to the girls in my house

My Mom Sis And My Puppy.

the music monster

It’s really difficult for me to list 8 songs I like, cos well I hardly listen to any.
I told you mat karna….why did you tag me daa?

Anyway........

1)Tuta tuta ek parinda would probably my favourite song ever. I feel the writer of the song is probably talking of Jesus Christ, and that affects me so much. So much that I feel like crying almost when I hear this song, usually in the car, and my hateful driver, bloody stares with hate in his eyes.

2) Raag yaman is my new favourite raag, and I love the bandish I am now learning…….kesar rangan ki pichkaari.
Also my old fav in yaman is ori eli aari piya bina…

I had gotten till here yester day when my friend called me and I moved from the comp and was overcome by migraine and could not or did not come in front of the comp’s harsh glare again. And my sis tried to listen to songs on the comp which is in my rooms and had to move away cos music can be just noise to me quite often……..very often in fact, and my mom says I have a dead soul cos I don’t listen to music really.
And do realise, whosoever reads this, that most of these songs are what I had had to learn.

3) I like the song ‘kajrare kajrare’, though I absolutely hate Aishwarya, and would sometimes even watch her dance just to hear song. Once saw a woman in pub dance to this and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh! Loved song even more. (Can read up incident in a September or October post on this blog)

4) Rabbi’s bulla ki jaanaa mein kaun I love again mostly because of the lyrics? But quite love the video even.

5) I love the song from sound of music, edelweiss edelweiss. Learnt it at school in Bombay as a kid. I still sing it sometimes when I am not able to sleep and when I am crying. I quite like the crying version of that song. .hahahha.

6) Jamaican farewell ……… another song I had to learn in that school.

7) Remember Diane king? I used to think she was quite hot and I used to like her songs cos they were so about really strong women. And it was like she was sometimes beating up men………not that I like THAT.

8) Asha bhosle’s ye nain dare dare, ye jam bhare bhare, mujhe e e e pine do o o. kal ki kisko khabar? Ek raat hoke nidar mujhe e e e jine do.
Sometimes I substitute pine do for jine do when we are drinking just for effect.

For that’s the ultimate aim of every song’s life right?
To be hummed on by someone who is drunk.

Home Truths -2

What a lot of people know about me: I am honest

What my close friends turned almost foes know about me: I can be manipulative (see am still honest)

What my sis thinks of me sometimes: attention seeking selfish lazy liar, drama queen fat moody sneaky bitch.

What I say of me all the time: “I am so pretty” *standing in front of mirror* …….giggle giggle…….”I am so pretty”….”naa Pom(my sis) am I not pretty?”

What my sis thinks then: pompous attention seeking thinking too much of herself………aaaaaaagh…….”yeah baba you are pretty”

Be scared Be vey scared

The world's worst countries to visit if you're gay.
The list:
1.Uganda
2.Iran
3.Egypt
4.Saudi Arabia
5.Nigeria
6.United Arab Emirates
7.Cameroon
8.Poland
9.Nepal
10.India

TICKLE LOVE PERSONALITY TEST ---- MY RESULT

As an ENFP, you probably find most traditions and rules to be a real bore. Others around you might even see you as a bit of a rebel. It appears that you enjoy standing apart from the crowd. Moreover, because you have such a free spirited, friendly manner, there will usually be a crowd around you to stand apart from. Your special qualities can be very attractive. Among those traits is a high energy level that often keeps you on the move. ENFPs like you are known for being real Renaissance types and having a diverse array of interests. Whether it's in work or play, your type is willing to take more risks than most. In relationships, you can be hard to pin down. Life is a journey not a destination for you. You aren't the kind to falsely lead someone on. It seems you'd rather be evasive than lie to get out of a sticky situation. Because you crave excitement, chances are that you resist getting in to the kind of routine that often comes with commitment. This can sometimes pose a problem if you're paired with someone who needs a lot of structure in their relationship.

Feminism Friday??? i know i wont get more than a B+ for this

Queer’ was a movement that came into existence to encompass all non-heteronormative sexualities. It reminded us that labels and categories can easily become part of oppression. But along the way has the ‘queer’ movement actually constructed an identity that is based on standards that must be met, excluding those who don’t meet these standards?

