From Betty Crocker to Feminist Food Studies

As the name suggests, it’s a collection of essays by women from various time and regions. Being too much into fiction, this audiobook took some time to finish. Started this long back, but was constantly putting this aside to happier things.

It can be considered both happy and sad book. Happy because it shows how far women in general have progressed since the world wars, which can make some people content. Although, I rarely feel happy for the changes. It’s just feel not enough. Getting the short end of the stick doesn’t feel like an achievement, does it?! I felt a constant desperation and sadness through the book. Nobody needs to exceptionally empathetic to understand the situation of the women described here. They just did their best to survive. It’s survival of the fittest in the living world, as per Darwin. The fittest are the one’s with obvious money and power. Sometimes these are just men, an obvious usual case, sometimes they are white, cis-gender, upper cast people. All the priveleged ones, should read this book. Nothing to lose, may gain a lot of insights and EQ.

Editors: Arlene Voski Avakian, Barbara Haber

The book tells the takes of many women; the plight of young mom’s stuck in the industrial revolution trying to do too many things in their life while being manipulated by the industrialists, the Armenian American women struggling to carve a place in the society for themselves, the fate of an Indian slave in Carribbean sugarcane fields, the Anglo-American women finding a way to open own businesses, the story of the women in Fried Green Tomatoes, the terrible stories of women in Leningrad. It has been a rollercoaster ride throughout, most of it seemingly going downhill. Progress and development has forever been at someone’s expense, the weaker ones always being at the receiving end.

Feminism has been there forever. All those who think they don’t support feminism and are being equalist instead, guess what, you have been living a lie in your bubble. Feminism is asking equal rights ,nothing more nothing less. It’s not about involving brutal strength, as some would point out that they think they do more work and therefore deserve more. Just treat women as equals. Need not be chivalrous at all. That’s too much of a burden anyway.

Until, I write again.🙂

The Handmaid’s Tale

The critically acclaimed and famous book. Been used symbolically forever for women empowerment and rights activism almost everywhere in the world.

” In 2017, handmaids marched on Capitol Hill, Washington, in protest at the Republican healthcare bill which was seen to threaten women’s bodily autonomy. And in the same year, handmaids entered the Texas senate house to protest abortion-related legislation. Meanwhile, protesters against Trump’s 2018 and 2019 visits to the UK also sported handmaid costumes.” “Organizers of Saturday’s (28/09/21) Women’s March in Washington, D.C., have asked that attendees not bring “The Handmaid’s Tale”-themed imagery or clothing to the event.“

Author : Margaret Atwood
Art & Adaptation : Renee Nault

It’s supposed to be a heartbreaking novel set in a dystopian world. I could not make myself to watch the Netflix show. The first scene was creepy enough to close the application itself. But, fortunately, I found a catch. Reading this graphic novel helped a lot. I’m no way depreciating the novel. In a way, it helped me keeping the behind the scenes in my head crisp and short. Reading the book would have let my imagination go wild and exaggerate the story beyond limits. In the aftermath, I was able appreciate the story and art of both women with a manageable wreck . Otherwise, it would have been just a scarred memory just like what the movie “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” did to me. A movie on a real horrific tragedy told from a kid’s point of view was not an intelligent choice by the past me.

I guess the original novel is a masterpiece. I just hope I don’t get to read it for very selfish reasons. Let’s talk about graphic novels. I have been reading comics/ manga/ webtoons since my college days. This might be considered the first graphic novel I bought as an adult. Money well spent, indeed..!! Nicely drawn characters and events. Fortunately, I need not go through the book or the show after reading this. It didn’t feel like a hurtful memory but still the story remains imprinted in my mind. Yay …!! Lucky me!!

I should really spend more in graphic novels of these kinds. They make pretty coffee table books too. Until, I write again.🙂

Sapiens: A brief history of humankind

The title of the book is pretty much self explanatory. I had opted to listen to the audible version of the book. It took me about a month to finish this almost 15 hrs long book. I was taking it slow. Quite slow to be exact.

The book is a great summary of historical facts from all around the world. Starting from the evolution of Homo Sapiens till the end of colonialism in the world. As per Harari’s analogy, I guess prehistoric hunter gatherers were much happier than the present day human being stuck in the rat race. He discusses the creation and propagation of various religions throughout the world. He also talks about the extinction of various species as we, humans started taking over the earth. Extinction of the dinosaurs led to the evolution of original mammals like mammoths, whose disappearances led to the evolution of homo sapiens. He talks about how J. Robert Oppenheimer “father of the atomic bomb” can certainly be awarded nobel peace prize as he has successfully reduced the chances of world wars.

The book is worth every ounce of time and money. There’s even a graphic art version of the book available. It made me more interested on Indian history and now, I am listening to Inglorious Empire. History, indeed is interesting, unlike my school experience. I used to hate history and Biology in my school days, and had promised to not take up these two subjects later in higher education. 😅 Not that any of it matters anymore.

