Born into a cultured Indian family, she read all the novels of Charles Dickens before she turned ten. Then she was forced to leave school to get married. At 15 she was a mother. And for most of her adult life, Sethu Ramaswamy was in the shadows, trying to find her place in the light.
Finally, at 80, her memoir - Autobiography of an Unknown Indian Woman - was published, to great fanfare and acclaim.
This is the surprising third act in a drama full of surprises - the story of a child bride whose husband was both her true love and the biggest obstacle to her freedom, the story of a woman who set out one day to make for herself the life she'd always wanted.
Sarmishta Subramanian’s intimate and remarkable documentary brings us the story of her grandmother: It’s called "A Woman of No Consequence"
Sarmishta Subramanian is a senior editor with Maclean’s Magazine, a national news weekly. This is her first radio documentary.
Karen Levine is the documentary editor at CBC Radio’s The Sunday Edition. She is a two-time winner of the Peabody Award.
More from Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Episode Five: Rebooting the Public Square
(00:53:02)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
In the finale of ReCivilization, host Don Tapscott takes us into the public square, to look at how governments must re-engage with citizens.
Episode Four: Re-Industrializing the planet
(00:53:02)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
In Episode four of ReCivilization, host Don Tapscott looks as how the digital revolution has changed how business are run.
Episode Three: Collaborative Health Care
(00:53:02)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
In part three of ReCivilization, host Don Tapscott looks at the future of heath care and medicine.
Episode Two: Open-Source Knowledge
(00:53:02)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
In episode two of ReCivilization, host Don Tapscott looks at the transformation of education and science, and the emergence of knowledge-sharing and discovery-driven learning ...
Episode One: Turning the media inside out
(00:53:02)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
In the first installment of ReCivilization, host Don Tapscott looks at the media and how the industrial-age model of mass production is giving way to new, collaborative and ...
Stories from a Christmas Stocking
(00:49:20)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
This holiday stocking is overflowing with a bounty of winter sounds and seasonal stories.
Family Holiday Traditions,...for better or for worse.
(01:46:34)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Storytellers explore the crazy holiday traditions our families desperately cling to at this time of year.
The Messiah Comes to Town
(00:51:53)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
A behind-the-scenes look at how a community choral society in a small town prepares for its own grand holiday performance of Handel's Messiah.
Tapestry - HOPE
(00:53:56)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
A "non-saccharin", "non pie-in-the-sky" exploration of the power of Hope.
Living Out Loud - Thanksgiving Special
(00:51:58)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Stories of 'Thanksgiving' and 'Giving Thanks'.
Related Pieces
Piece Description
Born into a cultured Indian family, she read all the novels of Charles Dickens before she turned ten. Then she was forced to leave school to get married. At 15 she was a mother. And for most of her adult life, Sethu Ramaswamy was in the shadows, trying to find her place in the light.
Finally, at 80, her memoir - Autobiography of an Unknown Indian Woman - was published, to great fanfare and acclaim.
This is the surprising third act in a drama full of surprises - the story of a child bride whose husband was both her true love and the biggest obstacle to her freedom, the story of a woman who set out one day to make for herself the life she'd always wanted.
Sarmishta Subramanian’s intimate and remarkable documentary brings us the story of her grandmother: It’s called "A Woman of No Consequence"
Sarmishta Subramanian is a senior editor with Maclean’s Magazine, a national news weekly. This is her first radio documentary.
Karen Levine is the documentary editor at CBC Radio’s The Sunday Edition. She is a two-time winner of the Peabody Award.
5 Comments
|
Wonderful!I love this story. Well told, and much appreciated. |
|
|
What a wonderful womanI loved this story- I think I'm about to go to bed happy! This woman is amazing, and I will look for her book when I go to Kerala this spring. |
Additional Credits
Tim Lorimer, Engineer
Of 8 purchasers of this piece...
- 5 also bought:
The WASPs: Women Pilots of WWII (00:21:43) - 5 also bought:
Ruby Elzy: Black Diva of the Thirties (00:58:59) - 4 also bought:
- 4 also bought:
The Gathering - A Modern Thanksgiving Story (00:29:00) - 4 also bought:
Molly Bennett
Posted on February 13, 2011 at 04:14 PM | Permalink
"Then when I heard his voice, I would melt..."
What a beautiful piece about the trials and joys of a truly incredible woman! Subramanian and Levine do a brilliant job of weaving famous literary moments and reflections into the narrative Sethu's own storied life. The piece paints an especially nuanced portrait of Sethu's relationship with her husband. Whereas a less skillful portrayal might have come off as overtly editorialized and ethnocentric, we get to hear Sethu's contradictory feelings played out firsthand, as in the part where she describes wanting to run away from her husband but still feeling the sensation of melting whenever she heard his voice. Without a doubt, "A Woman of No Consequence" melted me.