“I’m permanently troubled by identity categories, consider them to be invariable stumbling-blocks, and understand them, even promote them, as sites of necessary trouble.” -- Judith Butler


As I was talking to a friend of mine who is far from being homophobic and infact calls herself homophilliac, tells me that she doesn’t believe in bisexuality and that one cannot, in her opinion have the best of both worlds. I am of course just 23 and most people I know are of my age and most people I know who even know or think of homosexuality, thinks us bisexuals queerer of the lot. The common perception is that bisexuals are just confused and will probably make up mind one day. The other one is that they are unfaithful, and cannot commit to one partner or to that sex of the partner. I think they, bisexuals are as confused and adulterous as anybody else and not less neither more. Some people falsely believe that bisexuality is about swinging with other couples or singles of both genders. The truth is that bisexuality is about whom you are, not whom you are with. That aside, most bisexual people tend to be attracted to one gender more or less than the other. The degree of attraction towards one or the other can also change over time, even from week to week.

Queer politics questions the unity, stability and political utility of sexual and gender identities. It reminds us that labels and categories can easily become part of oppression. But the question that has been lurking in my mind since my own discovery of ‘queerness’ is: am I queer enough to be counted as a part of the movement. If I include myself in the we of a queer gathering, will I be asked to step away if I’d happened to be in a straight relationship right then?
We are told (making it personal, the we are the bisexual * women on campus right now) that there is only one politics, that of the queer. And politically we are gay. To make a point I will always use words like lesbian or gay and never bisexual, and while reciprocating the other will always say “you the lesbian……” because we let ourselves be encompassed in the mainstream gay politics, and we exist as a b in any lgbt.

I understand the reasons for that. In the process of building a movement, a campaign to claim human rights, there is a need to come together, feel togetherness, share a common ground, and, of course, a common dream. What is otherwise called solidarity. But what can also be called assimilation. Does the ‘queer’ identity subsume other identities under its all-encompassing weight? Is inclusivity a process of creating sameness? Well, not completely, though tendencies exist. The ‘queer’ identity does provide an opportunity for sexually marginalised groups, beyond the peripheries of the LGBT, to come onto the rights-claiming platform, get visibility.





But on a personal (and even in media) basis, I (we) am not taken seriously. This makes my position unstable, for having stepped out of the straight world, and identified myself as bisexual, it can be trifle scary and insulting to be dismissed and kept at the fringe of even this community. And in search of visibility I become twice or even thrice invisiblised.


For unlike what some people think bisexuals cannot be straight sometimes. I am not sometimes gay sometimes straight, I am always bi whether with a man or a women. Can I get married, have kids, build a family, and feel ‘queer’ at the same time?

Is it about believing in an identity, a position from where you challenge the oppressive nature of dominant heteronormativity? Can I be part of a ‘heterosexual’ relationship and claim to be ‘queer’?

Even in media, wherever there is representation of lesbian or bisexual women, there are stereotypes and the flitting character of the bisexual woman who ‘plays for both teams’ becomes the butt of quite a few jokes, or just assumptions which just further damages her image. Take the case of ‘The L Word’, The L Word’s representation of bisexuality reflects popular and sometimes opposing ideas about bisexuality. One belief is that those who identify as bisexual are merely experimenting with their sexuality before they choose to identify as strictly heterosexual or homosexual, thus suggesting that a “bisexual” identity is at best a transitional identity, and at worst a false one.
The second is the belief that everyone has the potential to be attracted to people of either sex; in other words, everyone is at some level bisexual. This has been most clearly expressed by the character of Shane (Katherine Moennig), who stated in the second episode, “Sexuality is fluid, whether you’re gay or you’re straight or you’re bisexual, you just go with the flow.”
Third is the stereotype that bisexuals are sexually promiscuous or indecisive, with the added threat that a bisexual woman could, at any moment, leave her female lover for a man. While Alice is not promiscuous, she is framed by the other characters as indecisive. Dana's aggressive attempts to make Alice "choose" are reflective of how many lesbians see bisexuality, the fact that Alice’s main opportunities to discuss bisexuality occur in defensive situations mean that bisexuality is almost always cast in a negative light.
In addition, as the series has developed, Alice’s interest in dating men has declined while her interest in women—particularly Dana—has taken center stage; underscoring the first assumption that bisexuality is simply a transitional phase. Of course, many bisexual women enter into serious relationships with other women as Alice has with Dana, and there's nothing unrealistic about this. The problem is that none of the show's bisexual characters enter into serious relationships with men.
In The biographic film Frida Early on in the film, Frida asserts her difference and sexual liberation by having sex with her boyfriend in her parents’ home and posing for a family portrait in a full suit, dressed as a man. This is in 1920s Mexico--a conservative Catholic country, so it is unexpected to see her father (Roger Rees) dote on her shocking behavior, even going so far as to joke about her cross-dressing with “I always wanted a son.”
The film touches on the major points of her life, but it primarily focuses on her relationship with Diego. This is a little disappointing since she is so well known as a bisexual woman. The only scenes that show her with women are set in a very masculine erotic frame. The first involves winning a drinking game in order to dance with the stunning hostess and photographer, Tina Modotti (Ashley Judd), at a party. Frida subverts the macho posturing by taking the biggest drink uninvited, then performing a sensual tango with “the prize.” This scene is sexy because it is two beautiful women dancing together, but it also seems very superficial. One almost feels that the intended audience is the male viewer.
The second film moment capturing Frida’s intimate interaction with a woman is her revenge sex with a Parisienne singer in order to get even with Diego. Both scenes are thrown into the movie for titillation as opposed to taking a meaningful look at her relationships with women outside of the marriage to Diego. This is disappointing for a biographic film of her life since it minimizes her non-heterosexual relationships.
CONCLUSION.
What we as ‘queer’ people need to challenge is not just dominant heteronormativity, but also our discomfort with difference. We cannot privilege ‘sexual orientation’ as the most significant sexual difference among us. Or else we are in danger of creating our own sexual ‘lower orders’.


