Book picks similar to
Legends of the Indus: Epic Love Tales from the Indus Valley by Samina Quraeshi
ancient-history
folk-myth-retelling
genre_fairy-folktales_myth_fables
pakistan
Russian Myths
Elizabeth Warner - 2002
Despite the abandonment of the pagan gods, both Christian and pagan practices and beliefs continued to coexist for centuries, producing a system known as "dual faith."Russian Myths deals with mythic beliefs, notions, and customs--concerning the veneration of earth, water, fire, and air, demons and spirit-beings in the world of nature, the cult of the dead, and witchcraft--many of which have their roots in the pre-Christian past but still survive to the present day. To illuminate the evolution of major themes and motifs and set Russian myths in the context of mythology the world over, Elizabeth Warner draws upon a rich variety of sources, including anecdotal narrative forms and religious legends, epic songs, funeral laments and folk religion, and, of course, the folktales where the sacred gives way to pure imagination in the depiction of mythic themes and characters.
Good Girls Marry Doctors: South Asian American Daughters on Obedience and Rebellion
Piyali Bhattacharya - 2016
Her gratitude for her immigrant parents’ sacrifices creates intense pressure to perform and embody the role of the “perfect daughter.” Yet, the demand for such perfection can stifle desire, curb curiosity, and make it fraught for a Good Girl to construct her own identity in the face of stern parental opinion.Of course, this is not always the case. Certain stories in this collection uncover relationships between parents and daughters that are open and supportive while also being exacting. Many of the essays, however, dig into difficult truths about what it is to be a young woman in a world of overbearing cultural expectation.Good Girls Marry Doctors is filled with honest stories, difficult and joyous, heartbreaking and hilarious, from a diverse array of powerful women. These narratives combine to expose struggles that are too often hidden from the public eye, while reminding those going through similar experiences that they are heard, and they are not alone. Contributors include: Ankita Rao, Ayesha Mattu, Fawzia Mirza, Hema Sarang-Sieminski, Jabeen Akhtar, Jyothi Natarajan, Leila Khan, Madiha Bhatti, Mathangi Subramanian, Meghna Chandra, Natasha Singh, Nayomi Munaweera, Neelanjana Banerjee, Phiroozeh Romer, Piyali Bhattacharya, Rachna Khatau, Rajpreet Heir, Roksana Badruddoja, Sayantani DasGupta, SJ Sindu, Sona Charaipotra, Surya Kundu, Swati Khurana, Tanzila Ahmed, Tara Dorabji, Tarfia Faizullah, and Triveni Gandhi.
The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India
Urvashi Butalia - 1998
Within the space of two months in 1947 more than twelve million people were displaced. A million died. More than seventy-five thousand women were abducted and raped. Countless children disappeared. Homes, villages, communities, families, and relationships were destroyed. Yet, more than half a century later, little is known of the human dimensions of this event. In The Other Side of Silence , Urvashi Butalia fills this gap by placing people—their individual experiences, their private pain—at the center of this epochal event.Through interviews conducted over a ten-year period and an examination of diaries, letters, memoirs, and parliamentary documents, Butalia asks how people on the margins of history—children, women, ordinary people, the lower castes, the untouchables—have been affected by this upheaval. To understand how and why certain events become shrouded in silence, she traces facets of her own poignant and partition-scarred family history before investigating the stories of other people and their experiences of the effects of this violent disruption. Those whom she interviews reveal that, at least in private, the voices of partition have not been stilled and the bitterness remains. Throughout, Butalia reflects on difficult questions: what did community, caste, and gender have to do with the violence that accompanied partition? What was partition meant to achieve and what did it actually achieve? How, through unspeakable horrors, did the survivors go on? Believing that only by remembering and telling their stories can those affected begin the process of healing and forgetting, Butalia presents a sensitive and moving account of her quest to hear the painful truth behind the silence.
Where Girls Dare
Bhavna Chauhan - 2010
Then whispered to the chief instructor,'Tighten their discipline. Toughen their schedule.I've never seen such happy cadets. This is not a party!'They entered the Officers' Training Academy at Chennai, with a single desire—to be Officers in the army. Soon they discovered it was going to be an uphill task, literally! They fought, they bickered, they cried and they raised hell. But they also learnt. They learnt to take push-ups and punishments, front rolls and figures of eight, strict discipline and night marches in their stride.Where Girls Dare is a hilarious and entertaining story of what happens when fifty-two lady cadets (LCs) train alongside four hundred Gentleman Cadets (GCs), some of whom believe that girls in the army is a bad idea.
The Crooked Line: Terhi Lakir
Ismat Chughtai - 1944
Writing with the same honesty and passion as her scandalous short-story, “The Quilt,” Chughtai exposes the complex relationships developed between women living and working in relative seclusion, and the intellectual and emotional contradictions lying in the heart of a rebellious country on the brink of independence from the British Raj and ultimately Partition.
