The Plight of a Mother by Phidalia Toi

Phidalia Toi has become a well-known author with many titles under her name. She is known for her political review in five volumes on Narendra Modi’s government – Marathon Race to Acche Din. However, she has also written many other books – novels and poems as well as a memoir – The Plight of a Mother. Today, I will be reviewing her memoir The Plight of a Mother. This book is inspired by the difficult days that Phidalia had to undergo when her daughter Laleleki was diagnosed with cancer.

A mother is made of sacrifices and devotion. The title makes it very clear that it’s about the pains that a mother takes for her children. This is no different. It documents the journey of Laleleki and Phidalia – the daughter-mother duo. It begins in 2006 when the daughter is diagnosed with cancer. It’s like a heartbreak! It goes on up to the fourth and the last cycle of Chemotherapy in 2007 and ends pleasantly with a photo of Laleleki speaking in 2009 in the fresher’s welcome in her college, Delhi.

The writing is purely sentimental and full of emotions. It had to be. It’s just about a mother doing her best for her daughter who was suffering from cancer. There are many other things involved in the book – the financial issues, the emotional support, the physical discomfort, the mother’s acknowledgement that she was giving more time to her daughter with illness compared to other children and so on…

The presence of an invisible force we know by many names is also felt in the book as the chapters begin with Biblical lines at the top. Each of the quotations from the Bible does relate to the contents of the chapter.

The language that Phidalia has used is simple. The English, as well as the Marathi editions of the book, are very comfortable for the readers to go through and understand the message clearly. The book is as it was meant to be. However, this book might find its audience limited to women, mothers and maybe emotional people who like to read true accounts of people who have undergone suffering and come out of it with resolve and courage. For the young generation that loves reading books with a lot of happening and fast pace, this book might be disinteresting because it’s limited to one constant subject – the illness and the fight against it.

The readers who are interested in reading Phidalia’s account can get a copy of this book in their chosen language from Amazon India:

Buy the English Edition – click here
Buy the Marathi Edition – click here

review by Mukesh for Book Reviews lab