The Brass Notebook: A Memoir by Devaki Jain

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The Brass Notebook : A Memoir by Prof. Devaki Jain
Publisher: Speaking Tiger
Price: Rs. 599

Prof. Jain is an icon and inspiration to millions of young people. She led an exemplary and remarkable life. I met Prof. Devaki Jain last year during a book launch at Nehru Memorial Library and we had a good conversation which was an opportunity of a lifetime for me. She has been a Gandhian and a leading thinker of our times. The title of the book is inspired by Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook. Though a forward by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has said a lot about the amazing accomplishments of Padma Bhushan Prof. Jain, this memoir is a collection of anecdotes from her life. In India, unfortunately, women are considered as the weaker sex and are often discouraged to achieve more in life, in the truest sense, Devaki Jain broke that glass ceiling. She met and worked with people who are global icons like Nelson Mandela, Julius Nyerere, and Desmond Tutu and it was amazing to see images in the book itself. She as a Professor at Miranda House and as a global leader has done pioneering work in giving shape to the women’s movement in India.

During my conversation with Devaki Jain last year, we talked about the state of the Indian economy and how the Gandhian economy might come to the rescue and she also mentioned her meetings with the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. She is as she mentions, the before midnight’s children who were born in the 1930s and were young adults in the 1950s, the formative years of the Indian republic. Married to a Gandhian activist and writer LC Jain, Devaki’s 200-page long memoir tells us the story of how a South Indian feminist traveled across the globe and worked closely at the grassroots levels. An interesting anecdote from Jain’s childhood is the Conversation her father had with Gandhiji, a day before Gandhiji was assassinated. This memoir is undoubted, an enjoyable read, and an inspiring one about an icon who achieved a lot in her remarkable life and made her own space in a patriarchal society. I will always cherish my conversation with Prof. Devaki Jain, as well as this beautiful memoir.




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