For anyone interested in reading about the lives of Indian women in the nineteenth century, the work of the pioneering social activist Cornelia Sorabji is one of the first places to begin.

Review by Uma Mahadevan-Dasgupta

This Oxford India reissue of Cornelia Sorabji’s collected fiction, Love and Life Behind the Purdah (first published in 1901) has a good introduction by editor Chandani Lokuge that puts Sorabji’s pioneering fiction in context.

Cornelia Sorabji’s own life story is both fascinating and tragic. Her father was a Zoroastrian Parsi who converted to Christianity, causing ripples in their circle; her mother was a tribal woman, possibly a Toda, from the Nilgiris who had been adopted by an army officer and his wife. The Sorabji couple’s commitment to social reform, education, and progressive thinking inspired Cornelia [...]]]> Love And Life Behind The Purdah: The Early Indian Women Writers series covers a few remarkable books by from the 1900 – 1950 period. 

For anyone interested in reading about the lives of Indian women in the nineteenth century, the work of the pioneering social activist Cornelia Sorabji is one of the first places to begin.

Review by Uma Mahadevan-Dasgupta

This Oxford India reissue of Cornelia Sorabji’s collected fiction, Love and Life Behind the Purdah (first published in 1901) has a good introduction by editor Chandani Lokuge that puts Sorabji’s pioneering fiction in context.

Cornelia Sorabji’s own life story is both fascinating and tragic. Her father was a Zoroastrian Parsi who converted to Christianity, causing ripples in their circle; her mother was a tribal woman, possibly a Toda, from the Nilgiris who had been adopted by an army officer and his wife. The Sorabji couple’s commitment to social reform, education, and progressive thinking inspired Cornelia not only to study further – she became the first Indian woman to qualify in law from Oxford and then, thwarted from practising in the Bar because she was a woman, went on to represent Hindu purdahnashins – but also pervaded her writing with a deep sense of empathy for the underprivileged.

Cornelia encountered obstacles at every stage in her life – being awarded a Government of India scholarship only to have it invalidated due to gender discrimination; wanting to study medicine but having to turn to law; passing the BCL examination at Oxford but not being admitted to the Degree. Yet her struggles only seem to have strengthened her resolve, and she continued her work until the deterioration of her mental health and her hospitalisation in the mid-1940s. Incidentally, there is an inconsistency in the dates provided on the book jacket (1866-1952) and in the chronology inside (1866-1954).

Sorabji’s fiction draws from her rich experience in working with marginalised Indian women. Not only her childhood as the daughter of progressive reformers but also her own field experience showed her that reform did not mean any one magic quick-fix solution: the women she met and worked with were caught in diverse, complex circumstances.

In fiction, Sorabji found the space to trace the varied nuances of these lives. Not only the relationships of men and women, but also those within the community that lived behind the purdah: the subtle betrayals, the unspoken friendships, the solidarity, the generosity.

Whether we are seeing an old Shastri cremating his little grandchild, or a Parsi woman bringing her dead daughter home from the railway station, Sorabji’s storytelling is observant, detailed, and compassionate.

Whether we are seeing an old Shastri cremating his little grandchild, or a Parsi woman bringing her dead daughter home from the railway station, Sorabji’s storytelling is observant, detailed, and compassionate. Asked to administer ten thousand lashes to his wife as the orthodox punishment because her child died in her arms, Khursud painfully recalls their betrothal: “Makkhi, little Makkhi! What was it you wore the day we exchanged the betrothal ring?… Good God! I can’t!” But he does, and that is his tragedy.

Sorabji’s eye for the hypocrisies of the age is unsparing: whether it is the pundit Nano’s desire for his wife’s niece, or a king’s decision to take a fifth wife – it is not quite his wish, he tells the other queens apologetically, but “a political necessity…some political differences to adjust.”

The most powerful passage in this collection is in the first section of the short story “The Pestilence at Noonday”. A husband and wife are having a conversation. The husband is departing for other shores, leaving his wife behind at home. “I shall have many things to interest me,” he says to his wife. “Knowledge to acquire, the world to sample, a name to make. How, then, will there be room for thought of women, and petting, and suchlike?”

