Women form an important part of the society and the family in particular. As they say, behind every successful man, there is a woman. We hear stories about brave soldiers of Indian Army who give their life for the nation, fight wars when need arises, work in counter-insurgency operations, disaster management and what not. But we have hardly heard about the women folk of Indian Army – the Army wives. On the Army wives, there comes a novel ‘Soldier & Spice’ by Aditi Mathur Kumar who herself is an Army wife, which gives an insight about their lives.
The novel is about Pia who is a Delhi girl and is in love with Arjun Mehra who is a Major in the Indian Army. She gets chance to meet Arjun only when he is in Delhi. Their immense love for each other holds them together despite the long distance. In other words, it is a long distance relationship. As Pia gets married and moves out of Delhi along with Arjun, she finds herself in totally different environment – the Army setup. She lands up in an environment which nowhere resembles the normal civilian life. Being an Army wife, her focus gets altered from herself to Army welfare functions, high teas, and meetings.
The novel describes the transformation of a non-Army person to an Army one. It is about a civilian lady who suddenly becomes ‘Memsaab’ once she enters in to the Army setup. The novel narrates the importance of etiquettes and discipline for an individual belonging to the big family of Indian Army. It doesn’t matter whether he/she is a solider, officer, or not. Discipline and etiquette are the foremost aspects of being an Armywallah.
The author has touched upon the difficulties faced by a new entrant in the milieu of Indian Army. One should be adept about the ranks of Indian Army officers, the nomenclatures used in Army like General Officer Commanding (GOC), Commanding Officer (CO), Junior Commissioned Officers (JCO), Sahayaks, and Unit etc. It should be on the tip of the tongue without fail as if these are some concepts of Physics.
Aditi also brings forth the politicking as well as the friendships among the Army wives. How important it is for an Army wife to be vigilant about the surroundings. The author deliberates upon the fact that how the dresses matter for Army wives in functions and meetings. If you don’t care about the dresses, well, then the nattering will start. The novel also tells you about the yearning of an Army wife for vacations with her husband.
Who could have given a better account of the lives of Army wives than the Army wife herself? Aditi Mathur Kumar has done a fine job in illustrating the life of Army wives in the form of a novel. It would have been better had the style of writing been a bit formal rather than the present form which is informal. Nevertheless, ‘Soldier & Spice’ is spicy, funny, light-hearted and intriguing. You should read it to get yourself acquainted with the lives of Army wives. I wish the author continues the story from where it is left in the form of a sequel to this novel. Some stories shouldn’t end so quickly. This is one of those stories.
(Originally published in Niti Central)