endless string of thoughts popping up...leading to nothing
"nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, its awful!"
Waiting for Almighty
"nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, its awful!"
Waiting for Almighty
Saturday, December 16, 2017
Thursday, December 14, 2017
hibernation
ahh, for all these years i was hibernating under the sheets of life. i realised that my love for literature remains constant. true alley of mine...But at times i might not even flip a page...deep inside i imagine reading book, talking to each characters and even to words. letters, punctuation...
The weed - Amrita Pritam
Title: The weed
Author: Amrita Pritam
Genre: Short Story
Author: Amrita Pritam, a poet, essayist, and novelist, is one of the most prominent women writers in Indian literature. The poem Ode to Waris Shah and the novel Pinjar are often talked of as her masterpieces and both express her anguish over post-partition tribulations and massacres.
Excerpt: Tears flowed down her face in two rivulets, gathering into two tiny puddles at the corners of her mouth.
'Curse on me!' she started in a voice trembling with tears, 'I never took sweets from him... not a betel even... but tea...' She could not finish. Her words were drowned n a fast stream of tears.
Aishwarya speaks: Well, this story is pretty interesting and has a touch of feminism in it. It dwells up on the superstitious beliefs which were once part and parcel of our lives.
The weed is regarded as one of the best short stories of Amrita and like most of her other writings, poses questions regarding gender discrimination and female sexuality that prevail in societies rooted in superstitions and strongly conditioned by patriarchal values and standards. Angoori, the protagonist of the story, is a young, uneducated woman who is taught to believe that reading and education are sinful practices which all village women should keep aloof. But urban women are not considered so. Even village men are not restricted in such a way. Girls like her are even instructed to look upon love between man and woman as the result of some magical power(the working of the weed). When Angoori's father decides to marry her off to much older Prabhati who is also a widower, she accepts her lot without any questions. Finally, when she is attracted to the young and handsome Ram Tara she does not blame it on her loneliness or loveless marriage; she strongly believes that she has also unknowingly succumbed to the charm of weed. Angoori also says that at the age of six, girls choose their husbands by adoring their feet. At that age she doesn't know to choose by herself. So her father takes money and flowers and puts them at his feet. That means father adores the feet and he does it for the girl. There are many interesting instances which dig up on the cultural tags imposed by the society upon woman. At last Angoori requests the narrator to teach her to read. It indicates she is willing to commit the sin.
It also questions the old concept of marriage, sexual attraction and also the basic rights of women that are denied by the society. Ending is not as expected, may be we can call it as an abrupt ending. But it suggest many things. The rest is given to the imagination of the reader.
(It gives an insight into those superstitious beliefs and black magic existed in our society.)
Rating: 4.5/5
Author: Amrita Pritam
Genre: Short Story
Author: Amrita Pritam, a poet, essayist, and novelist, is one of the most prominent women writers in Indian literature. The poem Ode to Waris Shah and the novel Pinjar are often talked of as her masterpieces and both express her anguish over post-partition tribulations and massacres.
Excerpt: Tears flowed down her face in two rivulets, gathering into two tiny puddles at the corners of her mouth.
'Curse on me!' she started in a voice trembling with tears, 'I never took sweets from him... not a betel even... but tea...' She could not finish. Her words were drowned n a fast stream of tears.
Aishwarya speaks: Well, this story is pretty interesting and has a touch of feminism in it. It dwells up on the superstitious beliefs which were once part and parcel of our lives.
The weed is regarded as one of the best short stories of Amrita and like most of her other writings, poses questions regarding gender discrimination and female sexuality that prevail in societies rooted in superstitions and strongly conditioned by patriarchal values and standards. Angoori, the protagonist of the story, is a young, uneducated woman who is taught to believe that reading and education are sinful practices which all village women should keep aloof. But urban women are not considered so. Even village men are not restricted in such a way. Girls like her are even instructed to look upon love between man and woman as the result of some magical power(the working of the weed). When Angoori's father decides to marry her off to much older Prabhati who is also a widower, she accepts her lot without any questions. Finally, when she is attracted to the young and handsome Ram Tara she does not blame it on her loneliness or loveless marriage; she strongly believes that she has also unknowingly succumbed to the charm of weed. Angoori also says that at the age of six, girls choose their husbands by adoring their feet. At that age she doesn't know to choose by herself. So her father takes money and flowers and puts them at his feet. That means father adores the feet and he does it for the girl. There are many interesting instances which dig up on the cultural tags imposed by the society upon woman. At last Angoori requests the narrator to teach her to read. It indicates she is willing to commit the sin.