Through this section, the wife speaks a total of two lines, while the husband expounds in entire paragraphs. “I am sorry that I let them educate you,” he says when she protests mildly that he is being unkind – and goes on to list all the little ‘freedoms’ he has permitted her. Is he being ironical, she wonders: “Sita stole a look at him. No! he was quite serious.”

The husband, whose name is Het Ram, goes on: “Yes! The gods and fate have created you for my convenience and ministration; the only dignity which you will ever acquire will be incidental.”

The narrative then pulls back slightly, asking us to look at the two of them together by the lotus pond – “the man and woman; both strong, handsome young creatures, developed wholesomely, mind and body.” After a moment’s thought, silently, Sita walks away. “‘Sita!’ called her husband; but for once no little caressing creature came to rub a gentle cheek against his extended hand.”

 If you’re planning to purchase Cornelia Sorabji’s Love And Life Behind The Purdah, do consider buying it through this Women’s Web affiliate link at Flipkart. We get a small share of the proceeds – every little bit will help us continue bringing you the content you like!

For readers outside India, you can get a copy of Love and Life Behind the Purdah (Oxford India Classic Reissue) via this link at Amazon.

Bold, outspoken and confident, Rinzu Rajan believes in being an active participant in the Women’s Web community. Be it guest blogging, commenting or participating in our contests, her enthusiasm always grabs your attention! Let’s talk to her!

Hi Rinzu! Tell us a little about yourself.

I am learning poetry to survive, doing research to see a breakthrough technology in alternative fuels someday and wail and whine against the atrocities we women face in the name of moral, religious and social values!

Do you have any life goals for yourself or anything that you think your life must include?

Yes as of now, finish Phd and get on with post doctorate. And over time, improve on my writing skills by utilizing a writing scholarship to ulterior use. Also seeing my book coming in the market someday [...]]]> Reader’s Corner looks at the contemporary urban Indian woman, through the lens of a Women’s Web reader in each interview.

Bold, outspoken and confident, Rinzu Rajan believes in being an active participant in the Women’s Web community. Be it guest blogging, commenting or participating in our contests, her enthusiasm always grabs your attention! Let’s talk to her!

Hi Rinzu! Tell us a little about yourself.

I am learning poetry to survive, doing research to see a breakthrough technology in alternative fuels someday and wail and whine against the atrocities we women face in the name of moral, religious and social values!

Do you have any life goals for yourself or anything that you think your life must include?

Yes as of now, finish Phd and get on with post doctorate. And over time, improve on my writing skills by utilizing a writing scholarship to ulterior use. Also seeing my book coming in the market someday and getting a pushcart nomination. The last two might be fragile human expectations.

How far along would you say you are in achieving these? What would you love to have/achieve that you don’t yet have?

I have started with Phd and would finish it in sometime. A post doctorate scholarship, a poetry book and a pushcart nomination are things I am working towards with dedicated honesty.

Is your life today as you imagined it would be 5 years ago? Where do you want to be 5 years from now?

I don’t make five year plans since they never become a reality, atleast in my life they never did. Five years ago, I had never imagined in my waking dreams that I would be writing poetry to feed my soul. Five years later, I am doing it without knowing the cause for why and how I felt the need for it. I am working towards my professional and creative goals and want to see them getting fulfilled someday, but that cannot be deemed as a five year plan.

Do you believe that being a woman has made a difference to your choices and/your life?

As a daughter no, never. I have had the most loving parents in the world, who brought me up to be a strong and sane person. I wasn’t brought up with the idea of getting married or becoming a mother as my life’s only goals. These they think are choices, which I must make for myself as a person someday, again only if I want to. They are one of the reasons I am pursuing my career without the pestering pressure to please the society or their peers. In my professional life, I did see some disturbing trends which wouldn’t have come to me had I been a man. As a creative person, most of the time my credentials as a writer and a woman were questioned because I loved talking about equality of both the sexes. Had I been a man all these brickbats might not have welcomed me.

Tell us one thing that you like about Women’s Web and one thing you think we could do better!

