If Mahasweta Devi were in a fairy tale, she would be the kid who cried out, “But, the emperor has no clothes!” Her pen is brutally honest, noticing details that most of us prefer not to acknowledge. It comes as no surprise to me now that she isn’t a favourite author with my Bengali friends. Truth bombs make for heavy reading and uncomfortable guilt ( Read more... )

The translators[1] chose a different name for their English translation as compared to the original Kannada novel which instead focused on the most significant female character in the novel, the Lady of the Kanooru house, Subbamma. All through the novel, I kept wondering how many more liberties they may have taken with the presentation of the story ( Read more... )

I stand at Panorama Point looking out at the hills around me: some of them shrouded in fog and cloud, some clearly etched. The wind rustles the grass and overgrowth behind me at arguably one of the best points in Matheran … and now one of the most deserted. There are butterflies flitting by, a light, erratic sprinkling of yellow, purple and white ( Read more... )