Book Review | Once Upon A Then Time: Stuti Agarwal's 'Daisies In The Wild'

Stuti Agarwal has written a school story with a difference set in her beloved Darjeeling. The story of three girls who come together united by an outsider, Inayat who has been sent to the convent school of St Mary’s as a boarder and is a new girl in her grade. Each chapter is told by one of the girls, Nidra, Pema and Inayat – though Inayat’s are homesick letters to God because she cannot bear to be parted from her beloved Nana and Nani. Nidra is the head girl who takes the new youngster under her wing and discovers an attraction that she cannot understand. Pema who belongs to Darjeeling and is attracted to Inayat as one might be attracted to a new friendship.

The three girls are forced to conform to the rules and regulations of the school but Inayat discovers the graveyard in the school where St Anne Mary is buried and finds it a place for quiet time which is also shared by the beautiful Nidra.

Against the backdrop of the mountains, the misty climate and the Gorkhaland crisis which forces a bandh that disrupts school life giving the girls space to explore. Inayat and Nidra grow closer to each other fuelled by tuck raids in the pantry in an atmosphere where they are no classes. Pema who is at home in town meets up with them on a late night exploration down the forgotten secret pathways of the hill station where they hope to evade the political goons. Adventure and atmosphere makes this portion particularly engrossing as the turmoil of inner and outer lives collide and Agarwal attempts to provide some insight into a situation that Kiran Desai wrote about in her Inheritance of Loss. The backdrop of the Gorkhaland crisis adds a historical and political undercurrent.

Darjeeling, as always in Agarwal’s work, is a character in itself: temperamental, wild, and unforgettable. The mists, the crumbling houses, the ever-changing moods of Kanchenjunga—all shape the story’s cadence. Flowers bloom defiantly in hidden corners. The city breathes with memory and melancholy, a wild cradle for girls beginning to understand who they are.

Agarwal writes in the voice of today’s teens—with slang, energy, and heart. She explores the difficulties of secrecy, especially around identity and queer desire, in a world not yet ready to talk about them openly.

The story makes a quiet but vital point: when young people grow up believing their feelings are “abnormal,” the cost is high—anxiety, isolation, shame.

Unlike adults who may handle relationships better schoolgirls find themselves in a quandary about issues of secrecy and trust. Agarwal points out that these forbidden matters do more harm than good since young people look on them as abnormalities and find them hard to understand – especially since they give rise to bullying in schools. Both the girls come from fractured families with busy mothers and a broken marriage in Inayat’s case which makes her mother less tolerant towards her daughter and more inclined to lean on her new husband. Pema, on the other hand comes from a united family settled in Darjeeling the daughter of one of the teachers, and though interested in new friendships she is more conservative in her outlook.

A convent possibly provides the right atmosphere as well as the fact that prejudices exists amongst all communities. What does not exist is the need to handle these situations with tact and sensitivity. Coming to grips with sex when young is always difficulty without proper guidance and more so when it encompasses the so-called forbidden relationships. Through three girls with three shades of difference, Agarwal tells her story of dysfunctional families and young lives striving to cope with new realities in the hope that it will create a precedent of sorts.

Soha Ali Khan’s foreword speaks of courageous writing and how she would encourage her daughter to read the book and yes, certainly girls do need to be introduced to what the book has to say with understanding adults behind them to step in when required and explain matters.