Arunlekha Sengupta,
Roll no 513,
4th semester.

in the absence of you

It’s another season now,
Not summer and not cool either,
And the sun glows bright purple
Reflected in my nails.
My fingers smell of oranges,
Though it’s now another season.
Not too deep, not too low either,
My pool floats me by,
Purple water and a black me.
And I know you’ve had a bath here,
The smell of another fruit overwhelms me,
But it’s another season now.

upon my death

I sit on a pink cloud
Passing by
Over my pink city,
And there lies my home,
Lights still on within,
And nobody seems to be mourning,
Except the peeling paint on the door,
And the moss on the window sill.
My discarded clothes still litter the floor,
And nobody now enters my room,
And the sunset in my room sinks into the lake,
And my pink cloud passes by.

what i did this afternoon

And so cold is my skin,
That the afternoon breeze outside feels like winter.
And me with my purple nails,
Clutch onto my sheets,
Red and yellow they seem this afternoon.
I clutch onto my Colourful sheets
My fingers somewhere in its abandoned frenzy
Has whipped up a cupful of bliss,
And I hold onto my sheets,
for
Bliss in the afternoon
always throws me off balance.

Watermelon woman revisited

http://www.afterellen.com/Movies/2006/3/watermelon.html

After she left.

I stand under the streetlight,
and the night washes its hangover,
in the calm that precedes the rain tonight
just to get drunk in the drizzle again.

I realise from lower down
under the streetlights
that this time too
i have to wait
for the rains to wash away my tears.

Because: by Mark Belletini
And so one of the members of the search committee (group of
church members of the Unitarian Church that hires new ministers) asks me "But why do you people"-he really said that, "you people"-"have to talk about it?"
Right.
Well, because
Because if I fell in love,
you know, with sonnets and everything,
and wanted to name all the stars of heaven
one at a time with a goofy smile on my face
I'd like to be able to.
Because, if I didn't fall in love,
I'd like to grouse a bit,
or work up a bitter Theory
to explain it.
Because if my lover got run over
by a drunk driver (it happens, you know,
remember blue-eyed Stewart?)
I'd like toe able to take a few days off work
to cry and stuff, OK?
Because, if my partner-in-life
whom I can't legally marry because
it upsets someone's stomach or something
suddenly developed an infection
and got Job's sores all over his body
and had to go to the hospital
(you know, just like my friend Stephen)
I'd kind of like to take him there
and hold his hand for a few days
and still get paid on family emergency leave
so I could eat food and pay rent and all.
Because if my lover left me a
fter fifteen years I'd like to be able to sob
without consolation
and feel suitable depressions
and not have to smile a lot
and pretend to be stunned for months.
Because lying all the time is still wrong isn't it?
Oh, and because, whether you believe it or not,
my life is just as important to me as yours is to you.


Mark Belletini is a minister at Starr King Unitarian Church in Hayward, CA.

