I was intrigued by the personality of Protima Bedi even as a child. And recently after so many years, on a casual outing with my family, when I happened to come across this book called “timepass” which is a memoir about her life and times (written by herself), I just couldn’t resist but buy the book.
I simply love books that are extremely readable and easy to connect with. The incredibly honest account captured me completely, so much so that I stood there as a statue and read the first few pages right there at the book store, absolutely lost…
Its starts from her early childhood days… precisely from the time when she could practically rely on her memory.
Whether it’s her confession about wetting beds as a small child or her first experience as a 9 year old, of her cousin raping her numerous times, the consequent trauma and the subsequent coming to terms with the cruel realities of life… the narration is so candid that it becomes difficult to believe that the conversation is in first person.
The story moves on giving an unbelievably open account of all the relationships she had & of how her focus kept shifting from one man to the other as a true nomad that she was. And of how she ultimately found peace in dance(Odissi).
Throughout the book there are several moments when you feel that you have felt the same at similar junctures in life but those emotions seemed to be impossible to voice. That’s the strength of this book… it increases the volume of certain feelings which reside somewhere extremely close to the subconscious …which can be felt but definitely can’t be heard, forget expression.
She effortlessly takes you on a blind trip and many hidden questions surface inside you looking for answers in the depth of your psyche.
On a concluding note, I thoroughly enjoyed being a witness to the life of this crazy woman…and having quenched the intrigue, I had as a child all I can say is, its not every day that the God Almighty creates such women. Its rare…rare in the true sense of the term.
