Out of Print 37

Out of Print 37:

Out of Print 37 has been released into a world where our realities are in transition, where we accept the imposition of draconian measures in the hope of sustaining humankind, where, after a brief period of shock and outreach and sympathy when we first began to understand that we could not rein in the microbe, we retreat to tribal, territorial, othering modes.

The cover image for this release of Out of Print is by Dhruvi Acharya. Titled ‘Painting in the Time of Corona, 11 April 2020, lockdown day 18’ (watercolour on paper, 50.8 cm by 36.2 cm), it is one of an extraordinary series that she began on March 22, 2020, the day of the Janata Curfew. By that time, Dhruvi had been in self-isolation for ten days. She soon challenged herself to try and complete a painting every day of lockdown. Each of the pictures is an intense reflection of what she is, what we are going through, visually compelling and profoundly thought-provoking. But the one on the cover, with its layered complexity and multiple stories struck us as a way to gaze from the bizarre reality of the present time to a set of tense, strong stories written before the pandemic.

Painting in the Time of Corona, 11 April 2020, lockdown day 18’ Dhruvi Acharaya
watercolour on paper, 50.8 cm by 36.2 cm

Out of Print 37 features six stories. They deal with love, loss, desire, neglect, faith, compromise, power and its misuse, caste and injustice, and disease.

Perhaps ‘Phantom Vibration Syndrome’ by Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal bears the most direct connection to the dystopic, disease-ridden reality of today. The story is set in a world struck by a pandemic that throws all perceptions of normalcy awry. In this scenario the protagonist tries to come to terms with living in India after many years of the liberation that anonymity provides, carve out her intellectual and professional life, and pursue love.

Zui Kumar-Reddy’s ‘Tyre’ has a terrifying trajectory. We enter the protagonist’s mind as she struggles with the grief and displacement and mental schisms born of loss. The devastating consequences of this pain, the random impact that her distraction and preoccupation with her internal anxieties have as she fights for balance simply cannot be anticipated. A reader enters the landscape as an innocent, a sympathetic and increasingly more engaged observer, and leaves, completely wrung.

With Vignesh Babu’s ‘Gobi Manchurian’ and Banojyotsna Lahiri’s ‘The Curse’ we examine power, control, hierarchy and injustice. Poverty, class and social vulnerability drive Vignesh Babu’s story. The narrator and main protagonist, Selvi’s tough, biting attitude turns tender when she speaks of her daughter Rani. With no illusions as to how the world functions, Selvi does everything necessary to make her daughter’s life a better one. ‘The Curse’, that traverses centuries, looks at the unchanging cruelty of caste. Set in the hot, dry interior of central India, it follows Bhoomi who has been violated and killed and trapped in a well built for and by the untouchables in her village. When she is ultimately released, it is into the middle of a dispute over water where a young mahar girl is lynched.

The remaining two stories offer a sense of hope. ‘The Year of the Kurinji’ by Vidya Ravi opens with the line, ‘Krishna has been a virgin wife for a year.’ It is the year of the kurinji, the purple flower that blooms in the hills of the Western Ghats once a decade. ’Why, wouldn’t that seal any marital union? Lord Murugan had adorned the tribal girl Valli with a garland to consummate their romance. … But, the bloom was late.’ The story evokes Draupadi and the five Pandava brothers as Krishna explores the love and lust she feels for her husband and his brothers.

‘Senthil’s Last Song’ by Praveena Shivram is about a singer who ‘could feel the music travel through his veins like heat’. But the music has halted, he can no longer sing. As the story weaves in and out of two worlds, the reader journeys with Senthil as realises that he can only retrieve his voice when he recognises who he is and where he comes from.