My Mouth Hovers Across Your Breasts

My mouth hovers across your breasts
in the short grey winter afternoon
in this bed we are delicate
and touch so hot with joy we amaze ourselves
tough and delicate we play rings
around each other
our daytime candle burns
with its peculiar light and if the snow
begins to fall outside filling the branches
and if the night falls without announcement
there are the pleasures of winter
sudden, wild and delicate your fingers
exact my tongue exact at the same moment
stopping to laugh at a joke
my love hot on your scent on the cusp of winter.


Adrienne Rich

Phenomenal Woman

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a womanPhenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.


Maya Angelou

RainOverSitaphalmandi

For once
I was a grown up.
For once
I had a home to go back to quick
All for this rain.
I waited alone at the mandi station.
Alone amongst others
Others who sat waiting for the 6:30 train
which finally arrived at 6:50.
I had waited for 50 mins in this downpour,
With the lonely streetlight,
Getting wet in the rain.
Like the lonely
Lovely me.
For once
My train
Provided shelter.
For once
I went home,
Happy,
Like the others.

of tarkovsky and his weather.

This is more about yesterday than today.
We had a class from 2 to 5.
Search for self in contemporary European cinema. Yup that’s what the course is called.
We discussed tarkovsky’s ‘the mirror’.
We, prem and I realised as the discussion progressed that we had not understood anything of the film.
But both had agreed that the film was beautifully shot.
Especially the overcast weather in the movie, made me melancholic (as I guess it was supposed to)
I have a thing for monsoons.
I hate summer.
Even if I dream of sunny weather I am disturbed.
God alone knows how I manage Hyderabad in the summers.
So here we sit discussing Tarkovsky in this AC eed classroom, darkened by black curtains,
Watching rains somewhere in Russia, and wondering why it can’t rain a little right now, in Hyderabad.
After the three hours, we come out of the building and can almost smell the rains.
There is a yellow light all over.
My mother would say, “Mahakaashe jhor” as in there is a storm in space somewhere.
The willow in front of the admin block with its new yellow flowers is enough to bring a smile in my soul.
We go to Sagar (the on campus grocery shop) thirsting for some coffee and cigarettes, and
Lo behold! It begins to rain.
Big fat drops of rain fall from the still yellow sky.
And premankur and I become little kids trying to and then trying not to get wet.
Puddles Puddles everywhere,
Gay cowboys kissing with passion,
Strange tunes playing in the background as they kiss
Ting ting ting
And this tarkovskian rain.
Rain against the trees,
On the trees,
Dog barking somewhere,
Crows getting wet.
Tarkovsky is dead, someone said.
Long Live Tarkovsky.
.
.

.

India:in a history of foreign policy

The United States was closely allied with Pakistan until end of Cold War. Pakistan provided bases for U-2 flights and conduit for arms to Afghanistan rebels. The United States provided most of Pakistani military aid from 1954 to the 1980s. China is now the major military supplier to Pakistan. The United States has maintained cool relations with India because of its refusal to join the west during the Cold War, its pursuit of a non-alignment foreign policy and for its tight controls on American investment and business enterprise in India.China is the premier military power in Asia and considers Pakistan its oldest and most powerful Asian ally. China continues to occupy areas inside of India's borders as a result of the Indo-China war of 1962. China has nuclear-armed missiles positioned against India along the Himalayan border and in Tibet, in addition to being Pakistan’s main military weapons provider.Russia has had close relations with India since Indira Gandhi became prime minister in 1966. Russia provides most of India's military sales. After the demise of the Soviet Empire, Russia is unable to provide economic or military aid to India. Even culturally I would say Russia and India were close with Indian movies watched in Russia and Russian novels, especially the communist themed ones becoming the bible for the communist rebellion in India.India has pursued a policy of non-alignment with Soviet Union and United States since its independence. India's planned economy was not open to U.S. investment until change of policy toward free market in 1991. India would not accept American military aid or join alliances, thus alienating U.S. leaders and majority of Americans. Under President Kennedy, the United States supported India in its war with China. Under Nixon, the United States supported Pakistan in 1971 in the war that led to creation of Bangladesh (the former East Pakistan). America sent a nuclear-armed aircraft carrier to Bay of Bengal, which helped motivate India to go nuclear. Now that Russia is weak, India feels isolated and alone in world community. India has felt that the United States has also been hostile to India and that we now are promoting China as the major power in all of Asia. Pakistani testing of Gauri missile on April 6th, 1998 was a major factor in India's decision to undertake nuclear testing. India will suffer from the end of economic aid, but its leaders have calculated that that the nation can survive the sanctions.Pakistan relied on its close alliance with the United States from 1954 through the 1980s. During the 1990s, leaders looked more to China for support and military technology and hardware; China is currently a major supplier of these components to Pakistan. The Pakistani foreign minister traveled to China for consultations ten days before Pakistan conducted nuclear tests. Pakistan will suffer far more than India as a result of economic sanctions by world community. Loss of aid will result in undermining of currency, great increase in debt and increase in poverty.In the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and Pakistan in early 2002, U.S. relations with Pakistan and its leader, President General Pervez Musharraf, improved, which further aggravated India-Pakistan relations. While economic sanctions were lifted, Pakistani militants staged several attacks and bombings; in one occassion, targeted Indian and Kashmiri legislatures. The United States feared possible nuclear retaliation and advised Americans to evacuate both South Asian countries.

