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SERIAL NOVELS

Chapter 9 of Karna, My Son By Uma Shankari, Bangalore, India 

That day, when Gandhari had sent her personal messenger asking for my permission to meet me, I was happy. It had been a month after Pandu's funeral ceremonies. We were slowly getting acclimatized to the new home and the new circumstances. True, Hastinapur palace itself wasn't new, but many things had changed since we had set out from there.

SHORT STORIES

Master Ji By Indrani Talukdar, Delhi (NCR), India 

“God knows who he thinks he is,” Runu mausi jerked her nose towards Mr. Goswami, whom everybody called Master Ji. There was nothing in the art teacher’s demeanor to justify the epithet, though. Not to me that is. The term held the suggestion of a bony male frame, sartorially inelegant. Yet there was nothing inelegant about Mr. Goswami, as he resembled an Italian Lorenzo pipe, dark, brooding and sophisticated in a 3-piece tailored suit.

JESSIE'S CORNER

HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY!!

Women or should moi say womanhood is celebrated on this day—8th March, when women are treated with a lot more respect and dignity than the other usual days! It’s even surprising that in this male dominated society, a day is actually taken off the calendar for the women to celebrate their womanhood. Very magnanimous moi could say!

 SHAIL'S SPACE

How free is Freedom of Expression?

You may have heard of reports in all kinds of media of the reputed artist, M F Husain’s decision to give up Indian citizenship and take up citizenship in Qatar. This because he and his work were not guaranteed freedom of expression as is evident in all the events from the time his controversial painting of the nude goddess took place. His paintings were destroyed, his house vandalized and cases piled up against him for disrupting harmony in the country..

 MOVIE REVIEW BY IRENE

Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?

A guest who overstays his welcome, makes himself quite disagreeable with his unreasonable demands, and one who refuses to take any hints about leaving – sounds like a perfect nightmare and an idea for great comedy. But Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge? is guilty of never developing the idea to justify a feature film length. Moreover, since there is nothing new or unpredictable in the situation, you would expect some novel / bizarre developments, and there aren’t any that have been developed properly enough to not feel contrived or predictable.

OTHER BLOGS

In Poetry Corner - Woman, Beautiful Woman! By Shail Raghuvanshi, Chennai, India    

Woman,
Beautiful woman.
The world searches in you
frantically,
qualities that it does not possess.
In vain, for ages,
you have been judged,
accused..

In True Incidents - I Was There By Joy Clarkson, Gurgaon, India    

It had been a long flight. Due to various reasons I had to fly to Chile by the South African Airline, which meant a circuitous route. My sojourn began from New Delhi domestic airport on February 18, Thursday. I had to go to Mumbai from where the first leg of my journey to Latin America would begin. First stop was Johannesburg. A change of planes and I was on my way to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Another change of planes and I was on my way to Santiago, Chile.

In True Incidents - Small acts of courage can empower By Sunanda Menon, Kochi, India    

It was in the summer of 1984, that I first visited, Dehradun, Uttarakhand (India). My husband was serving in the army then and we had just shifted to the cantonment area called Clement Town in Dehradun. A sleepy little place, it had all the comforts an army wife looks for; a cozy house, a good school, ‘bazaar’, the park, all within walking distance of the house. All I needed was a housemaid who could help me with the household chores.

In Social Issues - SOCIAL TRAITS – Perspective of social interaction By Seema Moghe, Deolali, India    

After that he extorted the much needed applause for his son and also for his foresighted ingenuity in getting a double lamination done, to preserve the praiseworthy news. After that he continued with the errand I was there for, but superimposed it with the verbose information on alliances and proposals for his marriageable daughter only after he had described how meritorious her academics had been and how she was now working for a highly reputed professional in the city...

In Social Issues - When Women are tagged Witches By Gouri Guha, Delhi, India    

In many backward parts of India, there is a wide belief about witches and witchcraft. Going along with this thought many cases have come to the limelight and many women have been killed when the tag of “Witch” has been attached to them. The reasons known to those who are strongly in favour of it to attach such a strong label.

In Female Issues - Poser to Housewives: What Do You Do the Whole Day? By Padma Mohan Kumar, Trivandrum, India    

It’s very difficult to think of a homemaker who would not have faced such a question. One can imagine only too well her seething frustration on hearing it. The very word ‘housewife’ conjures up visions of a lady whiling away the hours in non-productive activities while her ‘working’ counterpart is engaged in multitasking at various fronts and bringing home a fat pay packet to boot.

In Perspective - Women Who Have Influenced Me By Mita Banerjee, Pune, India    

Who are the women whom we look to for inspiration? Mother Teresa? Indira Gandhi? Sushmita Sen? Well they are right there on a pedestal – but on a more day-to-day basis, I think we look closer to home – women like us, ordinary women, who go through life, displaying rare tenacity, determination and strength, even in the face of adversity. They may not be geniuses, or breathtakingly beautiful, or from the social elite; in fact they have nothing which would make them stand apart in a crowd.

In Perspective - Women Saints and Sages of India By D.Om Prakash Narayan, Salem, India    

“Who is the sexiest Indian female? – this was the topic my wife, who is a free lance writer, got one day as an assignment through the net from an agency she works for, as I was leaving for office from home. As I was driving to office, I was thinking about the subject and came to the conclusion that instead of asking who is the most endowed, had they only asked to name Indian women of the 19th and 20th centuries who can be considered as a real symbol of the true, spiritual India...

In Perspective - When Life Gets Techno-Turvy ..... By Sangeeta Deogawanka, Kolkata, India    

The friends have been texting and messaging, wondering where I have disappeared to. For dropping by Facebook is now like a visit to the Water Park, a rare event. A chat invite from an old friend visiting India gets a ‘tata’ icon, before I rush offline. A traditional Email reminds me I haven’t blogged for months or participated in any policy making forums, online and offline.

In Food Corner - Goodies from Gray’s Hill By Beyniaz Edulji, Hyderabad, India    

A recent road trip from Hyderabad to Coonoor took us to many different places, past the reserve forests of Bandipur, Masinagudi and Madhumalai, where tigers, panthers, deer, wild boar, mongoose, wild fowl, peacocks, monkeys and elephants roamed carefree. We visited spice and tea plantations and met a lot of interesting people but the trip’s highlight was meeting Shernaz Sethna, a cheese maker of formidable repute in the Nilgiris.

 

 

 

 

             
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