Author: Vasanth Kannabiran
Pages: 60
Year of Publication: 2015
Price: Rs 150
ISBN:
978-93-5045-104-5 (9789350451045)
About the Author:
Vasanth Kannabiran graduated in English Literature from Presidency College, Madras, and she taught English to undergraduates for twenty years. She has been an active member of the women’s movement in India, speaking and writing about women’s concerns, and has played a significant role in introducing feminist issues to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Kannabiran has been a consultant for the Central Government of India for evaluations and policy making, bilateral and multilateral agencies, and has prepared studies on gender and human rights, gender and poverty and gender training. She has worked closely with the Women’s Program of the Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education and the National Alliance of Women. A founding member of Asmita Resource Centre for Women, she has co-edited and co-authored publications like Mahilavaranam, De-Eroticizing Assault and E-Kalam. Her most recent publication is A Grief to Bury: Memories of Love, Work and Loss. Kannabiran was nominated from India among 1000 women for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.
Teaser:
Shanti
Gently flowing streams
contained in banks
mirroring green leaves
that lean over from overhanging branches
shadows rippling the sparkling waters
lit with silver blue and green tints
placid cool waters calm and sure
emanating a pervasive peace
a fish cleaving the calm waters in measured paths
a hawk circling slowly above
masking deep buried passions,
submerged desires, long forgotten dreams
sparks of extinguished fires
ash-clothed embers that if stoked
could come alive erupting in molten mindful lava
that would erase the dangerous calm of those green banks.
A grace that passes all perfection.
A mind honed to the truth of existence
a keen intellect and critical mind sacrificed
at the altar of hearth and home
a heart mindfully alive
to the thorny paths of the road not taken.
Om Shanti.
Contents:
Preface / 9
Home Is Where the Heart Is / 11
Lately / 13
Looking at Myself / 14
Talisman / 15
Nightmare / 17
Rising into Age / 18
Crime Brief / 19
Woman Living / 21
Can’t You Hear / 23
Woman Dying / 24
Aging / 25
Don’t / 26
How? / 27
Hymn to a Daughter / 28
Goodbye / 29
Losing Hope / 31
Kehar Singh / 33
Minor Key / 35
Visible Greed / 37
Mother / 39
Benishan / 41
Relief / 42
December 90 / 43
Body / 44
Asmita / 47
Riding the Waves / 50
Partition Song / 51
Shanti / 55
Ten Years / 56