The Forest of Enchantments

A very captivating read. I found it very hard to put the book down until I had read through to the last page. In Hindi, the book is tilted “Sitayan”, a more apt name for the story,I feel. It is indeed Sita's life examined with an equal mixture of admiration and sympathy. It is so true and so sad that women, over the ages, have been forced to suffer and take blame for men's foibles and failures. It is shocking that this was happening even during ancient times, whenever the Ramayana was initially composed. Growing up, we have all revered Ram as the maryada-purush and yet, he too was immensely cruel towards the one who loved him the most. 

I have a theory - “Great” men, or women, are “great” mostly for posterity alone; people will surely sing their praises for years to come. But “great” men, or women, usually inflict great suffering upon their families. The ones who pay the price of their greatness are the people who love and care for them.