Sister of my Heart is not a new book. It has been in the market for nearly 25 years. It found me recently though and I just finished reading it. It is a story of two girls, born and raised in a home replete with splendour and legacy, raised by three women; tied by a common tragedy. As the girls, Anju and Sudha grow up, their lives ebb and flow, sometimes together, sometimes away from each other. The writing though, slowly covers your heart with a warm blanket.
As I read the story, I felt like someone finally ‘saw me’. As if someone saw me in moments when I thought I had wrapped up my emotions. This skill that Chitra has as a writer is what I’m always floored by.
I was filled with gratitude that I existed in a time matrix where she is. If I had read these books in a different time and generation, I would have yearned for the opportunity to speak to the person who used words so wonderfully. Chitra’s writing heals, her words inspire, her thoughts transcend the physical boundaries of what we see.
I hope that many more readers find what I found between the pages; a deep joy, an overwhelming sadness, a hiraeth of sorts. And the feeling that someone is bearing witness to emotions that others feel and stringing them so intricately together.
As a writer, Chitra has some beautiful gems embedded throughout the book. After years of separation, when Anju and Sudha meet:
‘But when I see Sudha, her face bright with a simple, generous joy, the walls I'd set up so carefully collapse around me like a house of cards. Inside my heart it feels like a wet, new rain. In spite of all my insecurities, in spite of the oceans that'll be between us soon and the men that are between us already, I can never stop loving Sudha. It's my habit, and it's my fate.’
Read ‘Sister of my Heart’ to feel the brush of some familiar emotions and to explore some raw, unexpected ones too. Experience the circle of life of two girls, through birth, adulthood, marriage, parenthood, all studded with dreams, love and loss. Allow yourself to weep with the characters, and they will share the love with you when the time comes.
Like all her other novels, this one makes the reader forget the lines between fact and fiction. Truly another masterpiece by a brilliant storyteller. I’m glad I found it, albeit a few decades later.