Between Birth and Goodbye: A Mother’s Tale in Two and a Half Story
What would it be like to give birth to a child and it being taken away from you? What would it be like to feel a mother’s heart wrench when a baby is aborted? How would these events shape you, change you? This is a story about three women and their complex journeys. Each woman is either lost, orphaned or adopted or all three at the same time. The lives of these three women take us on a journey of the complex nature of mother-daughter relationship within the larger expectations of the society - being a woman and a mother.
“Two and a Half Story” is a powerful and emotionally resonant exploration of motherhood, memory, and societal expectation through the eyes of three women. The narrative centers on deeply intimate experiences: the heartbreak of giving birth only to have a child taken away, the crushing pain of a late-term abortion, and the silent yearnings of orphanhood and adoption. The fragmented lives of these women interweave to reveal how losing a child or never having one reshapes identity, challenges norms, and redefines what it means to be a woman in today’s world.
Anagha Paranjape Purohit’s writing likely balances tenderness with realism and explores the core of maternal heartache and the enduring bonds between mothers and daughters. This story prompts readers to ask: if our society judged less and empathized more, how might these women tell different stories?
We recently had a conversation with author Anagha Paranjape Purohit about ‘Two and Half Story’, and here we reveal our curiosity.
What sparked your decision to weave together the three women’s journeys—mother who lost her child at birth, the mother who experienced an abortion, and the daughter orphaned/adopted?
I had a chance to work with an orphanage in Pune, way back in 2004-05 and experienced the joys of adoption when a couple adopted a baby. The family was getting complete, and the baby was getting a secure and loving home. But this happy event led me to think that there is an unbearable grief that is at the back of this happy moment – of a child being relinquished by some young mother because our society does not accept unwed mothers or children born out of wedlock. That got me thinking of what ‘that mother’s’ voice is? Where is her voice, her point of view? Or should we cast her off as a “villain” who gave up on her child? This thinking led me to write Noor – a young unwed mother. I tried to imagine her background, her poverty, her compulsions and her choices that ultimately led to the abandonment of her baby.
Noor’s story could not be told without her counterpart – Megha. Another woman, educated, with a middle-class upbringing who becomes pregnant and decides to abort her child. The stigma of society would not have allowed such a child to be brought up. And the story of the two women Noor and Megha could only be complete with the story of Nisha – the daughter; the abandoned one, the aborted one, the adopted one! That’s how the story comes together – Two full stories of Noor and Megha and half a story of Nisha who is yet young and will continue to live her life, making her own choices.
How did you choose the narrative voices or order—did their stories emerge organically, or was there a deliberate craftsmanship in the layering of trauma and healing?
Noor’s story had to come at the beginning because that’s where the circle of choices and their consequences begin for Megha and Nisha. Yet, I didn’t want the linearity of the story to jump from one character to the next. So, the back and forth of memories of Noor and Megha are woven together, transitioning between the past and the present. The past reminisces give reference to the present day choices and compulsions – a grey area where we all live in and make our life choices. We often think that we are free to make these choices, but often forget that decisions/choices have been made for us. This is the murkiness of life that I wanted to bring out in Noor’s and Megha’s stories. How our past shapes our present and future.
Feminine identity and motherhood are intensely social constructs. How did you explore societal pressure on each woman, and did writing the book deepen your own understanding of these norms?
Yes. As I wrote Noor and Megha, I lived their imagined lives like my own. While Megha’s middle-class background was somewhat easier, Noor’s poverty-stricken life was difficult to visualise. My work with slum redevelopment projects as an architect helped me. I had visited the slums often to know how people – women, stay in close, cramped quarters and how that space also shapes their destinies to a large extent. While the stories question the norms of society, the book is also meant to recognise the boundaries of your self. Because without boundaries, there will be chaos.
How does each woman’s grief shape her identity over time? Is grief a burden, a compass, or both?
Grief is a burden, most certainly. But is it being used as a compass – a directive that can make the future easier? Noor’s rebellion is beaten into submission by the consequences of losing her baby, while Megha’s life becomes more and more insecure, even though her adopted child is bringing love into her life. Nisha, in her twenties, shows the maturity and depth of a forty-year-old, even though she was possibly abandoned and now adopted. So, various perspectives are explored through these three women on how they cope with grief and think about their choices.
Despite the trauma, is hope threaded through the narrative? What do you hope readers carry away about love, loss, and resilience?
I didn’t refrain from writing about the trauma because around us, women are facing it, mostly alone. So I needed to sensitise the reader to the dark aspect of womanhood that some women face in their lives. Noor’s life is more tragic – even with a glimmer of hope, she constantly faces disillusionment once she has lost her baby. Yet, she retains a calm solitude that shapes her character. Megha’s life is more hopeful and forward-looking, yet she chooses to bring in worries that shape her relationship with her daughter, Nisha. And Nisha, on the other hand, is the future – full of hope!
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From the Editor's desk
Vanshika Gupta