Book Review: Dear Mrs. Naidu

Dear Mrs. Naidu is a novel told through a series of letters written by a young girl to a historical figure and freedom fighter Mrs. Naidu. The narrator of the story, named Sarojini, lives with her mother who does not have much money, in the urban city Bangalore India. Sarjoini starts out writing these letters simply as a school assignment, without much meaning behind them. However, Sarjoini does admires Mrs. Naidu because she fought for women’s education and women’s rights which are two issues that Sarojini cares about greatly. (Subramanian, 98). When Sarojini’s school assignment is over, she continues writing the letters anyway, because she feels that she can’t talk to anyone else. The letters eventually become more meaningful to Sarojini, when she begins to fight for a better education, once she learns about the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 (RTE). Sarojini sets out to enroll at Greenhill, a private school which she wants to attend for better educations, and because her best Amir goes to school there (Subramanian, 27). Sarojini ends up trying to improve the quality of her own school, rather than transferring schools.

The tone of the letters to Mrs. Naidu is often very humorous which made me enjoy this book. For instance, when Sarojini is telling Mrs. Naidu about meeting her friend named Deept and trying to figure out who she was/what her story was, she write:

“After all, let’s review the clues so far:
1.She lives at a construction site She is from a village.
2.She doesn’t go to school.
3.She spits like a man.
I know a detective would conclude that this girl is poor, backwards, lazy and impolite” (Subramanian, 15).

Sarojini also frequently refers to people as “evil geniuses,” which I thought was humorous and well fit to the story, since these people are restricting her, a little girl, from going to the school she wanted. It is satirical to consider such people “evil geniuses.” Humorous stories told by Saojini throughout the letters helps the reader believe he/she is really reading letters written by a little girl. Sarojini is also a very intelligent and curious young girl. She is always investigating things and trying to come up with her own interpretations of things, and thinks of herself as a detective (Subramanian, 55).

I think that this is an inspiring story not only to Indian children like Sarojini, but also to any child who has been deprived of something. This is because Sarojini was especially resourceful for a 12 year old girl, getting help from many people in order to achieve her goal. Any child who reads this book would likely feel inspired if they think about how Sarojini was proactive in handling her situation. They can also keep this story in the back of their head if they are facing a similar situation. This story being told through Sarojini’s eyes shows how difficult it is for people who want a proper education that is being kept from them. For this reason, the story could be categorized as #OwnVoices story as we have discussed in EDUTL2368.

Citation

Subramanian, Mathangi. Dear Mrs. Naidu. New Dehli: Zubaan Books, 2015. ebook.