The Cauliflower (32 page)

Shortly after, embraced in the ebony arms of that coruscating darkness, with a small sigh of relief, a brilliant smile: “Ah, Mother,” she murmurs. “My Mother. Have you come?”

An indelible moment, I think you'll all agree … (the sound-man conspicuously checks his watch). And how fortunate that we [The Cauliflower ™] were here to record it! What a
coup
! Later, however (much later), when we anxiously scrutinize the footage, we discover that we have nothing (
nothing!
not a damn thing!) in the can.

The Divine Mother—we know for an absolute fact; we are
certain
—has come herself, in person, to escort her favorite daughter into the heavenly hereafter. But the film? The
film
?!
Urgh
. Completely blank.

Hmmm …

Perhaps, after all, we were just too close to see her.

“We have a little sister,

And she has no breasts.

What shall we do for our sister

In the day when she is spoken

    for?

If she is a wall,

We will build upon her

A battlement of silver;

And if she is a door,

We will enclose her

With boards of cedar.

I am a wall,

And my breasts, like towers.…”

                     
—Song of Solomon 8:8–10

 

Afterword

This novel (if I can call it that) is truly little more than the sum of its many parts. It's a painstakingly constructed, slightly mischievous, and occasionally provocative/chaotic mosaic of many other people's thoughts, memories, and experiences. I have not lived in the nineteenth century. I have never met Sri Ramakrishna. I am not a practicing Hindu. I have never visited Calcutta. If I had, I probably could not have written this book. I wouldn't have been stupid, arrogant, brave, naughty—and possibly even dispassionate—enough.

This novel is a small (even pitiable) attempt to understand how faith works, how a legacy develops, how a spiritual history is written. I have been fascinated by Sri Ramakrishna for much of my life. He's such a perplexing and joyous character. And I felt that his story might benefit from being told again—shared, enjoyed, celebrated (especially now)—but from a slightly new (and, yes, vaguely warped) perspective.

As a ten-year-old child in South Africa I was given a free album about Krishna Consciousness by an eccentric (even magical) stranger in Fordsburg's controversial Oriental Plaza. Thank you to that kind gentleman, whoever you were/are. Because that's basically where my journey began. If yours starts here, then please do have a look at some of the incredible books that have been not only the building blocks but the very joists and mortar of this one.

—
Nicola Barker

BOOKS

Swami Saradananda,
Sri Ramakrishna the Great Master
(The Jupiter Press)

Mahendranath Gupta,
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
(Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center)

Sri Ramakrishna's disciples are a uniformly charming bunch, and none more so than Mahendranath Gupta, the secretive “M.” This would probably be my number one go-to book on the guru, just because of its honesty and loveliness and modesty.

Swami Chetanananda,
They Lived with God
(Advaita Ashrama)

Swami Chetanananda,
Ramakrishna as We Saw Him
(Vedanta Society of St. Louis)

Swami Chetanananda has scrupulously detailed everything known about the guru in these two wonderful books. My humble effort owes most of what is good about it to the learned swami.

Akshay Kumar Sen,
A Portrait of Sri Ramakrishna
(The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture)

Lex Hilton,
The Great Swan: Meetings with Ramakrishna
(Larson)

Lex Hilton's work is both mesmerizing and extraordinary.

This is the Isherwood section. Christopher Isherwood writes brilliantly about Ramakrishna, but my favorite book by him—
My Guru and His Disciple
—is not actually about Ramakrishna as such but about Isherwood's touching relationship with his own guru, the glorious Swami Prabhavananada.

Christopher Isherwood, ed.,
Vedanta for the Western World
(Unwin Books)

Christopher Isherwood,
Ramakrishna and His Disciples
(Advaita Ashrama)

Christopher Isherwood,
My Guru and His Disciple
(University of Minnesota Press)

Christopher Isherwood and Swami Prabhavananada, trans.,
The Song
of God: Bhagavad-Gita
(Mentor)

The Bhagavad-Gita is an exquisite work of art, and this translation is just superb.

Elizabeth U. Harding,
Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar
(Nicolas Hayes)

I owe Ms. Harding a giant expression of thanks for this brilliant, beautifully written, and meticulously researched work.

June McDaniel,
Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls
(Oxford)

Not only is this an amazing book on goddess worship, but Ms. McDaniel was also immensely kind and helpful to me when I approached her for help during the writing of
The Cauliflower
.

