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Queen. The movie which catapulted mainstream feminism into the limelight. Use our cue from it to write your story for Muse of the Month January 2017.
In 2016, we had a very successful Muse of the Month series that culminated in a published book (titled Kunti’s Confessions & Other Short Stories) with the top 15 stories of the year. Every month, a cue was given from a contemporary Indian woman writer, and 5 winning stories were published. From these winners, the 15 final stories were chosen for publication in the book, and they are all examples of superlative fiction, of the raw, untapped talent that we have among us. The book is currently available in e-book format, and will soon be available in print.
In 2017, we come back with a new Muse of the Month series, one with a contemporary twist. Instead of giving you a cue from a book, your cue will be from a feminist movie – either Bollywood or Hollywood.
That sounds very refreshing, doesn’t it? So let us look at the rules and the other stuff first, before getting on to our cue.
Step 1. Watch the video clip embedded, and get inspired.
Step 2. Write your own story/poem/narrative/essay/piece based on the cue. This might not have anything to do with the actual movie clip used, or the actors in it. (And the ‘story’ can be fictional – or not – as you wish).
Step 3. Send your work to us. Please email it to [email protected] with ‘Muse of the month – January 2017’ in the subject line, and your story as a word/txt attachment. Do include the name we should use if we publish it, and a brief introduction of yourself (2-3 lines) in the mail.
Please note: Given the number of entries received, we won’t be able to respond to each one, but every single entry is being read through very carefully and is much appreciated.
Please send in your stories by Wednesday, 18th January, 3 p.m. IST. The 5 best stories will be published on Women’s Web between the 23rd and 27th of January, one on each day.
The material should be previously unpublished elsewhere. (Copyright stays with you and you’re free to subsequently publish it elsewhere).
Keep it between 250 and 2000 words. (Please keep this in mind; in past editions, we have had to disqualify some good entries purely due to word count issues).
Please avoid typing the story as inline text. Send it as an attachment only.
The 5 best entries each month will each win an Amazon voucher worth Rs 250. Plus, there will be 15 overall winners at the end of 2017 from among these winners!
Queen is the story of a small town girl (played by Kangana Ranawat), who is ditched by her fiance just before the wedding. She decides to go on the planned honeymoon alone. While travelling, she learns from her experiences, and is a changed woman at the end of it, a woman who has found her identity.
Editors’ note: The clip we had put up was taken down due to some unforseen copyright issues. We have instead posted the transcript of what happens in the clip with a picture.
In this cue, Kangana’s reel granny tells her that instead staying back in the hotel and watching TV and feeling bad for herself, she should go out and meet people, go sight-seeing…who knows she might find someone interesting too!
Transcript: Rani is sitting in her hotel room in Paris, dejected, watching TV. Her grandmother calls her up. Grandmother: So what are you doing, beta? Rani: Nothing much. Watching TV. Grandmother: If you wanted to watch television, you could have done that in India itself ! Why did you need to go so far? You are in such a beautiful city, and you are sitting in the hotel watching TV? Go out, meet people. And who knows you might meet someone interesting!
Do not forget to send in your entries by Wednesday, 18th January, 3 p.m. IST.
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Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Women today don’t want to be in a partnership that complicates their lives further. They need an equal partner with whom they can figure out life as a team, playing by each other’s strengths.
We all are familiar with that one annoying aunty who is more interested in our marital status than in the dessert counter at a wedding. But these aunties have somehow become obsolete now. Now they are replaced by men we have in our lives. Friends, family, and even work colleagues. It’s the men who are worried about why we are not saying yes to one among their clans. What is wrong with us? Aren’t we scared of dying alone? Like them?
A recent interaction with a guy friend of mine turned sour when he lectured me about how I would regret not getting married at the right time. He lectured that every event in our lives needs to be completed within a certain timeframe set by society else we are doomed. I wasn’t angry. I was just disappointed to realize that annoying aunties are rapidly doubling in our society. And they don’t just appear at weddings or family functions anymore. They are everywhere. They are the real pandemic.
Let’s examine this a little closer.
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