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The Aftermath of Sexual Violence – Two Books and a Film
The Aftermath of Sexual Violence – Two Books and a Film It is a coincidence that the two books I read recently and a film I watched on the OTT Prime Amazon all revolve around the common theme of sexual violence. The three are set in different societies, Mexico, India and the US, but all…
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Rama Mehta’s Cornucopia
Rama Mehta’s Cornucopia Am I in a Dream? 23 September 2023, I walked up the stage of the Vidya Bhawan Auditorium at Udaipur to receive this year’s Rama Mehta Writing Grant Award for English. Sara Rai, a scholar, author and translator, the granddaughter of the towering intellectual Premchand was on stage along with Vikram…
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Book Review: Fire Bird by Perumal Murugan
Perumal Murugan’s Firebird : A Farmer’s Search for Permanence Name of Book: Fire Bird Author: Perumal Murugan Translator: Janani Kannan Publisher: Penguin Year: 2023 Fire Bird is a story about a farming family and therefore necessarily revolves around land and labour. Muthu, the youngest son inherits the smallest piece of infertile piece after…
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Book Review: ‘What is Saved: Batori Hui Khushiyan’ by Aamer Hussein
If the first read of the New Year portends what lies ahead, then 2024 should lead to finding a trove of palm-sized, luminous gems, for this is what my first book of the year, Aamer Hussein’s ‘What is Saved: Batori Hui Khushiyan’ (Red River, 2023), was. Aamer Hussein is a Pakistani-British author who feels a…
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Proper Perspective (A Short Story)
Proper Perspective Sitting on a wooden stool outside the roadside shop, I sip a cold drink and watch overloaded trucks go by. This is Mul, a nondescript taluka in central India which has the look of a small rural town struggling to catch up with urbanity. The afternoon is getting hotter by the moment and…
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The Lost Paradise of Jiwati Adivasis : Through the Lens of the Tehsildar
The Lost Paradise of Jiwati Adivasis Through the Lens of the Tehsildar The evening of 10th March. The premises of the Jiwati Tehsil Office is overflowing with large crowds of Adivasis from the across the taluka. For once, this was neither a protest rally nor the public meeting of a political neta. They have…
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Celebrating May Day – Watching ‘Manthan’
Celebrating May Day – Watching Shyam Benegal’s Classic ‘Manthan’ I thought let me celebrate this May Day by watching Shyam Benegal’s milestone movie ‘Manthan’. A classic dedicated to women working in the renowned cooperative ‘Amul’ – the taste of India – this movie changed the course of thought process in people’s movement. Film Heritage…
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Why Gandhi is Immortal
Why Gandhi is Immortal Some Thoughts on Translating Chandrakant Wankhade’s Gandhi ka Marat Nahi Death should mean the end of life. But why is that Mahatma Gandhi continues to live even after his assassination? It is not just his followers who consider him alive, but even those who engineered his murder continue to battle with…
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गांधीद्वेष आजही का उरतो?
गांधीद्वेष आजही का उरतो? … याची कारणे फक्त गांधींच्या चरित्रात वा कृतींमध्येच नव्हेत तर गांधीजींच्या जिवंतपणी त्यांना होणाऱ्या विरोधामागे जी सांस्कृतिक पार्श्वभूमी होती ती आजही कायम असण्यामध्ये शोधावी लागतील, असे सांगणारे पुस्तक आता इंग्रजीतही आले आहे… महात्मा गांधींची दीडशेवी जयंती २०१९ या वर्षी होती; त्यानिमित्त जगभर गांधींवर नवी पुस्तके प्रसिद्ध झाली. एकविसाव्या शतकातील नव-भांडवलशाही आणि…
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The Setti Celebration of Naikpodu Adivasis
We walked away from Kamalbai’s mud hut on the thin path that wended its way through wide cotton fields, with the streaming blobs of white cotton bursting out of pods waiting to be plucked. ‘Would it be the second pluck?’ I asked, following Kamalbai. We must have made a funny pair – she, sixty-seven according…
The Vidarbha Gazette
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