Sunday book pick: In Geetanjali Shree’s ‘The Roof Beneath Their Feet’, women defy definitions

The roof of a house is as wide as its inhabitants’ imaginations. It is not merely a space made of bricks and cement – the roof in an Indian house is a space of leisure, desire, secrets, and dreams. Standing on the roof, have we not imagined fruitful romances with the neighbours? Don’t the planes flying overhead make distant lands seem within our reach? Doesn’t the open sky – the sun in the day and the stars and the moon at night – make us feel one with the universe? An essential structure of the house, the roof has allowed the mind and heart to wander while our feet remained firmly on the ground.

For womenfolk, the roof has also doubled up as a private space. Quite a contradiction for a structure that is devoid of any walls. Nevertheless, women have turned into a space where they can work (making pickles, sewing) and a place of rest (chatting with other women, sneaking in a nap). Used and frequented by women, the roof is naturally a fertile ground for their stories.

Chachcho and Lalna

In Geetanjali Shree’s The Roof Beneath Their Feet, the roof at Laburnum House is a living, breathing character. Shared by some hundred people, the...

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