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We end the 2016 Muse of the Month series with inspiration from Namita Gokhale, an iconic Indian writer. The 5 best entries get published on Women's Web.
We end the 2016 Muse of the Month series with inspiration from Namita Gokhale, an iconic Indian writer. The 5 best entries get published on Women’s Web.
Step 1. Read the writing cue (which is either a direct quote from the featured author, or a quote from one of their works, mentioned down below) and get inspired.
Step 2. Write your own story/poem/narrative/essay/piece based on the cue. You could use it as the opening line, the closing sentence, or somewhere in between! You could even choose not to use it anywhere in your story – just write a story using the cue as a prompt. (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 – December 2016’ 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 Tuesday, 13th December, 3 p.m. IST. The 5 best stories will be published on Women’s Web between the 19th and 23rd of December, 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The material should be previously unpublished elsewhere.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 will each win a Flipkart voucher worth Rs 250. Plus, there will be 10 overall winners at the end of 2016 from among these winners!
Founder director of Jaipur Literature Festival, Namita Gokhale is an author known for her adaptations of classical myths and literature.
She was born in Lucknow to Kumaoni parents. Married at 18, she debuted with her first novel Paro: Dreams of Passion in 1984, much criticised for its candid sexual humor.
Most of her female protagonists have been from the upper middle class and have had to face dishonour. Her female characters are prone to subtly challenge male supremacy in society. Her characters hail from a cross section of society and are inspired by social reality.
Namita Gokhale is a versatile author with easy command over fiction and non-fiction writing. Besides writing she also loves publishing, and her Namita Gokhale editions has conducted writers’ retreats with Roli Books. She is also the person behind the concept of International Festival Of Indian Literature and member-secretary of Indian Literature Abroad.
A prolific writer with a feminist point of view, some of her works are Gods, Graves, and Grandmother (1994), Mountain Echoes: Reminiscences of Kumaoni Women (1994), Himalayan Love Story (1996), The Book of Shiva (2000), The Book of Shadows (2001), Present Tense: Living on the Edge (2004), Shakuntala: The Play of Memory (2005), The Habit of Love (2012), and the newest on the block, Things to Leave Behind (Oct 2016). She had also compiled and edited a few essay and story anthologies, notably In Search of Sita: Revisiting Mythology (2009) and Travelling In, Travelling Out (2015).
“There is love and understanding in this knowledge. There is sorrow.” – Namita Gokhale, Shakuntala: The Play of Memory.
Do not forget to send in your entries by Tuesday, 13th December, 3 p.m. IST.
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He said that he needed sometime to himself. I waited for him as any other woman would have done, and I gave him his space, I didn't want to be the clingy one.
Trigger Warning: This deals with mental trauma and depression, and may be triggering for survivors.
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This is a story of how a matrimonial website service turned into a nightmare for me, already traumatized by the two relationships I’ve had. It’s a story for every woman who lives her life on the principles of honesty and trust.
And when she enters the bedroom, she sees her husband's towel lying on the bed, his underwear thrown about in their bathroom. She rolls her eyes, sighs and picks it up to put in the laundry bag.
Vasudha, age 28 – is an excellent dancer, writer, podcaster and a mandala artist. She is talented young woman, a go getter and wouldn’t bat an eyelid if she had to try anything new. She would go head on with it. Everyone knew Vasudha as this cheerful and pretty young lady.
Except when marriage changed everything she knew. Since she was always outdoors, whether for office or for travelling for her dance shows, Vasudha didn’t know how to cook well.
Going by her in-laws definition of cooking – she had to know how to cook any dishes they mentioned. Till then Vasudha didn’t know that learning to cook was similar to getting an educational qualification. As soon as she entered the household after her engagement, nobody was interested what she excelled at, everybody wanted to know – what dishes she knew how to cook.