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Trauma in Prostitution: An Analysis of Select Short Stories of Sadat Hasan Manto and Kamala Surayya Das
Get PDFProstitutes encountered and continue to experience a great deal of trauma related to their existence and profession—which is not even considered or recognised by society, especially in South Asian countries, even after the legalisation of prostitution—sex workers have no respect and place in society, and hardly any writer or radical thinkers have written about them. In the late 1990s, major figures in the movement for sex workers\u27 rights openly questioned the queer theorists\u27 silence on the matter of prostitution and sex work. Not much has been done to emphasise the expressly queer side of sex work, despite efforts made by sex workers to "come out of the closet" and engage with the larger queer theoretical community. The absence of any discussion of how sex functions in queer theory refutes the logical inference suggesting that it has no relevance to this area of research. Prostitution can also be referred to as queer profession because their lives are full of traumatic experiences. Only a small number of authors from South Asian nations have written or spoken about prostitution. Among them are Sadat Hasan Manto and Kamala Surayya Das, whose short stories “Insult” (Hatak), “The Hundred Candle Power Bulb”, “A Doll for a Child Prostitute,” and “Padmavati The Harlot” accurately, surreally, and impartially depict the life, surroundings, and struggle of sex workers. The most extended and most in-depth story in her collection of short stories, "A Doll for the Kid Prostitute," features an inspector sahib who has had enough of women and demands a fresh child recruit, Rukmani. The inspector pulled her dress and transformed her into a prostitute without even considering her age; the sentence, which solely described the inspector\u27s conduct, was harsh. This made their first encounter painful. With this awful first encounter, Das creates a world of unrestrained carnality in which innocence must perish. The short novella emphasises the issue of prostitution and how it affects women. The stories of individuals like Sita, Meera, Laxmibai, her son, Saraswati, Krishna, etc. are very well portrayed, and they are all intriguing. Das regularly uses the dramatic approach and writes realistic stories. She expresses herself artistically primarily through discourse. Manto’s story "A Hundred Candle-Power Bulb" demonstrates how prostitution and division coexist because pimps are prepared to exchange their most important resource: prostitutes, even in the midst of riots between various ethnic groups
Sita’s Story: Intertextuality and Folkloric Allusions in the Creation of a Desi Feminist Discourse in Nandini Sahu’s Sita
Get PDFThe story of Sita in the Indian epic Ramayana has over time been subject to several transformations, reinterpretations, and recontextualization. Sita the fiercely dedicated wife of Lord Rama has evolved to become a woman protagonist and, in some cases, even a feminist idol. Although there have been several modern interpretations of the Ramayana, Nandini Sahu’s Sita composed as a poetic memoir running into 25 cantos, in its form, content, and context is situated in a liminal space between the real world and the mythical world. This liminality is otherwise referred to as the “permeable membrane” in the words of A. K Ramanujan provides scope for many voices to emerge; from orality, from marga and desi mediums all of which oscillate between the temporal zones of the past, present, and future, constantly engaging with one another. Furthermore, the figure of Sita and her narratives extend to what Sahu refers to as the “Sitaness” in every woman whose agency has been snatched. For instance, she yokes together women protagonists from the Literary domain such as Desdemona, mythical namely, Trijada, and historical such as Meerabai, Mother Teresa, Kalpna Chawla, and even Nirbhaya respectively to create a uniquely Indian feminist discourse highlighting various instances of injustice meted towards women. Moreover, the poem is crafted using self-reflexive storytelling inspired by oral tradition and folklore. It also implements multilayered intertextual allusions to reimagine Sita as a woman protagonist transcending time and space. Therefore, this paper will investigate the intertextual and folkloric allusions in Nandini Sahu’s Sita consequently exploring the relevance of this composition as a contribution towards the creation of a desi-feminist discourse
“Being God’s Wife” is No Easy Matter
Get PDFThis article studies Nandini Sahu’s short narrative fiction entitled, “Being God’s Wife,” which comes at the end of her story collection, Shedding the Metaphors (2023). This piece of selective biography makes the central figure in the story, Baba, a kind of prism through which he, his times, and his society are viewed. The article studies this story as a feminist document that contains Indianness. What is under focus here is a textual analysis of “Being God’s Wife.” What emerges through the textual analysis is that Sahu makes frequent use of the literary device called, “flashback.,” This gives her several advantages in the narration. The article shows the aptness of the title, “Being God’s Wife,” in which the wife is given barely three paragraphs. It is not just about the wife, but it is in fact about the godlike figure of Baba, her husband. This article analyzes the story with the help of theories of narrative fiction and the short story, given to us by scholars such as Claire Tomalin, Alice Hoffman, and James Stevens. The story reveals that when you love someone as much as the author loved her father, you expect them to be with you always, unfailingly. And, if that someone fails to be with you in your time of need, you begin to hate him for that time. The author seems to be somewhat like Sylvia Plath in her relationship with her father. She even mentions Plath’s poem, “Daddy,” in which the author is similar to the American poet and novelist