The freedom to express one’s thoughts without fear is the reason I love WW very much. I always make sure to share the best of the articles displayed on your site on my Facebook page. You can make the website more user friendly by going for a template that is easier to browse, with spacing in between the browsing buttons. The page looks as if it is begging for space and sometimes while browsing I get confused about what I was reading or searching for! Just my suggestion, apologies if that offended you.

Thanks Rinzu! No offense taken!

Check out Rinzu’s blog.

*Photo credit: Rinzu Rajan

Meet Himani Vashishta, author of Princess of Falcons, a story about a modern-day warrior princess Silviya, who is forced to choose between her deceptively normal present and her tumultuous past. 

If you had not become a writer, what would you have been?

Writing is my passion, still not my profession. My dream job is that which can gives me the power to command. That’s why I am a judicial service aspirant. 

What is the best thing about being a published author?

I feel that till now this is the greatest achievement of my life. The way people approach me and think of me now has changed radically. Every day when I open my inbox, I feel a kind of self satisfaction, when I see emails and messages from strangers, who seem eager [...]]]> In the ‘Author’s Corner’ series we shine the spotlight on promising first-time female authors. Hope you enjoy reading some fun facts about them! 

Meet Himani Vashishta, author of Princess of Falcons, a story about a modern-day warrior princess Silviya, who is forced to choose between her deceptively normal present and her tumultuous past. 

If you had not become a writer, what would you have been?

Writing is my passion, still not my profession. My dream job is that which can gives me the power to command. That’s why I am a judicial service aspirant. 

What is the best thing about being a published author?

I feel that till now this is the greatest achievement of my life. The way people approach me and think of me now has changed radically. Every day when I open my inbox, I feel a kind of self satisfaction, when I see emails and messages from strangers, who seem eager to know more about me, talking to me because of my novel. Googling myself and opening my fan page daily, delights me. Random mails from people who really liked my book and think high of me, makes my day.

Two months back when I was travelling to Jaipur from Delhi, I met a girl who was reading my book in the train. When she came to know that I am author of the book her excitement was at a peak. The book was gifted to her by her fiancée, she instantly called him and they both seemed very excited to talk to me. The kind of respect that everyone in the train compartment started showing towards me almost made me cry with happiness.

It feels amazing when my friends introduce me as an author and they feel proud being the friend of an author. Being a single and young woman, the attention from  a few of my male readers makes me smile at times. 

What is the hardest thing about writing a book?

Writing requires a lot of patience. For me the biggest hurdle was that I am a not voracious reader. I had the power of imagining many stories but because I was not a good reader, initially I faced a lot of problems with my use of language and words. It was only after writing the first draft of my book that I started reading other’s work also, to improve my language.

For new entrants in the publishing industry it’s very difficult to get published. Lack of proper guidance and experience can lead a budding writer astray.

If you were a man, would there be anything different about your book?

First of all I sincerely thank God that I am a woman. Patience, power and inherent dignity are God’s gift to women.

I believe women are more imaginative than men. J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer have proved it so far. Women are naturally better storytellers than men.

If I were a man maybe my protagonist would have been a man but being a female I chose a female protagonist. Since my childhood I’ve worshipped Goddess Durga, the source of power and I’ve always believed that a woman is stronger than a man. Hence in my novel too I have emphasized more on the power of my female protagonist rather than her beauty. If I were a man, I might have emphasized more on her beauty and tenderness.

Who was the first to read your book? What was their first reaction?

My mother, who is my tutor too, was my first reader. She is the one who taught me language and built my vocabulary. For her, reading my book was like eating the sweet fruits of a tree she had sowed years ago.

She was proud and happy. After the initial rejection of my book by the publisher, I was discouraged, but she was always hopeful and had belief in my capabilities.

One book you would love to have written?

Harry Potter, the imaginative world J.K.Rowling has created is awesome. As I like fantasies she is my idol. Her life story has also inspired me a lot.

Future literary plans?

Currently I am working on various literary projects. I have written a love stories collection Char Gulab in Hindi and, I hope that will also be published soon. I am also writing an occult nonfiction Astral Projection-Out of Body Experience & Lucid Dreaming.