Premise: 'The Three Princesses of Kashi' by Shashi Deshpande reviewed by Brinda S Narayan

The Three Princesses of Kashi by Shashi Deshpande

Reviewed by Brinda S Narayan

Fortunately for Indian readers, many of our myths are being reinterpreted and retold by accomplished and brilliant writers. Among the more well-known reworks, Chitra Banerjee Divakurni’s The Palace of Illusions casts Draupadi in a new light, while Samhita Arni’s Sita’s Ramayana reminds us that the epic wasn’t just about Rama’s virtuousness and his forfeiture of the throne.

Shashi Deshpande, who negotiates modernity and tradition with a characteristic flair, evokes a similar discomfiture with the male-centred narrative of the Mahabharatha. In a powerful retelling of the circumstances that fuelled the birth of the two progenitors of the feuding cousins – Pandu, the father of the famously-principled Pandavas, and Dhritarashtra, the blind, remorseful father of the arrogant Duryodhana and his ninety-nine brothers. Deshpande foreshadows the violent battle that was to ensue in the very savage treatment of the two abducted sisters – Ambika and Ambalika. Being the sophisticated writer that she is, she does not explicitly use the word “rape”; after all, women in that era, would not have had modern legal jargon to describe the assaults they had been subjected to. But she depicts in excruciating detail how the two births were seeded in a muffling of female agency, in the outright subjection of female voices and bodies to kingly imperatives. She also derides the conventional notions of “penance” – usually posited as a “male sage” who eschews physical and sexual desires, standing on one leg in a cold, mountainous region or cave.  How can such a “penance” compare with the “sacrifices” forced on women – the sexual assaults, followed by an unwanted pregnancy, a painful birth and then the wrenching away of their sons, who have to perform their warrior duties. At every stage, women have had to disregard their own desires to prop up insecure or ambitious men.

Deshpande often writes about people whose lives are buffeted by forces that are not of their own choosing. And who then have to don a pretence of normalcy or contentment while keeping darker currents at bay. While this can very well be the lot of any marginalised group in history, it has been the particular experience of women, who have had to contend with wide gaps between their “masked” public personas and their roiling subterranean selves. But equally, Deshpande is also aware of female power, of Shakti, and how this force, both in emotional and psychological terms, thrashes into male consciousness, by blessing and cursing male oppressors into feeling rashly triumphant but thereafter, abjectly repentant. Or at least subjected to a similar anguish. Or at least women can hope that justice is meted out. In light of the contemporary #MeToo movement, and with punishments awarded or withheld, this tale, narrated with sensitivity and élan, carries a heightened significance.

Read Shashi Deshpande's 'The Three Princesses of Kashi', in Out of Print 36, December 2019.

Reviewer Brinda S Narayan's story @ The Shanghai Tea House appeared in Out of Print June 2013.

#Premise features Narayan's review of Jayant Kaikini's 'The Threshold' translated from Kannada by Pratibha Umashankar-Nadiger.

#Premise

KODAIKANAL GANDHI PRIZE: ANNOUNCEMENT

THE KODAIKANAL GANDHI PRIZE

Announcement

2019-2020

On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary, we, the Gandhi Peace Foundation, the Kodaikanal Fellowship Library and the Out of Print Journal, are happy to announce The Kodaikanal Gandhi prize, 2019-2020.

The prize will be awarded to the winners of a competition that is open to all school children in grades 10-12. Entrants are requested to submit either a written or multimedia presentation on one or more of the following themes:

* Are Gandhi's thoughts and actions relevant today? If yes, in which ways? If not, why not?

* Gandhi said non-violence is a weapon of the strong. Many say it is a weapon of the weak. What do you think, and why?

* Gandhi’s philosophy of truth in practice led to India's motto, Satyameva Jayate. What meaning does it have in an era of fake news?

Written submissions can be in the form of an essay, short story between 2500-3000 words in length, or a poem. Multimedia submissions should be 2.5-3 minutes long. Submissions can be in English or Tamil. All sources and quotations must be referenced. 