A Study in Subversive Literature vis-à-vis Sita and Ahalya in the poems of Nandini Sahu
Get PDFThe Ramayana and Mahabharata are two timeless sources of inspiration for Indian folk poetry. Writers have attempted to reconnect with the past in an effort to lessen the poison of modernity and to restore aesthetic vitality through myth and folklore by re-reading them in the context of today. The characters have been scrutinized extensively and viewed through the prism of contemporary theories. Examples are Sita and Ahalya from Nandini Sahu. As renowned female figures, Ahalya, Draupadi, Sita, Tara, and Mandodari from the Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata are lauded. However, they occasionally experience subordination due to their gender. Although these characters have independent traits, a feminist spark, vigor, and rebellion, patriarchy has doomed them to submission and obedience. Indian epic-based literature frequently serves as a stage for subversive analyses of conventional stories. The values and tenets of an existing system are questioned in subversive literature, which also aims to change the patriarchal institutions and social norms
Complex Areas for Analysis
Get PDFMan feels confused in a changing world that is experiencing tremendous, unanticipated expansion because he cannot keep up with what is happening. Priorly closed areas are now open for inspection. A new awakening brought outdoors simmering mental worries and infused courage as colonialism proved to be repressive and repulsive, with an increase in the misery of the majority in the society surrounding many countries and elsewhere for many reasons. Women endured long-suffering but did not speak up because they were also victims of incorrect social norms. Social reformers\u27 voices against gender inequality started to bring about apparent changes in the social structure. Even previously uncomfortable male-female sexual relations in socially taboo places have now become commonplace and have won long-lasting acceptance despite much moralizing, vituperation, and protest. Radical transformations were sparked by social and economic equality among humans in various regions of the world. Even totalitarian, dictatorial, monarchical, and democratic political systems were compelled by socialist ideas to establish legislation governing and legalizing equality in social and economic life. Although it was a significant shift likely to be met with resistance, humanity eventually came to accept the realities of future life to a respectable amount
Ruskin Bond\u27s Looking for The Rainbow: My Years with Daddy: An account of Adventures and Misadventures in the Life of Ruskin Bond
Get PDFOne of India\u27s most adored authors, Ruskin Bond is well known for his touching prose and heartfelt tales. His autobiography, Searching for the Rainbow: My Years with Daddy, details his life\u27s journey from early childhood through adolescence and his triumphs and setbacks. Ruskin Bond gives readers a look into his lovely upbringing in the little Indian town of Dehradun towards the beginning of the book. He talks about his father\u27s time in the Indian Air Force and the effects his absence during World War II had on the family. Yet at this point, Ruskin Bond fell in love with reading and writing. Ruskin Bond was an inquisitive, daring child who frequently got himself into trouble. Throughout the book, he describes a number of instances where he was busted for stealing mangoes, engaged in altercations with other boys, and even got lost in the woods. Despite his naughty personality, his father constantly supported him and urged him to be loyal to himself
The Novels of Daya Dissanayake: Critical Expositions, Editor: Dr P.V. Laxmiprasad
Get PDFThe Novels of Daya Dissanayake: Critical Expositions, Editor: Dr P.V. Laxmiprasad, New Delhi: Authorspress, ISBN: 978-93-5529- 140-0, Pages: 121, 2022
Colours of Blood by Alka Singh
Get PDFColours of Blood by Alka Singh, Kolkata: Writers Workshop, 2021, ISBN: 978-81-949985-9-4 (9788194998594), Price: Rs 150, Pages: 52
Memory and Metanarratives: Recalling/Retelling ‘Life and Political Reality’ of Pre- & Post-Liberation Bangladesh in Shahidul Zahir’s Novella
Get PDFA close connection exists between literature and history, especially in times of major upheavals in the political and cultural climate of a nation. While history posits itself as fact, literature represents those facts by connecting disperse events and telling an overarching story of the historical record. When understood in this context, historical memory becomes the cornerstone of individual and collective identities. The shared experiences enable a community to pull an array of distinct memories together into a coherent whole. The paper discusses how Zahir delineates a diverse range of characters and incorporates multiple arcs and trajectories; thereby expanding the novella to form a collective history and national identity of the people of East Pakistan. From the vantage point of the third-person, Zahir analyses the retrospective memory of 1971 that not only shapes the present of the victims but also reclaims their past and rewrites their history. Since memory plays a significant role in shaping the national identity. One notion of national identity mainstreams one group of citizens and relegates the other to a marginal existence. Hence significant moments in a nation’s history are often interpreted in the light of conflicting metanarratives for pollical expediency. The paper explores Zahir’s novella ‘Life and political reality’ and depicts the clash of metanarratives in Bangladesh during the war of liberation and after the 1975 military coup