Apart from that I have outlined two more books in Hindi. One book Santosh Bhawan would be based on social issues, depicting the life story of a woman, her fight for her rights, justice and her struggle for her existence and her identity. This book is somewhere inspired by my own life.

Another book Virhani also in Hindi, touches upon the pain of love and separation. I believe that the depth of emotions I wish to depict in Virhani will move my sensitive readers to tears.

Thank you Himani!

*Photo credit: Himani Vashishta

Previous Interviews in Author’s Corner:

Lata Gwalani of Incognito

Nina Godiwalla of Suits

Urvashi Gulia of My Way Is The Highway

Kiran Manral of The Reluctant Detective

Ameera Al Hakawati of Desperate In Dubai

Judy Balan of Two Fates

Review by Unmana Datta

The authors of Beautiful Country, Syeda Hameed and Gunjan Veda, worked in the Planning Commission and traveled across the country. This book contains tales from their travels and as the subtitle promises, shows us glimpses of the India we know so little about. If only the writing were more compelling and focused.

The writers write movingly of the “othering” of the north east by the rest of India and of the dangers of integrating indigenous people into the mainstream, like in Andaman and Nicobar. While the narrative flounders in parts, it flowers wonderfully when the writers share little details of their adventures, like a young Naga woman bringing them food. The meandering writing isn’t helped by the writers’ predilection for quoting Hindi verses that, nice as they [...]]]> Beautiful Country by Syeda Hameed and Gunjan Veda tells us ‘stories from another India’ although it could have used some ruthless editing.

Review by Unmana Datta

The authors of Beautiful Country, Syeda Hameed and Gunjan Veda, worked in the Planning Commission and traveled across the country. This book contains tales from their travels and as the subtitle promises, shows us glimpses of the India we know so little about. If only the writing were more compelling and focused.

The writers write movingly of the “othering” of the north east by the rest of India and of the dangers of integrating indigenous people into the mainstream, like in Andaman and Nicobar. While the narrative flounders in parts, it flowers wonderfully when the writers share little details of their adventures, like a young Naga woman bringing them food. The meandering writing isn’t helped by the writers’ predilection for quoting Hindi verses that, nice as they are, have at best a tenacious link to the narrative. It might also have helped to choose not to have so many Indian language words, or else to have them explained in footnotes instead of the frequent interruptions in parentheses.

The uneven narrative at times leaves the reader hanging. The writer mentions that a woman in Manipur advises her to meet Irom Sharmila. She then talks about meeting Sharmila in Delhi later, but makes no mention of trying to meet her on that visit.

There are also inconsistencies in the writers’ arguments. At one point, the writers bemoan the fading popularity of the sari and defend its practicality, “But how could one believe that the sari was impractical and hence a thing of the past? Syeda’s entire odyssey through India was performed comfortably in the traditional six yards of cloth.”

But just a few pages later, there’s this: “Climbing onto a huge loader truck is no easy task, especially when one is wearing a sari.”

The chapter scheme is a bit odd. Passages about Manipur and Nagaland, for example, are clubbed into the same chapter, even though they deal with completely different themes. Then there are unfortunate turns of phrase such as this: “An old man in a dhoti whose name was Bhogilal.”

But the stories themselves are very interesting, and I learned so much about my own country from them. With some careful and ruthless editing, this book would have been a page-turner in addition to the informative tome it is.

Publisher: Harper Collins

If you’re planning to purchase Syeda Hameed and Gunjan Veda’s Beautiful Country do consider buying it through this Women’s Web affiliate link at Flipkart. We get a small share of the proceeds – every little bit will help us continue bringing you the content you like!

Readers outside India can purchase Beautiful Country through our affiliate link at Amazon.

Written over a hundred years ago, Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati’s The High-Caste Hindu Woman feels relevant even today.

Review by Anjana Basu

What is right is that the ‘silence of a thousand years’ was broken with the writing of this book, The High-Caste Hindu Woman in 1888. Originally written in Marathi, it was translated into  English and sold in America. Profits from it were used to help destitute women in India. Before the book was published very few in America were aware of what conditions for women were like in India – though the knowledge was of course available in England.

Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati who lived a remarkable life for a woman in her time – wandering with her parents through India educated solely by her Brahmin father who believed that women deserved education, married [...]]]> The Early Indian Women Writers series reviews a few remarkable books by Indian women from the 1900 – 1950 period. 

Written over a hundred years ago, Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati’s The High-Caste Hindu Woman feels relevant even today.

Review by Anjana Basu

What is right is that the ‘silence of a thousand years’ was broken with the writing of this book, The High-Caste Hindu Woman in 1888. Originally written in Marathi, it was translated into  English and sold in America. Profits from it were used to help destitute women in India. Before the book was published very few in America were aware of what conditions for women were like in India – though the knowledge was of course available in England.

Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati who lived a remarkable life for a woman in her time – wandering with her parents through India educated solely by her Brahmin father who believed that women deserved education, married in Calcutta after losing her entire family, widowed with a daughter and forced to fend for herself – set out to explain the laws of Manu and Hindu tradition and their effects on women. In the course of her life, she had converted to Christianity feeling that it allowed for more freedom and been awarded scholarships to study in England. This added emancipation and scholarship gave her greater freedom to comment on the condition of women in India, though she confined herself to high caste women since she was familiar with their problems.

The book covers every stage of a high caste woman’s life, beginning with childhood, stating a woman’s place in religion and society so that Ramabai’s comments can be given a clear context and ending with an appeal for the betterment of women’s lives through the creation of an institution where high caste widows could be educated and cared for and taught to be independent – this she points out in an earlier chapter is against Manu’s laws, since women ‘are never fit for independence’.

Women, Ramabai writes, are chattels, as much part of the household as livestock. They are forbidden access to any kind of learning and are kept happy with ornaments and ‘dainty food together with an occasional bow’. Girl children are happy to get married young because they mistake their wedding finery and food for sudden welcome ‘cosseting’. And then of course there is ‘the worst and most dreaded period of a high caste woman’s life. Throughout India, widowhood is regarded as the punishment for a horrible crime or crimes committed by the woman in her former existence upon earth.’ And Sati, according to Ramabai, was introduced by a callous changing of a Vedic verse by the Brahmins.

Ramabai does not launch into any kind of rant against society. Very logically she points out that women by being unwilling to learn and giving in to slavery will in no way be capable of producing children who will do the nation proud. The sons of such mothers will only learn ‘fault-finding with neighbors, bitter feelings towards tyrant relatives expressed in words and actions, selfish interest in personal and family affairs’ since that is the only thing that high caste women confined to purdah are allowed to dabble in.

If society is to progress, women must be allowed to progress since pre natal influences on a unborn child are strong and a mother deprived of fresh air by being confined to purdah will not be able to produce a strong healthy child, whether male or female. ‘Moreover the Hindu woman’s ignorance prevents liberal-minded and progressive men from making necessary and important changes in the manners and habits of the household’.

Her solution to the problems she had enumerated is education, self reliance and ‘native women teachers’ – because American and English missionaries, while dedicated, are only capable of communicating in English.

All in all, given the age in which it was written, this is an admirable treatise and many of the things that Ramabai writes still hold good today. Child marriage, women’s education and the rights of widows, not to mention female foeticide, which she also touches upon, continue to be burning issues. Perhaps the book, which has been reissued, should be more widely circulated.

Publishers: BiblioLife

Review By Anjana Basu

All the women media persons writing in this anthology have one thing in common. They were winners of the Chameli Devi Jain Award. Chameli Devi was an ordinary housewife from Delhi who got caught up in the freedom struggle, was arrested and sent to Lahore Jail because of her courage and independence. Her family partially funded the award that carries her name.

It is an award given to women who have distinguished themselves in the media field and the first award was given in 1982, when women were gradually beginning to make an impression in the media but still had to struggle to be noticed in the face of male domination. The arena for women then was still restricted to covering beauty pageants and flower shows.

Today [...]]]> Making News, Breaking News, Her Own Way is a collection of essays by award-winning female journalists, edited by Latika Padgaonkar and Shubha Singh.