Bardwell L. Smith, ed.,
Hinduism
:
New Essays in the History of Religion
(Leiden/ E. J. Brill)

Sakhi Bhava,
Transgender Spirituality: Man into Goddess
(self-published)

I truly cannot overstate what a startling and revolutionary little book this is. It's spiritual and philosophical dynamite!

Tapati Bharadwaj,
Sri Ramakrishna (1836–1881) and a Nineteenth-Century Subaltern: Rani Rashmoni (1793–1861): Creating Our Feminist Genealogies
(self-published)

Susie Tharu and K. Lalita,
Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to the Early Twentieth Century
(Pandora)

Brian Kolodiejchuk MC, ed.,
Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light
(Rider)

Desmond Doig,
Mother Teresa: Her People and Her Work
(Fount)

Ashok Mitra,
Calcutta Diary
(Frank Cass)

Krishna Dutta,
Calcutta: A Cultural History
(Interlink Books)

Geoffrey Moorhouse,
Calcutta: The City Revealed
(Penguin)

Emma Roberts,
Scenes and Characteristics of Hindostan with Sketches of Anglo-Indian Society
, Volume 1 (Elibron Classics)

Amit Chaudhuri,
Calcutta: Two Years in the City
(Union Books)

Frank Finn,
The Birds of Calcutta
(Hardpress)

Thomas A. Kempis,
The Imitation of Christ
(Penguin)

I mention this wonderful book because it was Swami Vivekananda's favorite.

FILMS

Satyajit Ray,
The Apu Trilogy
(Artificial Eye)

Satyajit Ray,
The Goddess
(Mr. Bongo Films)

Louis Malle,
Calcutta
(Pyramide)

RADIO

Tessa Dunlop,
The Enigma of Sara-la-Kali
(Heart and Soul, BBC World Service)

MUSIC

Ananta,
Night and Daydream
(Touchstone)

 

ALSO BY
NICOLA BARKER

NOVELS

In the Approaches

The Yips

Burley Cross Postbox Theft

Darkmans

Clear: A Transparent Novel

Behindlings

Five Miles from Outer Hope

Wide Open

Small Holdings

Reversed Forecast

STORY COLLECTIONS

Heading Inland

Love Your Enemies

 

About the Author

N
ICOLA
B
ARKER
is the author of eleven novels, including
The Yips
(longlisted for the Man Booker Prize),
Darkmans
(shortlisted for the Booker and the Ondaatje Prize and winner of the Hawthornden Prize),
Clear
(longlisted for the Booker), and
Wide Open
(winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award), as well as two story collections, including
Love Your Enemies
(winner of the PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award). Two of her stories, “Dual Balls” and “Symbiosis,” have been adapted for British television, and the former was shortlisted for a BAFTA. Barker was named on Granta's Best of Young British Novelists list in 2003, and her work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. She lives in London. You can sign up for email updates
here
.

 

Thank you for buying this

Henry Holt and Company ebook.

 

To receive special offers, bonus content,

and info on new releases and other great reads,

sign up for our newsletters.

 

Or visit us online at

us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup

 

For email updates on the author, click
here
.

 

Contents

Title Page

Copyright Notice

Dedication

Epigraph

Begin Reading

Afterword

Also by Nicola Barker

About the Author

Copyright

 

THE CAULIFLOWER. Copyright © 2016 by Nicola Barker. All rights reserved. For information, address Henry Holt and Co., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.henryholt.com

Cover design by Lucy Kim

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Names: Barker, Nicola, 1966– author.

Title: The cauliflower: a novel / Nicola Barker.

Description: First edition. | New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2016.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015041425 | ISBN 9781627797191 (hardcover)

Subjects: LCSH: Ramakrishna, 1836–1886—Family—Fiction. | Hindus—India—Fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Literary. | FICTION / Historical. | FICTION / Biographical. | GSAFD: Biographical fiction. | Historical fiction.

Classification: LCC PR6052.A64876 C38 2016 | DDC 823/.914—dc23

LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2015041425

e-ISBN 9781627797207

Originally published in Great Britain by William Heinemann in 2016.

First U.S. Edition: August 2016

Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at
[email protected]
.

 

 

This is a work of fiction assembled from factual sources.