Harold Bergsma

Lalla and Lavina: Stories About Indian Women Harold Bergsma

Lalla and Lavina, Stories about Indian Women, portrays the lives of two women, one in ancient India and the other in modern India during the 1950s. Lalla, stunningly beautiful, from a poor outcast farming family is seen by the Emperor Akbar as he is riding on a hunt. She is taken by force as a slave and concubine. Lavina, a modern medical student meets Daniel, an American youth and their lives become entangled romantically. Lavina, returns home, to her father, an outcast Christian convert. Here she narrates campfire stories of the mythical Lalla and the doomed Anarkali to her small siblings and nieces. In doing so, brings the mythical Lalla alive in her own tumultuous life.