Thursday, April 13, 2023

The Guilt is Alive - by Hemalatha Gnanasekar - Review by Maria Teresa De Donato

 The Guilt is Alive

by Hemalatha Gnanasekar

 

Review by Maria Teresa De Donato

 


Should we or shouldn’t we interfere with our beloved ones’ lives? Should we or shouldn’t we get involved in their businesses out of love, our sense of duty and responsibility, and our desire to protect them and lighten their ways while assuming that we know better what is good and what is best for them?

 

With an open heart and the most honest attitude Hemalatha Gnanasekar, author of the memoir The Guilt is Alive, plunges us into the dynamics of family life and all that comes with them.

 

The most authentic and most profound love for all members of her family leads the author to get highly involved in their lives with the desire and firm conviction that by following her advice, they will get a great job, become rich and famous, and help the family financially, assuring all members and especially her parents after retirement, to have a dignified and comfortable life rather than fall into poverty.

 

Her brother Sampath Kumar, or Babu, as the family calls him, decides to do just that and abides by her loving advice. Enchanted by the dream of getting rich and helping the family, Babu leaves India and moves to Jamaica after receiving what appears to be an attractive job proposal to work in a company as an AC Engineer. This position – he believes – will allow him to make much money, which he will send to his family in India.  In so doing, he will achieve his father’s and his own goals.

 

Fate, God, or whoever is in charge of our Destiny has other plans, though.

 

Things won’t work as they should have. Among arguments at work due to Babu’s short temper, misunderstandings, and businesses not going well, Babu will fall into poverty and be unable to help himself, let alone his family, in India.

 

Although Babu’s story will end up in a drama, the message of this literary work is, nonetheless, a positive one. In fact, despite the emotional pain and sorrow that his sudden death will bring upon her entire family, the author will learn an important lesson through somebody else’s experience. Consequently, she will reach a turning point and start acting constructively despite her loss. She will change her perspective and consequent behavior and eventually will start enjoying life again.

 

She eventually will come to an understanding that “The human spirit is resilient and no one can destroy it except us” (H. Gnanasekar, 2015, 2022, p. 248) and that no matter if other people show empathy towards our sufferance or prove they have become “emotionally stone deaf, bogged down by problems of their own,” we are “the master(s) of [our] fate. [We are] the captain(s) of our soul.” (p. 249)

 

Hence, although there might be things we don’t understand about why certain situations occur in our lives, and the pain and guilt might still be there, Life is worth living, and eventually, we will come to terms with whatever manifests in ours.

 

The Guilt is Alive is a beautiful book that allows not only a complete immersion in the Indian and Jamaican cultures but also gives us plenty of opportunities to meditate on and challenge our belief system, behavior, and ‘good intentions,’ and last but not least, the very meaning of Life.