Review By Anjana Basu

All the women media persons writing in this anthology have one thing in common. They were winners of the Chameli Devi Jain Award. Chameli Devi was an ordinary housewife from Delhi who got caught up in the freedom struggle, was arrested and sent to Lahore Jail because of her courage and independence. Her family partially funded the award that carries her name.

It is an award given to women who have distinguished themselves in the media field and the first award was given in 1982, when women were gradually beginning to make an impression in the media but still had to struggle to be noticed in the face of male domination. The arena for women then was still restricted to covering beauty pageants and flower shows.

Today the media world has changed. Television has seen women at the front in Kargil tackling harsh conditions to bring a story of suffering and gallantry to the world and, in so doing, display shining courage under fire. No field is forbidden, whether it is corruption, child labour or caste massacres and women have fought boldly for human rights using the many types of media at their disposal.

The book is a collection of essays written by the awardees. It is obviously not a coincidence that they represent India’s leading media persons. Names like Barkha Dutt, the late Homai Vyarawala, one of India’s first women photojournalists, Tavleen Singh and Madhu Kishwar to name a few. It chronicles the changing world of the media, from the days when journalists tapped out their stories on battered Olivetti typewriters and had to rely on the post office or the telegraph to get their coverage to the papers on time, to today when instant communication and on the spot reportage has shrunk the globe and changed audience response.

Media women have come a long way and this book of essays provides valuable coverage spanning the changing time frames. What is perhaps a little disheartening is the fact that the essays are all responses to winning the award and outlines the work that each journalist did to be chosen. ‘When I was chosen for the award I was…’ or ‘To be frank a journalistic career was hardly in my dreams’ is the kind of phrase that appears time and time again, causing the reader to stumble a little in the flow of inspiration.

What I was expecting when I received the book was the actual story for which the award was finally given – though yes, the award is for a body of work and it might be difficult to pin it down to one piece. There are insights – Barkha Dutt talking about how she was inspired by her mother Prabha, or Pamela Philipose saying that, “Legwork and observation combined with powers of imagination” were crucial ingredients in a good newspaper story.  And a few actual stories like Ratna Bharali Talukdar’s on witch-hunting in Assam.

For a young woman journalist in the making the book is invaluable since it outlines many of the problems behind the scenes and since quite a few of the essays expand on the difficulties involved in breaking through the glass ceiling in the male dominated world. Rehana Halim’s piece for instance describes the birth of the women run paper Newsline in Pakistan, made possible because Zia ul Huq’s plane crashed at the right time. She says, “Had the General died a week earlier…Newsline would never have been born”. That would surely be a revelation for women journalists in India who do not have to crash through doubly insulated glass ceilings to make an impact.

With me, one essay strikes a chord, Nirupama Subramaniam’s. She writes, “I do not think of myself as a ‘woman journalist’. I am a journalist full stop.”  Journalist or media fan, in the end this collection is about the value of the Fourth Estate, the long hard journey to the 21^st century and the importance of reporting the complete story. 

Publishers: Tranquebar Press

If you’re planning to purchase Making news, Breaking News, Her Own Way do consider buying it through this Women’s Web affiliate link at Flipkart. We get a small share of the proceeds – every little bit will help us continue bringing you the content you like!

Readers outside India can purchase Making News, Breaking News, Her Own Way through our affiliate link at Amazon.

Lata Gwalani weaves an intriguing tale through her psychological thriller Incognito – a story which lures the protagonist as well as the readers into its sinister depths.

If you had not become a writer, what would you have been?

A private writer! I have always been writing to myself…and my profession as a behavioural trainer offers me plenty of opportunity to put down my workshop experiences in writing.

What is the best thing about being a published author?

When the spine of your book beckons you from a crowded book shelf in a book store!

What is the hardest thing about writing a book?

Knowing where to stop!

If you were a man, would there be anything different about your book?

Plenty! A man’s perspective of Anjali, the protagonist, would have been interestingly different.

Who was [...]]]> In the ‘Author’s Corner’ series we shine the spotlight on promising first-time female authors. Hope you enjoy reading some fun facts about them!