The last date of submission is January 26, 2020. Winners will be announced at the end of February and a prize-giving ceremony will be held on March 12th, 2020, the date of the legendary Salt March. There are three prizes: First prize, Rs. 5000; 2nd prize, Rs. 3000, and 3rd prize (two), Rs 1000. Prize winning works will be published in the blog associated with Out of Print, a journal dedicated to new writing in India.

Students who register to submit entries will be given selected readings from MK Gandhi on the themes above.

"I send my great appreciation of this most imaginative and dew-pure idea" - Gopal Gandhi (editor of the Oxford India GANDHI and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi). 

Competition Rules and Information

1. Themes/Questions to address by entrants

* Are Gandhi’s thoughts and actions relevant today? If yes, in which ways? If not, why not?

* Gandhi said ‘non-violence is a weapon of the strong’.[1] Many say it is a weapon of the weak. What do you think, and why?

* Gandhi’s philosophy of truth in practice led to India's motto, “Satyameva Jayate”. What meaning does it have in an era of fake news? How would you restore this ideal in public opinion?

Entrants are to submit either a written or multimedia presentation on one or more of the above themes. Written submissions can be in the form of an essay, short story or poem (word count rules do not apply to poems).

2. Criteria

1. Entrants must be registered in grades 10, 11, or 12. The school should provide documentation to verify entrants are their bona fide students.

2. Entries must show familiarity with Gandhi’s writings and actions. Upon registering for the competition entrants will be provided with a set of selected readings from Gandhi’s most famous works.

3. Language: Tamil or English.

4. Written prose submission: 2500-3000 words. No word limits for poems.

5. Multimedia submission: 2½-3 minutes long.

6. All sources of information and quotations used must be clearly referenced.

7. Plagiarism will lead to disqualification.

3. Important Dates

1. Last date to submit registration form:   8^th November 2019.

2. Last date to submit written or multimedia presentation:  26^th January, 2020.

3. Winners to be announced end-February and a prize giving ceremony will be held on 12^th March, the date of Gandhi's legendary Salt March at

The Kodaikanal Fellowship Library
Kodaikanal International School 

PO Box 25, 7-Roads Junction
Kodaikanal TN 624101

Prizes:

1^st    prize:  Rs 5000

2^nd   prize:  Rs 3000

3^rd    prize:  Rs 1000 each (two candidates)

Winning submissions will be published in The Out of Print blog, a journal dedicated to new writing in India.

Contact Details:

Please use the following for queries, also to submit registration form by 

Email to:     

rajkumararuna@gmail.com

banuhameed9577@gmail.com

and/or by post to:

Aruna Rajkumar
Kodaikanal Fellowship Library
Kodaikanal International School
PO Box 25, 7-Roads Junction
Kodaikanal TN 624101

Other Information:
Competing students may use the Kodaikanal Fellowship Library to reference Mahatma Gandhi's writings and other related material, either on Wednesdays or Saturdays 11 am-1 pm, additionally two Sundays in January 2020, i.e. on 5th and 19th, 11 am-1 pm. Volunteers will be available to help students with their research.

The Kodaikanal Gandhi Prize Competition

Essay and Multimedia presentation

Student Registration Form

Name of Pupil : ____________________________________

Grade:_______________________________ Age:________________

School :__________________________________________________

Address:_________________________________________________

               _________________________________________________

               _________________________________________________

Contact person: Name:_____________________________________
Phone number:             ______________________________________

Contact person email ID:_____________________________________

Declaration by student:

I am a bonafide student of this school. I would like to register for this competition. 

Signature of the student:__________________________________

Declaration by Principal

Name of Principal:    ___________________________________

The above student name  …………………………………………………………….is a bonafide student of this school.