I usually like reading fiction. Reading these non fiction makes me overthink things which I can’t control. How do you read non-fiction? I observed that I usually place the writer on a pedestal and consider whatever is written as the ultimate truth, which is obviously very common in fictions. This book made me think, what if the author is making up stuff and fabricating facts..!! The media is anyway good at doing it. So do the historians. Do people read these books as fiction and let them be as it is, or consider the writer’s truth to be the ultimate or keep on looking for different versions of truth to make a judgement on it..!! Is it that I don’t know how to read non fictions..!! 😅

Until I write again. 🙂

Tiger Hills

It’s been long that I have successfully completed a real paperback book. Like any other craft, reading requires immense practice. I have kind of moved over to the dark side of reading more of e-books than these gold ones. Well, that’s what you do, when you tend to buy and hoard more books much more than what I read. The few shelves of books leaning on each other just stare back blank at me with the same disappointment as these set of lines.

It took a long time to complete this book for various reasons. Boring being none of them. If a book is boring, the best thing is to do is keep it aside and start another one. I read this somewhere and sincerely follow this rule.

Author: Sarita Mandanna

This book is quite a long and heavy one. I got overwhelmed every 100 pages and kept the book aside for a change of mood. I loved coorg whenever I had visited there. The book created a nice visual of the mountains and greenery which kept me connected to the narrative. Simple yet so beautifully concocted story with all the history of the place intact. Although I wish it was, History never was this fascinating in school. Mugging up for the upcoming exams being the worst of all problems. The story starts from early 1878 and ends in 1936. I kept my fingers-crossed throughout all major historical events in the book hoping that there’s some truth in the place and time references. It was a whole journey through the lives of three generations of characters. Getting involved in all their happy as well as sad moments.😅 It would have taken a toll on me to complete this in one go..!! The emotional roller-coaster drama in my head for these fictions is beyond my control. What to do with these stories of yearnings and unfulfilled loves?! Kudos to the author to have such skills to implant these CG movies implanted on minds.

Until, I read and write again. 🙂

One book at a time..

I read this book a while back. Somehow I didn’t finish the post until now. What a book..!! It’s more of an essay about the author and her experiences regarding, well, if it’s not clear by now, how women are perceived by the society.

My knowledge about Africa can be very well compared to how much our scientists know about Saturn. My mind, just by default, paints a picture of dense forests with a few cities within. To be honest, this is after I was taught about the Republic of Congo in my social studies book in 8th class (ICSE) . Before that, it was just a weird triangle shape on the map for me. Besides this, the cricket world cup has added a few more countries to my list of African countries, but nothing more. Telling this was important here, because, from the book, her country (Nigeria) and people seemed very similar in beliefs and cultural setbacks to me.

“Culture doesn’t make People. People make culture.”

For the ones, who don’t have the book, there’s a TEDx talk by the author herself reading her book. open the link👇 https://youtu.be/hg3umXU_qWc In one of her interviews, she revealed that she was surprised at the standing ovation in the end of her talk. She was not expecting any of that. By the way, she deserves all of the appreciation and much more.

Considering ny personal experiences, from a recent travel to another Indian city, I noticed that often the men (usually the drivers abd shopkeepers) wouldn’t talk looking at me. They would look at my husband instead, while answering the questions, I had asked. The main intention might have been giving respect, or sometimes just plain shyness. But, it feels bad man, feels dehumanizing, trust me. Again, this is a reference to a very similar story in the book. I got reminded of it while reading the book.

Why do women have to think twice, sometimes more, before they dress up? Whether it’s too much or too less. Why do they are the ones more responsible for their kids and the families? We applaud men for even helping in household chores while our mother have been working almost 16 hours a day. When I ask these questions, I was told, I am taking everything very negatively. The world around us, has changed and progressed a lot. Women are working and independent. They have earned their respect from the fellow family members and society. But isn’t it should be the norm. Men can, by default, command respect, while a woman has to toil ten times harder to obtain such feat. I understand, the society is changing. But is it sufficient enough..!!

The book is much better than this, I swear. I hope all of us become feminists one day without any baseless and hopeless resistances.

Until, I write again.🙂

Circe – By Madeline Miller

I wanted to read a lot of women authors. So it started with collecting all the possible books that I should be reading. This book was so hyped everywhere in the social media that I read about it almost in all the book clubs I had joined. Obviously, the packaging made it sure that I do not forget the feeling when I had imagined about how pretty the book to hold and read. So, despite acknowledging the hoarder in me, I finally ordered it from Amazon.

It took a little bit of time to start reading, as I was too hesitant to open the perfect binding and pretty pages. 😁 What a perfect hoarder I am..!!

Okay, so now about the book. It’s a beauty in itself. How intricately the stories are knitted (* pun intended 😅) together around all the greek stories. And to present it from a woman’s point of view is so empowering. The woman/nymph depicted here is one of lesser gods, quite powerless among all the greek gods we have seen and read till now. Still, the character holds so much power within herself that she never knelt before the mightier ones.

