Rachna reviews ‘Mother-Daughter Dialogue’ by Dr Paramita Mukherjee Mullick and Sankalpita Mullick. It explores the deep, enduring bond between mothers and daughters, exclusively for Different Truths.

‘Mother-Daughter Dialogue’ by Dr Paramita Mukherjee Mullick and her daughter Sankalpita Mullick is ‘Dedicated to mothers and daughters everywhere’. Though the mother was brought up in Kolkata, and the daughter in Mumbai, their bond is enduring and strong.

Sankalpita says in her Preface that ‘the bond of mother and daughter goes far beyond biology and society. It is something that’s born from the heart and not just predetermined by genetics.’ She also says that her mother, who is a PhD in Genetic Toxicology might not approve of this line. They ‘worked tirelessly on this book to make it a passage into the world of old toys and stories to home-cooked meals and gossip and everything else you share with your mother.’

The mother talks of the cheese powder and the popcorn packets lying around. She talks of the pasta and rajma that she cooks for her daughter, idli-dosa and pancakes and cupcakes. The pav-bhaji masala lies idly on the larder, the pani-puri parties, masala tea. As the daughter says, ‘The biryani I ate with my parents doesn’t taste the same/when served on cold metal mess plates.’ As she says, ‘Love is contained in the street side momos.’

In ‘Diwali in my Heart (Paramita)’, she says ‘For a mother whose daughter has come home/there is Diwali in my heart.’ As the mother says in ‘My Own’

My labour pains started, ten hours of wrenching pain,
Then I lost consciousness, I looked around,
My mind was just blank, looking
Around again
The nurse carried a baby cozily
Bundled up’.

In ‘When you are with me’, Paramita says,

When you are with me
The sky and valleys sparkle.
The flowers and the bee

Dazzle in the sunshine.

Joy fills up my heart like an unending sea.’

The close-knit bond between mother and daughter is brought out,

“Two different lives, two different journeys.
Two different individuals, two generations,
Yet both in the same stalk
Yet they together rock.’

These expressions of the mother-daughter duo are moving in their delineation of the bond between mother and daughter. The diction is modern, and the language is metaphorical. Images of food and bonhomie abound. These poems are written from the heart.

Cover photo sourced by the reviewer.

Rachna Joshi

Rachna Joshi is a poet and reviewer with a master's in Creative Writing from Syracuse University. She has written four collections of poems, including Configurations, Crossing the Vaitarani, Travel Tapestry, and Monsoon and Other Poems. Joshi has been published in magazines and anthologies in India and abroad. She worked as Senior Assistant Editor at the India International Centre for 28 years and currently lives in Noida, U.P.

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