Signature of the Principal:_________________________________

 ______________________________________________________

Fill in the application form and forward it by email to the contact given below on or before 8^th November 2019

rajkumararuna@gmail.com

banuhameed9577@gmail.com

Or mail it to the address:

Aruna Rajkumar,

Kodaikanal Fellowship Library
Kodaikanal International School, PO Box 25, 7 roads Junction

Kodaikanal 624101

Tamil Nadu

For queries Contact:

Banu Abdul: Mobile number - 91 9942749330, email - banuhameed9577@gmail.com

Aruna Rajkumar: Mobile Number: 91 9443341640, email - rajkumararuna@gmail.com

Thank you for applying, and good luck.

Out of Print Editors: Vandana Devi

We welcome Vandana Devi as an editor at Out of Print. She has interned with us for a couple of years, lending her clear instinct as a reader to our selection process. She is able to evaluate the value and strength of a short story, seeing through to the core of the narrative thread. Many times when I have wavered about a piece, her response has been the deciding factor.

A Master’s degree student in English Studies at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Madras she has a broad perspective and an approach to literature that is informed by her exposure to multiple disciplines. 

A short biographical note about Vandana appears on the Out of Print site.

We are really pleased that she will continue to work with us on the editorial team.

Covers of the Out of Print editions that Vandana has worked on

 

 

Out of Print 34

Out of Print 34 has been released, and it’s a great issue – a translation, an excerpt, returning authors, authors new to Out of Print and one author publishing for the very first time. We are honoured!

Zui Kumar Reddy’s ‘Oranges’, an excerpt from her forthcoming novel, The Generation of Light, brings alight the passion that arises in a young woman, ‘a quadruple dose of imploding and exploding galaxies’, when she encounters the ‘sexy, terrifying, mystery thing’ of man whose being hints at a god-like magic from beyond.

Equally laden with hints of the unattainable is Ila Ananya’s ‘If I Remember Correctly’, which takes us into a strangely distanced, yet intimate relationship. They meet and talk every Friday. She does not know him, does not know if she can trust him, is displaced and in a new place where her instincts have been ‘swallowed whole’ and she struggles to know who she is. And he is one of the few with whom she can share this.

Swetha S publishes her first short story, ‘My Old Hometown’ with Out of Print. Gauri is taking Isha to meet her family in her hometown. The landscape is familiar, the traditional house unchanged, and Gauri is delighted to feel Isha’s presence in her childhood house, the only place she has not shared with her so far. Yet, Gauri is torn, will her parents be able to accept the fact that she has a girlfriend? Will she be able to cause them pain when a family crisis shakes the household?

Saumya Singh’s ‘New Paint’ is also set in an old house, one that has been demolished and is in the process of being reconstructed. A visit to the site throws up memories of a hidden family tragedy that impacts generations. Love between sisters, and between mother and daughter come into play as the family home and all it represents is transformed. Yet, these transformations into the new cannot overcome social barriers, and even she acknowledges  the initial spark of interest and attraction, the protagonist flees from them.

In this psychological thriller, ‘Smoke Rings’ by Neena Macheel that is set in an old crumbling mansion in Kochi, a woman’s instincts, obscured and suppressed by both illness and the cultural norms that govern her family life, sharpen when her son appears to be at threat. Her maternal protective instinct rises to fore, and the truth no longer seems the most important thing to adhere to.

 In ‘Electric Kettles Don’t Always Sing’, Barnali Ray Shukla takes the schisms of love, rationality and tenderness to a wholly other, wilder level. What happens when he, overcome by the romanticism of love, wants ‘the maple syrup [to] enter every pore of the crepe in an embrace that was sweet. But Seema insists on parathas’?’

Finally, we acknowledge the passing of an important writer from the subcontinent, Enver Sajjad, who died in Lahore on June 6 by publishing a story by him entitled ‘The Cow’. The story, like the famed eponymous film by Iranian director Dariush Mehjui, explores the intensity of the ‘near-mythical relationship’ the animal has with the human, as the story’s translator, Raza Naeem elaborates.

Nilima Sheikh’s exquisitely detailed ‘Departure’ brings depth and fragility to the issue.