William and Matilda

Georgette Heyer is my favourite author. Its the characters she defines, set against the Regency Period (usually) - the bold, benevolent, evergreen, dashing men, and the women - I want to be like each one of them..

William the Conqueror, though is not quite like the other books I've read by her. It is set in 11th century Europe. William the Bastard as he was popularly known then was the Duke of Normandy. He eventually conquered England in a very unlikely battle against Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo-Saxon King, becoming the first Norman King of England. Well he was one hell of a man.. An illegitimate child, who grew up to be fearless, ruthless, known for his sudden aggressive behaviour.

Matilda of Flanders was the woman William set his heart upon. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, she was England's smallest queen, with a height of 4'2" ..!

She was known to be a beautiful, aloof, cold bitch. Nobody spurned William the Bastard when he proposed for marriage. She did. She insulted and humiliated him instead.
William responded in a very unconventional way to the lady he desired. He barged into her chambers at her father's palace, dragged her by her hair and flogged her in front of her maid servants.

Matilda couldn't resist such a man even though the bruises hurt her for months. She accepted his proposal when asked the second time, soon after the beating.
In truth, she had always been equally attracted to him, she just wanted to see how crazy he'd go, to what extreme end..just to have her.

Women have always been devious it seems.
They made a great couple, were always passionately in love. He is supposed to have remained faithful to her all his life - which is 'wow' considering that time period. She bore him 11 children - some stamina in the woman!

Though the book chronicles William's life, battles and conquests (Matilda being one too), the chapter on his violent way of wooing stood out. I do hope no man tries it out now though - they might not get quite the same reaction.

Panchaali

Also popularly known as Draupadi, daughter of king Drupad, sister of Dhrishtadyumn, wife of the five Pandavs and good friend of Krishna, she is seen by many as the cause of the Mahabharat. Given the name Krishnaa by Krishna himself, she was raised in the manner of a princess in a fortress of a cold, stone palace with little enjoyment or play. She was played into having a swayamvar (a wedding ceremoney wherein the bride has her pick out of many prospective bridegrooms), which wasn't as simple or innocent as it sounded.


The book, The Palace of Illusions, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is as fresh in my mind now as it was a month back when I read it. It is the Mahabharat from Draupadi's point of view and it is a brilliant read.

There is no denying that women all over the world have influenced, mainly from behind the scenes, the changing scene of politics.
Draupadi, also named Panchaali (after her father's kingdom, Panchaal) took this influence to another level altogether. She was the driving force behind the vengeful attack of her husbands' army on that of the Kauravs. I hope you people know the story about the enmity of Kauravs and Pandavs, their fathers Dhritrastra and Pandu respectively. All of it to win the seat of power, the throne at Hastinapur.

And what drove her vengeance is only too well known - her humiliation at the court of King Dhritrashtra by the Kauravs. Her fury led her to utter a curse and an oath. The curse was for the men of the Kaurav clan. She told him that their women would cry harder than she had that day, on their dead bodies.
And she vowed that she wouldn't comb her hair till they were washed in Kaurav blood. And she didn't.. for 14 years.

There was more to this woman than just blind desire for revenge. Although she was married to five men (against her original wishes), she loved yet another - Karna, but had to hide her feelings throughout her life.

Now Karna WAS extremely lovable. Too handsome, too talented, too sincere, too loyal and too tragic. He was the son of Surya, the Sun God. But his whole life was a succession of one big tragedy after another.
Only a day before his death does she get to know that he had loved her back all those years (a few decades).

The book's name, The Palace of Illusions refers to Draupadi's own palace made of glass, water, air and magic by a Rakshasa. It was famous for its beauty, tricks and illusions. It was infamous for Duryodhan's fall into a pond that he couldn't see which implicated Draupadi and made him hate her.

Unbelievable, unnatural events abound in the book, right before or after the most believable and common daily happenings.
The original Mahabharat was written by Vyasa, an ugly, intimidating but wise sage, who himself plays a smallish role in the story, in 400 B.C.

I have always seen the Mahabharat as a sad story, with an ending which doesn't give you much satisfaction. Well they all die in the end.
Panchaali dies alone; her husbands leave her behind in a final honor and duty-bound act. All thanks to the eldest brother of the five - Yudhishtir. The epitome of morality himself. I somehow can't bring myself to admire that trait. Not if that makes you leave your spouse behind when s/he is dying.

There is an interesting, somewhat infuriating anecdote about Vyasa. But that I'll share some other time.

Sense and Sensibility

By Jane Austen of course. She was perhaps herself like Mrs. Jennings, (a character in the book), good naturedly nosy, loved prying into others' social and love lives, loved hooking people up.

Now Mrs. Jennings is not the protagonist, she is just a pleasantly animated sidekick. The main characters are two sisters - Elinor and Marianne. For those who have read the book, I'd like to tell them that I am somewhere midway between those two characters.

Marianne (younger) is quick of emotion, extreme in expression, indifferent to social protocols when it doesn't quite suit her.
Elinor is much more stable, calm and collected. She can't help being a people-pleaser most of the time.

So I've read better classics, and this is not the best by Jane Austen either. But this lady's insight into people's minds, what causes them to be what they are is surprising. Can a Mrs. Jennings type of person see so clearly into people? And still be so dedicated to their social cause and status?

Because I always thought, the more you know people, the farther away you'd like to be from them.