“He is extremely innocent, he keeps on committing the same mistake; sometimes with the same girl, sometimes with another”. Being a culprit Suren never felt any guilt, neither he suffered as it’s said “Evil always wins through the strength of its splendid dupes; and there has in all ages been a disastrous alliance between abnormal innocence and abnormal sin”. Depicting a clean and agreeable character in front of people he used to cause harm in a whimsical manner without thinking much about the consequences.
A story of distrust and disbelief of Indian society. Dhrishika was forced to succumb to loneliness and passed way silently. STOP-NO by parents, rituals, customs and traditions paused many voices of girls. Oppression and violence physically and psychologically inside safe boundaries were depicted throughout. Suren justification was so convenient with his troubled and disturbed past life. ‘Silence is a sharp weapon of self-destruction’ said by Smita D Talukdar describing the plight of women in our society.
According to the author Smita D Talukdar “In a patriarchal society a woman is bind to the rules of being gentle and somehow while going through emotional pain they lose their identity in the process. The lack of communication between parents and children tend to develop a very unhealthy relationship. A child goes through various problem in her life but it is the duty of the parents to look into the matter, to be with them in every tough situation, so that they can share their emotions”.
The title of the book “STOP. NO!” is not just a mere word- if understood, speaks of two dimensions. One for the generation gap of Parent-Child in families parents not having wish to communicate or share their thoughts with children and the others speak of incidents where women face direct negligence from society at large keeping the attributes of Status, Prestige, Education, and Grace in the eyes of society as the parameters of judgment.
The context of a dysfunctional family is portrayed in a way to show that, in an Indian family status is given much more importance than a child facing distress in life as it is quoted by the writer “Maa, why is that I sense something pricking every time I sit on Mamai’s lap but nothing when I sit on yours?” “Hush, do not talk rubbish!” – A mindset which needs to be corrected and developed for good according to Talukdar.
Book: Stop NO | Author: Smita D Talukdar | Publisher: Notion Press 2020 | Pages:136 | Price: INR 60/-
