‘Is it risky for a woman writer to deal with female sexuality in India’? Sarojini Sahoo, feminist writer in Oriya, tries to answer that question:
”Yes, it is risky for a woman writer to deal with these themes in an Eastern country, and for that I face much criticism? But still I believe someone has to [...]
Archive for the 'Literature' Category
Female sexuality through a woman’s eyes
Published by May 4th, 2008 in Feminism, Literature, Patriarchy, Society, Women and sexuality. 2 CommentsThyagaraja Vaibhavam
Published by March 28th, 2008 in Blogging, Language, Literature and Music. 0 CommentsA blog dedicated to the saint composer Thyagaraju: V.Govindan has been posting trasliterated versions of the composer’s Telugu Kritis in English (and in Devanagari, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam scripts), together with the translation in English. A commendable effort. The latest post features the Kriti ‘ramA ramaNa rArA’.
‘Saala ek machhar aadmi ko hijra bana deta hai’
Published by March 23rd, 2008 in Art, Books, Democracy, Feminism, Government, Human Rights, Literature, Patriarchy, Personal, Politics, Religion, Secularism, South Asia and public space. 2 CommentsThat line from a Nana Patekar film, says, Aman Kumar, captures his ‘rage and frustration’ over the Taslima Nasreen episode:
So has mine! Sadly, I no longer consider India a secular country after watching and analyzing the political developments in last 15-20 years. Right from Shah Bano case to Babri demolition, and from Gujrat massacre to [...]
Sunil Doiphode publishes a suspense thriller in three blogs and in three languages - English, Hindi and Marathi. Check it out.
Aishwarya writes about Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman, something like a fictional account of the history of the Civil Rights movement, but with the colours reversed:
…..Blackman’s biggest achievement is in her portrayal of the numerous seemingly minor things that go into racial constructions. Possibly my favourite moment in the book is when Persephone (whose [...]
The Palace of Illusions
Published by February 27th, 2008 in Books, Culture, History, India and Literature. 0 Comments“It is quite admirable to see how the author managed to squeeze in almost all of the notable small tales that are linked to the main novel. She also does an admirable job in keeping true to the theme of biography. If an event occurred without Draupadi’s presence, she’d raconte it to us in retrospect [...]
‘What makes you LOL?’
Published by February 25th, 2008 in Cinema, Culture, Humour, Literature and Media. 0 CommentsBombay Addict is talking about ‘old-fashioned laugh-out-loud. Not a smile, snicker, or heh, but a hearty laugh’. Here’s some of what made him LOL:
The earliest stuff made me LOL were all those TV serials mentioned above. I loved them for the simple, situational comedy of everyday life. In movies, “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro” and “Chashme [...]
A Valentine to the City
Published by February 25th, 2008 in Caste, Community, Culture, Indiaspora, Literature, Patriarchy, Personal, Poetry, Politics, Society, Spotlight Series and Women. 1 Comment[ This is Essay # 19 in our Spotlight Series. Click here for the archives.]
A Valentine to the City
————————
Sharanya Manivannan
Sometimes, I hate this city. I don’t deny that. There is so much to hate here. It is merciless. A crude, cruel, unforgiving bitch of a city. The meanness of its people. Sycophancy, moral (dis)order, parochialism [...]
Purandara Dasa
Published by February 22nd, 2008 in Culture, Language, Literature and Music. 0 CommentsThe name of Purandara Dasa is well-known to even the youngest students of Carnatic music. Known as the pitamaha of Carnatic music, his compositions are much sought after for recitals and competitions.
Bellur posts a tidbit trivia post on Purandara Dasaru.
For the uninitiated (like me), Wikipedia provides a detailed introduction.
On Taslima Nasreen and Free Speech
Published by February 13th, 2008 in Announcement, Democracy, Government, Human Rights, Literature, Religion and Women. 1 CommentA public statement by Mahashweta Devi, Arundhati Roy, Ashish Nandy, Girish Karnad, (amongst others) on Taslima Nasreen that I found here:
At a time when India is projecting itself on the world’s stage as a modern democracy, while it hosts international literary festivals and book fairs, the Government of India, most mainstream political parties and their [...]
Every movement or protest has it’s online presence these days. Here is a blog that collecting updates of British Library closure in Trivandrum.
Lessons from the Renaissance
Published by January 6th, 2008 in Art, Business, Culture, History, India, Literature, Music, Poetry and Spotlight Series. 0 Comments[This is Essay #12 in our Spotlight Series. Click here for archives.]
