Bhopal: “This was predictable fate, the daughter of a poor father who had failed to meet the demands of his unemployed son-in-law. He could not give his son-in-law a motorbike. He was unable to give 55 grams of gold ornaments and he had no courage to call her daughter back home when she wrote him about the torture by her in-laws and husband.”
Additional director, Directorate of Health Services, Bhopal, Dr Veena Sinha read out the excerpts from her novel in a virtual session on - A story of Every Woman - an evening of self-curated poetry and prose portraying the women of modern world. Club Literati, Bhopal, organised the session on International Women's Day on Monday evening.
Five women speakers, who are well known in the field of art and literature, read out a few excerpts of their own writings. All the writings focused on women and their everyday experience. Their works not only showcased struggles of women but highlighted their strength and abilities. The session began with Malashri Lal reciting poems of Ramakanta Rath, Rabindranath Tagore, Sarojini Naidu, Kamala Das, and one of her own.
Rekha Sethi |
Lal is a retired professor of English department, University of Delhi, author and editor of 15 books. “It is interesting to note that UN-Women has declared the theme for this year International Women’s Day as Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world. While it celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from Covid -19 pandemic, the theme is a reminder of gaps that remain,” Lal said.
The next speaker was Lakshmi Kannan, a bilingual poet, novelist, short story writer and translator. Besides English, she writes in Tamil under the pen-name of Kaaveri. She has published 27 books to date in English and Tamil. She presented her latest collection of poems.
Rajula Shah recited her Hindi poems. Rekha Sethi also presented her works based on women. She is a writer, scholar, translator and editor, teaching in IP College, Delhi. Former University School of Languages director from Ahemdabad, Ranjana Argade, presided over the session. Sulbha Dixit moderated the event.