “Subbu was not in a hurry to cremate his mother. He followed her like a shadow, helped her out of bed and into it. (In the evenings) he would talk about old times and the present, and Nanji would listen without hearing. It got easier all the time because their thoughts had begun to flow in one unending stream.”

Regal, rural, homemaker Nanji carves out an identity for self from her harsh life in a coffee estate. Even when old and infirm, people come to have a glimpse of the formidable Kaliyanda matron seated next to the window fronting the road.There is a kind of timelessness in Nambisan’s story telling. The novel ends on a note of hope and reassurance as educated, self-possessed Neelu who is the archetype of Nanji comes back to the village as a symbol of hope, of progress, of regeneration and rejuvenation.