Lessons from the Renaissance
———————————
JK
In 1503, the much awaited clash of the titans was to take place in the Salone dei Cinquecento, the imposing chamber of Palazzo Vecchio in Italy. Piero Soderini, an Italian statesman commissioned Leonardo da Vinci to paint Battle [...]
Men of letters
Published by December 25th, 2007 in Books, History, Literature and Spotlight Series. 2 Comments[This is Essay #7 in our Spotlight Series. Click here for archives.]
Men of Letters
—————
Samanth Subramanian
More than a decade ago, over the course of three essays written for the New York Review of Books, Julian Barnes pondered the correspondence of three Frenchmen: the poets Baudelaire and Mallarmé, and the painter Gustave Courbet. The essays, brought together [...]
Jai Arjun Singh reviews a collection of stories which falls in the ‘Diaspora fiction’ category but isn’t ’stereotypical’:
Reading Karma and Other Stories is a reminder that we live in a world where people travel more extensively than at any earlier point in human history, where an increasing number of people are moving out of their [...]
Keshav Meshram: One day I cursed…
Published by December 7th, 2007 in Caste, Dalit, Language and Literature. 0 CommentsMahavir Chavan pays homage to eminent Marathi writer and poet Keshav Meshram who passed away recently::
EMINENT DALIT poet, critic, novelist and short-story writer Keshav Tanaji Meshram passed away in a hospital at Bandra in Mumbai on Thursday. He was suffering from lung cancer. With his death, a prolific literary career of a man (he [...]
On Kamala Das
Published by October 30th, 2007 in Feminism, India, Literature, Poetry, Women and sexuality. 2 CommentsRajesh discusses the way women writers are seen in India, focusing on the works of Kamala Das.
That her private life being debated threadbare even after she had turned seventy three should give us enough insight into the iron cast template for an Indian writer who happens to be a woman. However if you stick to [...]
Little India talks about his perfect teacher, Dr. PK Mukherjee a.k.a. piklu. He says that there are good teachers, brilliant teachers, but explores the possibility of a perfect teacher.
I told him what I had read, and reminded him of that patient.
He looked into my eyes, as if for the first time, he really noticed me,
he [...]
Flesh-coloured Band-Aids
Published by September 24th, 2007 in Caste, Dalit and Literature. 0 CommentsAniruddha G.Kulkarni writes about how certain early 20th century Marathi writers dealt with the issue of caste:
Many upper-caste Hindus sympathetic to the plight of the untouchables over centuries- often complain about their inability to ‘understand’ Dalits, their politics, their actions, their thinking, their leaders, their art etc.They are correct because Dalits now have decided to [...]
Vidya asks: does literature have to be depressing?
My son recently asked me –“Mom, what is the difference between fiction and literature?” My instinctive reply was, “In literature everyone suffers!” Certainly it seems that in recent examples of literature, especially from Indian writers, the emphasis is on trying to make the characters in the book go [...]
Qurratulain Hyder: More on the Grand Dame of Urdu Novel
Published by August 26th, 2007 in Literature and South Asia. 0 CommentsIndscribe has a most comprehensive obituary on the Marquez of Urdu literature.
Her name meant ‘the delight of eyes’. The daughter of an illustrious couple, Sajjad Hyder Yaldaram and Nazar Zehra, brought Urdu fiction at par with writings in other major languages of the world.
Raza Rumi links to an audio clip from the BBC and also [...]
By the middle of 1935, the final manifesto of the Progressive Writers Association (PWA) was ready. Zaheer returned to India with the document and circulated it among prominent Indian literary figures. The manifesto found an immediate champion in Premchand, one of the most highly respected figures in Hindustani literature, who published its Hindi translation in [...]
zamaanaa baRe shauq se sun rahaa thaaham hii so gaye daastaaN kahte kahte
Mohib writes on the passing away of legendary Urdu writer Qurratulain Hyder
I have seen monks with cell phones in Ladakh but not Monks in cyber cafes. Vistet points out to one such picture and muses about technology, religion and the argumentative India.
Rocky is hyperactive. He wants to do that one more movie, one more TV show, one more radio show. Rocky cannot just sit down and die. He begs for that just one more time - the one last time. “We will get back to it all” he seems to say.
He pleads - like I’ve pleaded. [...]
Recent Comments