Posted in culture, poetry, poetry publishing, women, writing, tagged poetry, urban poetry, indian women, city poetry, anthology, frog books, city poems on April 28, 2008 | 3 Comments »
My call-for-poems was originally a letter I sent to women poets I knew, and admired. And then I thought, why not cast a wider net, why not fish for more? So here is a abridged version (and no, you can’t submit if you are a man. please. it is not yet a week yet and eight [...]
Posted in caste, dalit, tagged Indian media, casteist attitudes, press, indian newspapers, Iyothee Thass, caste, abuse, atrocities act on April 23, 2008 | 11 Comments »
The Indian media might have changed in terms of technology, print-runs and sales, style of functioning and such other helluva, hi-fi things. But has it become non-casteist (if not anti-caste)? Surveys after surveys tell us Dalits and oppressed communities are under-represented in the media. Though it might be a major problem, it isn’t the only [...]
Posted in reading, tagged Advani, autobiography, Dalit literature, Kesharshivam, Narendra Jadhav, Obama on April 21, 2008 | 3 Comments »
I seriously don’t have a clue how this came to be. The whole of April has been devoted to reading autobiographies. First, it was LK Advani’s My Country My Life. Then, I read B Kesharshivam’s The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth (the first Dalit autobiography in Gujarati, published this year in English). I [...]
Posted in work, tagged anna university, internet on April 20, 2008 | 1 Comment »
A few things I discovered about the firewall on my campus wi-fi
Facebook isn’t blocked, Orkut is.
Kumudam Web TV (with all our politicians and cinestars) isn’t blocked, YouTube is.
Dinakaran.com isn’t blocked, Dinamalar and Dinathanthi are.
Yahoo Messenger is blocked, so is MSN Messenger, but Google Talk and Skype work just fine.
Go figure…
Posted in caste, poetry, women, writing, tagged interview on April 17, 2008 | 2 Comments »
In today’s The New Indian Express…
An interview-profile by U Tejonmayam..
Posted in caste, women, tagged Pulayas, Travancore, Lalpari Devi, Witches, Witchcraft, Witch-hunting, Dalit women, Adivasi women, society, morality, superstitions, caste-Hindus, caste hegemony, laws, Nepal, black magic, sorcery, Vedas, health-care, oppression on April 14, 2008 | 10 Comments »
Published on Ultra Violet.
On March 28, 2008, Lalpari Devi, a 45-year-old Dalit woman was accused of being a witch by caste-Hindu, feudal villagers in Bihar who mercilessly beat her up, paraded her through the streets, tied her to a palm tree, cut her hair and smeared her face with limestone paste. She was saved from [...]
Posted in caste, tagged Advani, Babri Masjid demolition, Bhagat Singh, biography, conversion, Dr. Ambedkar, Farooq Abdullah, Hindu, hindutva, Kashmir, Muslims, My Country, My Life, Narendra Modi, partition, politics, Prime Minister, review, Robert Blackwill, The New Sunday Express on April 13, 2008 | 7 Comments »
(This review of LK Advani’s My Country, My Life appeared in today’s The New Sunday Express)
A SHORT CUT TO THE BALLOT BOX
Those who claim that Advani’s biography is a calculated effort to shed his Hindu hardliner image haven’t read his 986-page book. He maintains that the Babri Masjid demolition is synonymous with Hindu awakening and [...]
Posted in Chennai, tagged billboards, hoardings on April 10, 2008 | 4 Comments »
I felt a little weepy today. The city looks like someone has stripped her.. In the place of the billboards, you find the rusted metal that held it up and empty skies.
*sigh*