Though, I had read a few greek stories when I was young I din’t remember them until I read them some if them in thus book. Still, I was aware of the major greek gods goddesses, thanks to the movies and webtoon society.

While reading the book, I couldn’t help but notice the difference between the Indian mythological stories and the Greek ones. The Greek Gods and Goddesses are described to be flawed with ease. They seem very human in that aspect. But whereas the Hindu gods are the epitome of perfection. There are very rare instances of them doing something morally wrong. The Hindu major gods were supposed to omnipotent and omniscient who can never be wrong. The Purushottam..!! Which literally translates into “The best version of man”. Wow..!! The stark contrast…!!

It was a very nice read. Loved it through and through.

Until, I write again!! 🙂

Reading Jenny Han

So, I have not watched the Netflix version yet. I wanted to complete the book before I watch it. Here goes.

The storytelling is very good. I like how these books make me a character wrapped in invisibility cloak in the story. That’s the actual kick for me when I read. Yes, it’s me being an escapist.

The first book is awesome as usual. The second one is a nice read. But the third became quite predictable for me. I didn’t continue after a few pages. I have learned not to force a read. It should be natural.

Reading the first book, brought back all those teenage feelings. Do I remember all the crushes I had ever, I doubt. The way, Lara Jean remembered everything so clearly, made me doubt my memories. They were all stupid and cheesy like everybody else’s. 😂 I guess everybody has that phase. I can relate to the characters who are self critical with least self love possible. I dream of a society where nobody feels this way. And everybody will be perfect in their own sense. I realize, how ideal and unachievable this seems even in thoughts..!!

Kids growing up in a ever loathing and critiqued environment have a prolonged effect on them. I hope self love is taught to kids from a young age, in my ideal and just dreamland.

Until, I write again. 🙂

Yajnaseni – Pratibha Ray

Having completed the original odia book, I tried in vain to re read in english. Though it’s not entirely the book’s fault, it’s been a while that I have completed a book in paperback format. Got to work on that lost patience..!! I need my books to be written in glow in dark ink. 😂

Coming back to the lovely book, it’s perhaps the most relatable description of the great epic mahabharat. The book seemed to give a beautiful rendition of the various relationships panchali had with all those men in her life. The language (the odia book) is so fluid, it makes me revisit the book. I can just open any page at random and fall in love all over again.

The love and romance explained, (as it’s from draupadi‘s viewpoint , it should be expected as well) is not at all cheesy. This sometimes is a very important factor in those literature as it has some pre sentimental value to the people reading it. Again, considering the fact that most of the readers are well aware of the chronological order of the events, still the story doesn’t get old or boring.

The age old tradition, our leading heroines have been put through, is to bear the burden of being the reason of all the greatest wars. I could imagine myself witnessing draupadi‘s misfortune. In a man’s world, it’s always the woman’s plight. It’s a wonderful read.

Until I write again..!! 🙂

Reading Jojo Moyes..

I recently completed the “Me before you” series. I guess, I crave sad rom coms..!!

There are three books in the series: Me before you, After you, Still me.

Me before you will make you reconsider Euthanasia. The debate’s still remains. There’s such a beautiful description of living and enjoying the very short span of living your life. Just breathing and completing the chores isn’t called life. There should be nothing left to regret later. I wonder if such pure and selfless love exists in real life. I guess it’s possible only in fiction.

“Me after you” depicts a life after losing somebody special. Does the living stop after the death of another??!! Everybody does lose more than one dear ones in their lifetime. But that doesn’t give us a right to tell or direct another person’s loss. It’s never the same. I feel the sentences like “It happens eventually… They might have moved to a better place… It will get better…” does matter or makes a difference to the person grieving. It’s true that time ultimately heals everything. They find a way to adjust themselves to the changed world.

I couldn’t complete the last one “Still me”. I felt it was missing something. Through n through, I have learnt a very important lesson. If we can’t complete a book or some excerpt, it should be left as it is. It’s not meant to be completed by me. However I try, I can’t continue reading it.

There was one major point I noticed in the frst two books. Moyes has mentioned about the power and effect of counseling. The frst book talks about discussing in an online forum and learning from the experiences of fellow members who have suffered similar plights. In the second book, Louisa goes to a rehab counselor where the fellow grieving people talk out their thoughts and feelings. It eventually helps coming out of the void grief stage and helps her move on with her life. That’s a very important thing in curing mental illness. The very first step being able to accept or rather realize the existence of the problem.

Until I write again..!! 🙂

Park and Eleanor

Rainbow Rowell again…!!!

a luv story again…!!! wat is it wid u n d elucidations.. they make me feel..!! not as a third person viewing the story unfolding.. that is better nyway… but as the protagonist.. n dat sucks. it’s very weird and sad to have one imagine all those situations happening to myself or nybody else.

to be very clear, it is a complement. 😁 i love d way she writes. and I am glad as it’s a SHE. Proud of all dose ladies out dere..!! 😊😊😍