0.
Trouble with classic Japanese literature is that it keeps changing context and names of the protagonists as their lives change. Like in most classic literature, Japanese classic literature is also preoccupied with the life in the court. Noble courtiers strut around the court making women fall in and out of love with them and through all this, they rise up through the challenges and grow in their stature.
Quite thrilling actually. For a book written about a period somewhere around the 10th century, The tale of Ganji is rivetting and interesting.
But this post is a preamble to a story I am going to tell. I don't know all the details of the story for the protagonist is only an aquaintance of mine, a distant aquaintance for that matter. But if the Japanese classic writers were to imagine Ganji as a modern woman, she would be it. And just like Ganji, I am going to give her various names as she struts in and out of power situations and plots. Where I have no way of knowing the explicit details, I have substituted with educated guesses. The story may be vague, but the gist of it is true.
I also have to obfuscate it enough because the other character in the story is a highly famous, divisive figure in Latin America. Some love him to death and others hate him. Let's leave it at that.
So here is to our modern female Ganji.
1.
Little Anna was born in Third-World country far from latin America. Before you guess, no. She was not born in India. She was born to upper middle class parents with good educaton and respectability. She grew up in the capital city surrounded by much material comfort and books. Her liberal parents filled her head with progressive ideas and the education in the civil war-torn country didn't do much to change her ideas of her life. And she fell madly in love with Ken. Throughout college, they explored each other and at the end of it, they decided to get married. Particularly when Ken got a scholarship to study in Canada.
By then Anna knew he didn't love Ken. But she loved Canada. So the marriage happened and off they went to Canada. As Ken struggled through studies and as they tried to sustain themselves with his meagre scholarship, Anna got increasingly bored with her life. That is when she decided to join a Ph. D program exploring the cool social science scene at the University.
She was a good student. More importantly, she was engaging, witty and intellegent. What she lacked in absolute beauty, she ade up in her charm. Before long, she caught the eye of a professor at the University.
2.
Arpit was a married man. He left India as a young man in the seventees fuelled by leftist ideology and a desire to profit from it. He met and married an intellegent fellow student Aparna as they traversed the academic world in Canada. Aparna was a serious student and was not fickle. They had children and they quietly settled into a domestic life after both of them got tenure. Arpit also understood how to convert his social conscience to money with a second business. He had become a respected professor.
That is how Sharon (Anna in her second iteration. Dear reader, Sharon now had wings and a large yellow plume on her head...) entered Arpit's life. Arpit was intellegent, witty and socially conscious. All the things Ken wasn't. Most importantly, Arpit had money. And he showed her things and slowly showed her how to make money with social conscience. They started a consulting practice together. Aparna didn't suspect a thing. After all, Sharon was Arpit's business partner. As their business flourished and later floundered, their affair grew stronger and they thew caution to the wind and made love in public places. In places where they were almost caught.
Between them, they also bilked many unsuspecting rganizations of much money by "teaching" them diversity. They wined and dined in style and lived te good life. Even though she was technically married, she probably made no attempt to humor it.
Then she got her PhD.
And she realized that Arpit's practical application was over. He sounded old and tired. He had given her all that he could. That is when she met James.
3.
James was intellegent and caring. He was also very powerful. He was divorced and lived in a fantastic partment in the most prominent part of town. As a key player in the local government, he put his social conscience to much practice. He was a man of action and that appealed to Debra. So ebra divorced Ken and moved in with James.
At first, life was wonderful. James could introduce her to powerful people and powerful peple in turn could get her things, useful things. She liked the opportunity to shine, to be the synosure of the parties. She ha access to the corridoors of power for the first time, and she could derive a lucrative consulting practice from that access.
But James was a one-trick pony. He was wedded to his work and Debra wanted more action. So when she met Rick at a party, she couldn't wait to run into his arms. But not before she caused a minor scandal that roced the government.
(The rest tomorrow)
