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Review: The Whistleblower’s Wife by Biman Nath
Set in pandemic-era Bangalore, "The Whistleblower’s Wife" explores themes of sexual harassment, bureaucracy, and personal turmoil through the intertwined lives of two women.
Set in Bangalore during the pandemic in 2021, Biman Nath’s The Whistleblower’s Wife features two unlikely women – one who had accused a scientist of sexual harassment and the accused man Dr Aditya Sen’s estranged wife, Madhuri. The duo, who come together following Sen’s uncharacteristic suicide attempt, find themselves at the intersection of bureaucracy, power politics, and scientific research, even as they attempt to process their personal feelings and failings.
The story begins with Aditya Sen, a virologist working on the Covid-19 vaccine, being in a coma. His wife Madhuri had left after a student accused him of sexual harassment. Officials at the university where Sen worked claim his personal life — separation from his wife and five-year-old son — had left him depressed, which, in turn, had forced him to take the drastic step. A confused Madhuri is shocked to find solidarity in the student, Swati, who had accused Aditya of harassment. Swati reveals her recent interactions with Sen and claims he hadn’t been at all depressed.
One of Sen’s colleagues tells Madhuri that, in research institutions, “What matters most is not your work, but your network.” And so, a book that begins as a whydunnit reveals the rot within scientific institutions that are supposed work for the benefit of the people but end up being a playing ground for pharmaceutical companies and the bureaucracy.
The first half of the book explores Madhuri’s reaction to Sen’s suicide attempt. Full of great guilt and mulling over the reason for their separation, she recalls that her husband had always been at odds with his colleagues and had made no attempts to socialise. Dedicated to his research, he was the quintessential obsessive scientist, a Galileo-like figure with, it would seem, a similarly unfortunate fate. As she revisits the fractures of their marriage, Madhuri realises that they barely knew about each other’s lives. She hadn’t engaged with his work nor had he shown any interest in how she spent her time.
To add to her turmoil, Swati shows up at the hospital and claims that “Aditya sir” wasn’t depressed and was actually looking forward to an advancement in his research. Madhuri is shocked at learning about their recent interaction. Here, the author deftly explores anger, jealousy, and suspicion on the part of the wife, and fear and guilt on Swati’s part. While cases of harassment are rampant in institutions, what this novel does is draw attention to how even movements for justice for women can become tools for men to further their own agendas, especially when promotions and recognition are stake.
The writing that features many dialogues and internal monologues occasionally drags in its exploration of guilt and grief. The story is set during the pandemic but some of the details of that time seem to have been added on as an afterthought instead of being seamlessly included within it. Still, the reader is absorbed by what’s revealed as the story progresses, especially after the appearance of an investigative journalist whom Sen had contacted for a big exposé.
The woman protagonist, who not only has to figure out why her husband went to such an extreme but also prove that it wasn’t his personal life that led to the current circumstances, and thus restore his academic credibility, stands out. In the process, the fractures of a marriage, perceptions of society, and the threats of the powerful are all scrutinized. The Whistleblower’s Wife reveals how those invested in building capital – in this case, through finding a treatment for Covid-19 – can go to great extents to silence the voice of reason.
Thankfully, the author, himself an astrophysicist formerly with the Raman Research Institute, doesn’t fill the novel’s pages with heavy research and technical terms that could alienate readers, or worse, bore them. He keeps it simple by introducing a journalist, Raghunath, who explains the workings of such corrupt systems by citing cases from the past. He helps Madhuri and readers too to contextualise Aditya’s position on the ongoing research of Remdesivir, the anti-viral medicine used to treat Covid-19.
A slow-burn novel, The Whistleblower’s Wife examines how a web of lies begins to unravel as characters move past their feelings and decipher the hints left behind by the scientist. But what stays long after the story ends is the book’s deep exploration of a marriage and the possible impact on his family of an individual’s insistence on sticking to his principles.
Akankshya Abismruta is an independent writer.