love in the city of joy.

Little pieces of paper flutter and fly
over the pile of garbage,
somewhere in the city.
Little pieces of paper.
Some square some not.
Browned by time and misuse?
Unloved,
Folded into little crevices

in someone’s cupboard,
Found one spring cleaning day.
Found and torn away.
Torn and thrown away.
Little pieces of paper flutter and fly.
Passersby pass by,
Nobody bothers to look at them.
Nobody thinks of finishing this jigsaw.
If they had had the time,
they would have met
an unspoken love affair,
written in green ink
on the back of old envelopes.

FEMINISM FRIDAY (WELL SORT OF)

Europecentricism for centuries have alluded to this fact, that there is probably only one way of philosophy, The European way. Assumptions of European superiority arose during the period of European imperialism, which started slowly in the 16th century, accelerated in the 17th and 18th centuries and reached its zenith in the 19th century. The progressive character of European culture was contrasted with traditional hunting, farming and herding societies in many of the areas of the world being newly explored by Europeans, such as the Americas, most of Africa, and later the Pacific and Australasia. Even the complex civilizations of the Islamic world, India, China and Japan were considered to be underdeveloped relative to Europe, and were often characterised as static. For many European writers of this time the history of Europe became paradigmatic for the rest of the world. It was thus thought to be uniquely responsible for the scientific, technological and cultural achievements that constitute the modern world. Furthermore, scientific models for understanding the world were deemed to have replaced religious or speculative accounts. The extent to which science itself can be considered to be specifically "European" is still debated.
The colonizing period involved the widespread settlement of parts of the Americas and Australasia with European people, and also the establishment of outposts and colonial administrations in parts of Asia and Africa. As a result, the majority populations of the Americas, Australia and New Zealand typically trace their ancestry to Europe. For this reason a Europe-centered history may be taught in such countries, even though their populations are now far removed from Europe itself, but have nevertheless been brought up into what may be regarded as mainly European cultural traditions. Countries such as Australia defined their nationhood entirely in terms of an overseas extension of European history. It was, until recently, thought to have had no history or serious culture before colonization. The history of the native inhabitants was subsumed by the Western disciplines of ethnology and archaeology. In central and South America a merger of immigrant and native histories was constructed. The Orient or Far East is east of Europe, whereas the West is described west of Europe. Although many of these terms are not intentionally designed to relegate other groups to a subordinate role vis-?-vis the people of Europe, the effects of Eurocentrism create a self-sustaining belief, that Europe and Europeans are central and most important to all meaningful aspects of the world's social values, and cultural heritage. Other examples of Eurocentrism as part of education and the world of letters may be found in reference works such as encyclopedias.
In an overview of 17th century history, say, it would be Eurocentric to list numerous dates, events and political figures from the many states of Europe, but only brief mentions for the Manchu conquest of China or the Mughals in India, or the Aksum Christian period in Ethiopia. Then, as now (and for most of human history), well over half of the human population has lived in Asia.
Achebe, the doyen of modern African writing in English, is also an interpreter of men, society and literature and believes in art-literature that is in the service of man. He, like Wordsworth and Arnold, rooted in his own history and culture, has assumed the role of a teacher to re-educate and regenerate his society, to restore to Africa its pride, dignity and confidence lost during the colonial period. In this novel, A Man of the People, he makes Odili’s shallow intellectualism come out with the help of English. Achebe’s deliberate use of the Igbo proverbs and mannerisms lend African flavour to his writing. He has successfully formed a new diction and provides his characters with an impressive range of speech styles --- formal, appropriate to the highly educated, dislocated broken English to the less educated and the illiterate. Achebe has employed with great professional competence Pidgin English in his novels, a language spoken by non-native speakers of English. He has used pidgin for both verisimilitude and comic effect in this novel. “Mr. Nanga always spoke English or pidgin; his children…spoke impeccable English, but Mrs. Nanga stuck to our language—with the odd English words thrown in now and again”. When Odili visits the residence of the Nangas, the body-guard at the gate stops him and asks “make you park for out-side. I go haskam if he want see you. We tin be your name?” Nanga’s idiom which is pidgin reflects his sense of the degree of formality of the occasion. When he and Odili visit the house of Hon. Simon koko, minister for overseas training, Nanga tells koko “Ino follow you black whitemen for drink tea and coffee in the hot afternoon….whiskey and sodas for me and Mr. Samalu”
