Reviews & Musings

  Image Source: Amazon.com Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pan Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages  ISBN : ‎ 978-9390742172  Price: INR 350/- About the Book Kunti, a rare matriarch in the Mahabharata and one of the revered Pancha Satis, holds an unforgettable position in the Indian literary imagination. Yet, little is known about the fateful events that shaped her early life. Taking on the intricate task, Koral Dasgupta unravels the lesser-known strands of Kunti’s story: through a childhood of scholarly pursuits to unwanted motherhood at adolescence, a detached marriage, and her ambitious love for the king of the devas. After the remarkable success of Ahalya, the first book in the Sati series, Kunti presents a brilliant and tender retelling of a story at the heart of our culture and mythology.  In the Sati series, Koral Dasgupta explores the lives of the Pancha Kanyas from Indian mythology and reinvents them in the modern context with a feminist consciousness. 

Edited by: Mary E. John and Meena Gopal  Published by Orient Blackswan, 2021  You can get your copy from *-*-* Introduction As I stared at this headline by The Print : Covid has devastated India’s self-employed women – I kept thinking about this book I had recently completed.  According to World Bank data released in June 2020, that year India’s female workforce participation fell to 20.3%. India has one of the world’s lowest participation rates for women.  This book features 20 essays by women scholars and researchers who share their thoughts and observations about how India is failing its labouring women. We are staring at a huge crisis waiting to explore and it is high time we act on it. 

Image Source: Amazon.in About the Book In a peaceful southern town, amidst lush spice plantations, trouble is brewing. In the town live three generations of two families, one Hindu and the other Muslim, whose lives will be changed forever by the coming violence. At risk are Dada, the ageing grandfather who lovingly tends and talks to the plants on his estate; his strong-willed grandchildren, Abu and Fareeda; the newly married Devaki, who cannot fathom the forces that are turning her husband and her father into fanatics; Mariam, of the gifted hands, who kneads and pounds the fatigued muscles of tourists into submission; and Garuda, the high-school teacher who, in his own desperate way, is trying to impart the truth about the country’s history to a classroom of uninterested students. Quietly but surely, the spectre of religious intolerance is beginning to haunt the community in the guise of the Self-Respect Forum whose mission is to divide the town and destroy the delicate balance of res...

About the Book In these three stunningly original, lush and provocative novellas, award-winning writer K. R. Meera explores the tragedy, betrayal and violence that rise out of the dark heart of love. ‘ The Angel’s Beauty Spots ’ is a disquieting story about Angela’s repeated infidelities and the trauma of failed love; in ‘ And Forgetting the Tree, I… ’ Radhika tries to come to terms with a former love that refuses to leave her; and ‘ The Deepest Blue’ uses magic and metaphor to tell the story of a wife who yearns for a love that transcends lifetimes. Esteemed as one of the country’s finest storytellers, K. R. Meera’s The Angel’s Beauty Spots: Three Novellas will serve to embellish her already considerable reputation as a writer of strikingly original fiction. These novellas have been translated from the Malayalam by J. Devika.

Source: Feminism in India

From the Blurb Indian women are taught to put others before themselves from an early age. This book aims to change that. Boundless is a powerfully honest collection of poems that encourage a young India to find its own identity. The last ten years for the poet, Natasha Malpani Oswal, have been a journey in experimentation and self-discovery. Natasha has tried to capture her exploration of the idea of home and identity over this time frame through these poems. In the recent times, poetry as a medium of expression has been widely celebrated which only means more to love for poetry lovers like me. With poets like Rupi Kaur, Harnidh Kaur, Rochelle Potkar we have been introduced to new forms of poetry which is poignant and relatable at the same time. They seem to pick up extremely relevant themes from what is happening around us and weave the emotions around it to create poems which leave a deep mark on the psyche of the reader. Natasha Malpani Oswal is a big believer in the...