Palace of Illusions

Palace of illusions or Draupadi's Mahabharat traces her entire life.. sort of like an autobiography.. Her love for Karna or a greater feeling for Krishna.. Her conflicts with Kunti.. Apart from all the miracles, this is a more realistic interpretation of the epic. I grew up watching 'Mahaaaaabharaaaat' (note the stress on 'a') on Doordarshan where every character was either white or black. None were normal and although the arrows flying across made it immensely enjoyable, there was always a disconnect. Given a chance, Roopa Ganguly can still carry off a real Draupadi any given day. But I digress.
So the book makes for a wonderful read.. so much that I stayed up till 3 in the morning to finish the book. It is very difficult to view the epic from a woman's point of view.. specially since most stories objectify them .. there is no value add from their characters and even if they do.. it is primarily as the reason behind huge wars. Never have they been portrayed as being intelligence or having distinct individuality.. Although this wasn't exactly what was missing in Chitra Lekha Bannerjee's book, Draupadi did come across as a mere tool in a bigger scheme of things.. things that she was 'destined' for and could never have changed. Not that I expected the entire story to be different, but atleast Draupadi could have at least shown to have made her decisions and not just left it to destiny... hmm..but that would have changed the course of story.. innit? ;)