African women are making meaningful contributions: as lecturers, professors, and presidents of universities; as commissioners and ministers, senators and governors, and chairpersons of political parties; as directors and others involved in literacy movements and campaigns against forced marriages, clitoridectomies, and obsolete widowhood practices. But this novel deals with women in mostly a stereotypical way. Elsie, the slut. Edna, the convent educated school girl type. Mrs. Nanga the faithful bush wife.There are images of women playing traditional roles such as singers and dancers, or women adoring rich politicians like Chief the Honorable M.A. Nanga. Mrs. Eleanor John, a tough party woman and board member -- rich, independent, assertive -- lamentably is cast as a semiliterate businesswoman with no noteworthy role. We see Chief Nanga's wife, a beneficiary of the colonial, utilitarian education, dissatisfied with her husband's extramarital relationship and impending marriage to the young Edna. Mrs. Nanga complains to Odili, but when the latter sets out to unseat her husband, she reverts to her traditional role of helpmate fighting to retain her precarious social and economic position. Consequently, she remains a dependent, peripheral figure, deriving validity as a human being only from her husband.
A strong characterization in Man of the People is Eunice the lawyer. She is the fianc?e of Odili's schoolmate Max, and founder of the Common People's Convention that opposes corrupt Chief Nanga and his ilk. When Max is shot by thugs of a political adversary, Eunice takes decisive, retaliatory action: "[S]he opens her handbag as if to take out a handkerchief, [takes] out a pistol instead and [fires] two bullets into Chief Koko's chest”. To this strong portrait, Achebe adds pointedly: "Only then [does] she fall down on Max's body and begin to weep like a woman . . . A very strange girl, people said" . In a story of the total breakdown of law and order, where looting, arson and political killings have become rife, a single act of retaliation by an injured girl is considered "strange." Given the intensely patriarchal nature of traditional African cultures, African feminism cannot be considered radical. For white European and American women, feminism has predicated itself on ending gender discrimination and demanding equal job opportunities and voting and property rights. For African and African-American women, feminist ideology reflects specificities of race, class, and culture. It is for this reason that the former has failed to make any lasting appeal to Africa and its Diaspora. Because African women do not wish to alienate men, because African women do not wish to alienate the bulk of their tradition-based sisters, because many traditional African customs and mores are worth preserving, most African feminists espouse womanism, which Alice Walker defines as a philosophy that celebrates black roots, the ideals of black life, while giving a balanced presentation of black womanhood . . . . [I]ts aim is the dynamism of wholeness and self- healing.
Colonialism which is a fact of history is the moving force of the novels of Achebe that has revolutionized African life and tradition. The novel as other history novels, has a tragic ending, tend to re-interpret the African past and advocate an ‘anti racist-racism’. In his novel, the cultural conflict between the two divergent systems is depicted through a powerful and convincing dramatic relation ship between the principal characters.

from my life

My College St Francis.

And my sister's and her friends on campus, in hyderabad summer.


p.s: my sis is in Blue.

UNIVERSAL TRUTHS???????

There are 3 billion women who dont look like super models and only 8 who do.

Exclusion - The Soul Selects Her Own Society

The soul selects her own society,
Then shuts the door;
On her divine majority
Obtrude no more.

Unmoved, she notes the chariot's pausing
At her low gate;
Unmoved,
an emperor is kneeling
Upon her mat.

I've known her from an ample nation
Choose one;
Then close the valves of her attention
Like stone.


Emily Dickinson