If you want to understand how to become better allies to people with disabilities, then join us at Embracing All Abilities: Including People with Disabilities at Work.
Sagarika Chakraborty’s A Calendar Too Crowded has its ups and downs; nevertheless it stands by womanhood and speaks out unflinchingly.
Review by Anne John
A Calendar Too Crowded has an interesting and unique theme. It is a collection of short stories and poems around notable days of the calendar that are dedicated to women or women’s issues. Thus we have a poem on gender selection for the Anti-Selective-Abortion Day which falls on October 25th, a story about oppression against widows for the International Widows Day on February 2nd and so on.
The characters in each story are nameless because according to the author, “No name would justify a voice which represents millions.” The stories touch upon the lives of women from various walks of life, regardless of economic or social disparity. This highlights the fact, that all women, regardless of money, education, upbringing or looks are connected with one another, by the common problems that they have to face every day.
This aspect is beautifully depicted in the story for World Breast-Feeding Day (August 1st), where a blue collar labourer and a white collar worker, both worry about being able to provide enough nourishment to their respective babies, while juggling work. While each might have different reasons to go back to work and differing support systems (or lack thereof), the story still manages to bring out the angst of every new mother at the end of her maternity leave.
Most of the stories ring true, because as women, most of us would have had similar experiences or atleast heard about such incidents. For instance, reading the June story for Anti-Eve-Teasing/Molestation Day, ‘Naked’, gives one a sense of déjà vu, as it is strikingly similar to the controversy surrounding the recent Kolkata rape victim and people’s reactions to it.
But not all stories portray women as victims. The November story for Anti-Dowry Day, ‘Living by the Double-Edged Sword’ shows us both sides of the coin of a woman’s relationship with her marital home, with its belief that, “Mothers-in-law can never be mothers. Daughters-in-law can never be daughters.”
On the other hand, I felt that the September story, ‘Knowledge Beyond The Printed Letters’, showcases a woman who is the epitome of the humble-calm-composed-ever-loving-all-satisfying-over-achieving-homemaker-and-career-woman-all-rounder superwoman stereotype! The protagonist in this story, looks after the needs of her husband, kids, in-laws with great attention to detail, yet is not ‘just a boring housewife’. She has several accomplishments to her name, but never boasts or even talks about it unless forced to. And after a long and an eventful day, she ensures that she is a dutiful wife, mother and bahu as, “…She packed his bags, ensuring that he had all that was essential for a comfortable trip, checked on her children and lovingly doted on her mother-in-law…”It made me want to roll my eyes!
Additionally I could not totally grasp the ‘An Equal Friendship’ story, which unfolds as a letter from Panchali to Krishna. Although I am aware of the broad story of the Mahabharata, I am not too familiar with the nitty-gritty of it. Therefore when Panchali compares the events of her own life to the state of women’s equality today, I could not completely comprehend though I did get the basic essence of the story.
The book uses simple and easily readable language that is at times, quite thought provoking, as in, “She asked me whether I have ever wondered why a prostitute is ashamed of what she does all her life, but the society is never ashamed of what it has done to her?” Having said that, Sagarika’s prose reads better than her poetry. The verses almost appear like lines of prose that have been forced to rhyme!
A Calendar Too Crowded is a good attempt for a debut novel. Despite having a few flaws, it indeed seems to be a promising start.
Publishers: Niyogi books
If you’re planning to purchase Sagarika Chakraborty’s, A Calendar Too Crowded, 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!
Anne John loves to play with words and calls herself a reader, writer, explorer & dreamer. She has a wide range of interests and has recently jumped onto the Mommy Vlogger bandwagon! read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
As parents, we put a piece of our hearts out into this world and into the custody of the teachers at school and tuition and can only hope and pray that they treat them well.
Trigger Warning: This speaks of physical and emotional violence by teachers, caste based abuse, and contains some graphic details, and may be triggering for survivors.
When I was in Grade 10, I flunked my first preliminary examination in Mathematics. My mother was in a panic. An aunt recommended the Maths classes conducted by the Maths sir she knew personally. It was a much sought-after class, one of those classes that you signed up for when you were in the ninth grade itself back then, all those decades ago. My aunt kindly requested him to take me on in the middle of the term, despite my marks in the subject, and he did so as a favour.
Math had always been a nightmare. In retrospect, I wonder why I was always so terrified of math. I’ve concluded it is because I am a head in the cloud person and the rigor of the step by step process in math made me lose track of what needed to be done before I was halfway through. In today’s world, I would have most probably been diagnosed as attention deficit. Back then we had no such definitions, no such categorisations. Back then we were just bright sparks or dim.
Pathaan touted as SRK’s comeback has been in the news for mixed reasons. Right from the hype around SRK’s comeback and special mentions his body contours; yet I can't watch it!
The movie touted as SRK’s comeback has been in the news for mixed reasons. Right from the hype around the movie being SRK’s comeback and special mentions his body contours and even more than the female lead!
For me, it’s not about Deepika’s bikini colour or was-it-needed skin show. It’s about meaningful content that I find is missing big time. Not just this movie, but a spate of cringe-worthy narratives passed off as ‘movies’ in the recent past. I feel insulted, and not because I am a devoutly religious person or a hardcore feminist, but because I feel the content insults my intelligence.
But before everything else, I am a 90s kid who in the case of movies (and maybe more) is stuck in time as it wrapped around me then and the gamut has too hard an exterior for me to crack it open!
Please enter your email address