Reclamation by Bhumika Anand
Reviewed by Mahima Kohli
Reclamation (Out of Print 51, December 2023) is a quintessential COVID story without ever portending to be one. True to its title, it’s the story of a young(-ish) woman Sujata’s attempt to reclaim her life and identity while still grappling with the sudden loss of her long-time partner, Adi.
The story grabs your gullet with the opening line, ‘There was no good way to get over grief.’ Things move fast. Her friend convinces her to try online dating, she agrees and matches with a guy who appears to be the very antithesis of Adi. The guy, Sharan, is a total nincompoop, you know it and Sujata knows it, but the author leaves you in no doubt of Sujata’s intentions – she wants to have sex with somebody, anybody, so she can stop comparing every guy for the rest of her life with Adi. She is after closure, and in the end, (spoiler alert) she gets it.
The story is set in Bangalore, and the characters are well-etched, each with a unique voice. Anju is that faithful if blunt friend who helps you through a break-up (in this case, death) by opening your eyes to the truth. Sharan is the stereotypical US-returned IT engineer – horny and self-absorbed, with an oedipal complex. He is underwhelming in every respect, which it turns out is exactly what Sujata needs to help regain her power and reclaim her life from the wreckage of her old life.
Sujata is the picture of sophistication – a modern woman of forty who faces the travails of office politics and living alone in a big city with elan. She dresses elegantly, knows how to keep her house functional and beautiful, and isn’t afraid of running the show in bed. And, like most of us, she also forgets to fill her Drink More bottle that she bought to remind herself to drink water. Sujata is any one of us, rebuilding her life in the aftermath of the pandemic.
The story sets up a simple premise – there is no good way to get over grief – and delivers on it. Sujata finds her empowerment in a one-night-stand, which she isn’t ashamed to seek for herself despite the guy pretending to want otherwise. From her journey, you learn that in overcoming grief, there might be some false starts (moving houses but failing to leave the memories behind) and some compromises (40-year-old Bumble matches arriving unwashed and bringing cheap Dairy Milk chocolates on a date). But in the end, you’ve got to find a way to pick up the pieces you want to keep from your old life and move on to a new one. Through Sujata, you get to live that soul-stirring transformation.
Read Bhumika Anand’s ‘Reclamation’ in Out of Print 51, December 2023.
Reviewer Mahima Kohli is a loyal Out of Print reader based out of Delhi and Mumbai.