It also questions the old concept of marriage, sexual attraction and also the basic rights of women that are denied by the society. Ending is not as expected, may be we can call it as an abrupt ending. But it suggest many things. The rest is given to the imagination of the reader.
(It gives an insight into those superstitious beliefs and black magic existed in our society.)
Rating: 4.5/5
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Name of the book: The Color purple
Author: Alice Walker
Genre: African American women- fiction, Epistolary novel
ISBN 978 - 0 - 15 - 603182 - 0
No of pages: 294
Publisher : Harcourt, Inc.
Price: 388 (on flipkart.com)
Author: Alice Walker, the famous African American writer, has won Pulitzer Award for The Color Purple. She is an activist who has worked for the cause of downtrodden black women. She has coined the term Womanism which is closely associated with feminism.
Blurb says: The Color Purple is the story of two sisters-- one a missionary to Africa and the other a child wife living in the South-- who remain loyal to one another across time, distance, and silence. Beautifully imagined and deeply compassionate, this classic of American literature is rich with passion, pain, inspiration, and an indomitable love of life.
Excerpt: I ast him to take me instead of Nettie while our new mammy sick. But he just ast me what i'm talking bout. I tell him I can fix myself up for him. I duck into my room and comeout wearing horsehair, feathers, and a pair of our new mammy high heel shoes. He beat me for dressing trampy but he do it to me anyway.
Aishwarya speaks: The Color Purple is an account of Celie a black woman who has been marginalized and subjugated by the patriarchal society. She undergoes an array of bitter experiences which a woman of today cannot even think of. She never tries to come out from the cage built by her husband Mr.------- until she meets Shug Avery. Later, Shug, being pictured as woman with a man's will, transforms Celie to a perfect independent woman. Involved in a lesbian relation with Shug, Celie discovers her individuality and even her body that couldn't evoke any feelings in her mind. This saga narrates the distressing life of black women who couldn't even articulate a simple word against the male supremacy. An epistolary novel,The Color Purple also speaks out the strong bond of Celie with her sister Nettie who somehow survives the storms with strong determination.
I was not reading the novel rather I was experiencing it and that makes the novel more powerful. The author portrays the exact life of black people who were beaten to pulp during the span of colonization.
Each word in this novel expresses the intensity of their pain. Written in Black English, The Color Purple is a Womanist Post colonial novel. A person who has any feeling for woman would certainly love it.
My rating:5/5
Price: $8.95
book review
This was published in A Lot of Pages:P
LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT
AUTHOR : PREETI SHENOY
Genre: Fiction, romance
ISBN 9789380349305
No of pages: 209
Publisher: Srishti Publishers & Distributors (2011)
Price: Rs. 65 ( on flipkart.com)
Blurb says: Ankita Sharma has the world at her feet. She is young, good looking, smart and has tonnes of friends and boys swooning over her. College life is what every youngster dreams of and she also manages to get into a premier management school for her MBA . Six months later, she is a patient in a mental hospital. How did Ankita get here? What were the events that led to this? Will she ever get back her life again?
Excerpt: "How many guys will you trap with your wily charms, you stupid little tramp?" My mother almost spat out. Her words cut deep, scooping out my deepest feelings of apprehension and exposing it threadbare.
Aishwarya speaks: "Life is what you make it", first I saw this book on flipkart when i searched for some other novels for my project. As the title says, life is what you make it. It is an inspiring story in which how a girl ascends back to her success ladder. Ankita Sharma, stabbed by her own fate, sinks deep to the sea of troubles. Later she becomes a psychic person and is torn into pieces. Her determination brings her back to life. The author succeeds in imprinting Ankita's emotions and feelings in reader's mind.
Ankita's feeling of love swings back and forth and in between Abhi, her boyfriend commits suicide due to her negligence. This incident later has a profound influence on her actions. This is a story of a girl who fights with her own life and makes it her own. Story plot is basically set across in two cities Bombay and Cochin. Preeti Shenoy has captured the nuances of late 80's and early 90's. The book starts with a poem of W.E Henley and it also contains a beautiful poem written by the protagonist during the initial phase of depression. The language is simple and I would recommend this book especially for its vividness except some monotonous descriptions. The author is intended to pass a message even through its title: Life is What you make it.
My Rating: 4/5
Price: Rs. 100
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Thursday, February 2, 2012
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