Aamen, Sister Jesme and confessions

By Chithrangada Nanda

The other day after a leisurely evening walk, my friend asked me in a hushed tone whether I'd be interested in reading Sister Jesme's Aamen'!

What intrigued me most was the tone she used while asking the question. But even after reading the whole book, I am still unable to find out the reason for that tone and the funny expression on her face!

As a former student, and a favourite, I was excited to read the controversial book but was disappointed to find it lifeless and craft-less. I respect the Sister's courage and candidness to reveal the things which were not shocking to me who had spent good many years in convents but may surprise a common man to whom nuns and nunneries are still an enigma covered in black and white.

Even when Jesme was teaching us we were able to trace an intelligent and slightly eccentric character beating behind that cover ready to come out and explode, to shock the world from its slumber, to take it by the storm. Aamen appeared to me as a verbal diarrhea of someone who is the wronged one and a victim and needs to justify her actions in desperation.

As a literary work it lacks the finesse and the beauty expected from a woman of Sister’s calibre. It was written in haste so as to encash upon the curiosity poked by her resignation from the college and the order.


For those people who know about the life in convents, the revelations about the 'pairs' or about the internal politics and relationships, there is nothing new and exciting in the book. Men and women are men and women with all the feelings and emotions (like love, jealousy, greed, etc) and nuns and priests are not spared. (They are not procreated especially for this purpose!)
I don’t think that God expects people to control their basic instincts and stifle their personalities.

The Sister is capable of more and I won’t be surprised to hear from her soon. A highly intelligent woman like Jesme with a strong, independent mind cannot be confined to the rigid rules of an institution whether it is nunnery or marriage.

Minds such as Jesme’s will always be striving for perfection and freedom of expression beyond the limits of ordinary world.