Becoming women

Making A Difference
Edited by Ritu Menon
Women Unlimited
Rs 350  n pp 38

Never mind which city of the world it is, streets come alive when a SlutWalk is held. Quite often, the audacious garments (not so much on display in Delhi’s version) steal the show from the bold message being conveyed (a protest against the culture of blaming the victim in cases of sexual violence in public areas). And then, once the linguistic subversion of the word ‘slut’ has been amply debated, the question veers to the inevitable: has the fashionable (but so facile) feminism that is busy championing the short skirt gained primacy over old-style feminism that fought long and hard to change laws and make living slightly easier for women? To remain relevant and acceptable to market-led living, will feminism have to be less grrr, and more prrr, to borrow an expression frequently bandied about?

Making a Difference: Memoirs from the Women’s Movement in India does not answer those questions. As the title suggests, it is a compilation of personal accounts from some of the leading feminists and women’s rights activists of the country. The editor Ritu Menon had asked these women to talk about their forays into feminism (when, and how, exactly do you realise that you are a feminist), the struggles they waged and causes they promoted, and how they managed to sustain themselves through the difficult years. In this book, those direct, conversational narratives start speaking to you, devoid of academic jargon, their different voices amalgamating the major strands of the women’s movement through the fervent 1970s and 80s.

Full review here Hindustan Times

Esther David, Ahmedabad in US calendar on Jewish women writers

The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (HBI) has chosen to feature Shalom India Housing Society a novel by Esther David published by Women Unlimited, New Delhi and Feminist Press, USA, in the Hasassah-Brandeis 2010-2011 calendar, which highlights 12 eminent Jewish women authors of across the world whose 'writing illuminates a particular city'. The title of the calendar is 'Jewish Women Writers and the Cities that Influence Them'.

The calendar highlights authors whose writing illuminates life in urban settings all across the globe. Featured authors share experiences that span multiple generations, 12 cities and eight countries. Each writer's Jewishness comes out through her work in unique ways and the calendar highlights themes of immigration, identity, family, gender and religion.

Shulamit Reinharz, founding director of HBI says, "You will discover how writing these books challenged stereotypes, recognizes the power of books to transform and enlighten." In the past, HBI calendars featured the achievements and contributions of Jewish women scientists, writers, athletes, women rabbis, and activist artists.

Full report here Times of India 

Reason to rhyme

In the beginning, there was verse. Before people had anything to write with, or on, they found stories easier to remember when they set the words to a beat, and possibly a tune.

And yet, most readers today find poetry harder to follow than prose. They don't get it, or they think of it as merely ornamental writing. A poet closely weaves meaning and form together. A poet chooses a word for any and all of its meanings but also for its ambiguities, for its potential to mislead, and sometimes for the pure sound of it. A poem is coded, but when it is well-written, the reader leaps right into its meaning.

I usually pick up prose, but sometimes an event or even a gimmick hustles me into poetry. It was the strange title that started me on Interior Decoration, published by Women Unlimited. Once inside it, I found fury and beauty, from Amrita Bharati, Prathibha Nandakumar, Kondepudi Nirmala. I will dip into it for years, but just one line made it sing the day I picked it up: “In him the hungry haste / Of rivers, in me the ocean's tireless / Waiting.” (That's Kamala Das, An Introduction.)

Full report here Hindu