Greek Myths
Lucilla Burn - 1990
The author introduces the complex pantheon of Olympian gods and goddesses, describing their attributes, genealogies, and often comic relationships, and illustrates the personalities and their stories by drawing upon the artistry of the ancient culture which created them. A concluding chapter reviews the powerful and continuing imaginative legacy of Greek myth, from Botticelli to Freud.
Udaas Naslain / اداس نسلیں
Abdullah Hussein - 1963
The novel is so exciting that the reader will love to read it more than once. Feudal system of undivided India, British, Hindu & Muslims are main characters of this novel.
The Ancient Black Hebrews
Gert Muller - 2013
Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon were Black. Pictures of the ancient Hebrews show this part of Biblical record to be accurate. These pictures are presented here!
Who Killed Karkare? The Real Face Of Terrorism In India
S.M. Mushrif - 2010
The allegation that sections of and individual Indian Muslims indulged in "terrorism" surfaced for the first time with the ascent of the Hindutva forces in mid-1990s and became state policy with the BJP coming to power at the Centre. With even "secular" media joining the role as stenographers of security agencies, this became an accepted fact so much so that common Indians and even many Muslims started believing in this false propaganda. This book, by a former senior police officer, with a distinguished career that included unearthing the Telgi scam, peeps behind the propaganda screen, using material mostly in the public domain as well as his long police experience. It comes out with some startling facts and analysis, the first of its kind, to expose the real actors behind the so-called "Islamic terrorism" in India whose greatest feat was to murder the Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare who dared to expose these forces and paid with his life for his courage and commitment to truth. While unearthing the conspiracy behind the murder of Karkare, this book takes a hard look at some of the major incidents attributed to "Islamic terrorism" in India and finds them baseless.
The Mughal World
Abraham Eraly - 2008
The three centuries of their rule mark one of the most crucial and fascinating periods of Indian history. This study looks beyond the story of the empire's rise and fall—an exotic growth that was transplanted to India from Islamic Persia—to bring the world of the Mughal ruler and Hindu subject vividly into focus. Blending contemporary sources and detailed description, an India full of strangeness and contrast is introduced: sacred harems and suttee rites, brutal war and cultural and artistic refinement, staggering opulence, deviant indulgences, and abject poverty. The bizarre religious cults, the Mughal fondness for formal gardening, the murderous female bandits, the sex lives of the nobles, and beyond—almost every aspect of life is examined, making this a comprehensive and absorbing introduction to India's last Golden Age.
Orpheus & Eurydice: A Lyric Sequence
Gregory Orr - 2001
Through poems of passionate and obsessive erotic love, Orr has dramatized the anguished intersection of infinite longings and finite lives and, in the process, explores the very sources of poetry.When Eurydice saw himhuddled in a thick cloak,she should have knownhe was alive,the way he shiveredbeneath its useless folds.But what she sawwas the usual: a strangerconfused in a new world.And when she touched himon the shoulder,it was nothingpersonal, a kindnesshe misunderstood.To guide someonethrough the halls of hellis not the same as love."A reader unfamiliar with Orr’s work may be surprised, at first, by the richness of both action and visual detail that his succinct, spare poems convey. Lyricism can erupt in the midst of desolation."—Boston GlobeWhen Gregory Orr’s Burning the Empty Nest appear, Publisher’s Weekly praised it as an "auspicious debut for a gifted newcomer…he already demonstrates a superior control of his medium." Kirkus Review celebrated it as "an almost unbearably powerful first book of poetry" and enthusiastically reviewed his second book Gathering the Bones Together, noting that "Orr’s power is the eloquence of understatement." Most recently, his City of Salt was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award. Gregory Orr teaches at the University of Virginia.
Thieves, Liars and Mountaineers: On the 8,000m peak circus in Pakistan
Mark Horrell - 2011
The mountaineer Joe Simpson famously crawled for three days with a broken leg, but did he ever have to read Angels and Demons by Dan Brown while waiting for a weather window?But that’s enough about Mark’s attempt; there were some talented climbers on the mountain as well, and this story is also about them. How did they get on? Heroes, villains, oddballs and madmen – 8,000m peaks attract them all, and drama, intrigue and cock-ups aplenty were inevitable.
Women of the Celts
Jean Markale - 1986
The author explores the rich heritage of Celtic women in history, myth, and ritual, showing how these traditions compare to modern attitudes toward women.
A White Trail: A Journey Into the Heart of Pakistan's Religious Minorities
Haroon Khalid - 2013
Of the wider issue of global politics, he reasons, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism has been a side effect. And religious intolerance places the minority communities of the country in a precarious position.They have to come to terms with a rapidly changing situation. A White Trail is an ethnographic study of these communities and the changes they are having to face. At a time when almost all accounts of religious minorities in the country focus on the persecution and discrimination they experience, A White Trail delves deeper into their lives, using the occasion of religious festivals to gain a deeper insight into the psyche of Pakistani Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Zoroastrians and Bahais. It seeks to understand, through the oral testimonies of the members of these communities, larger socio-political issues arising from the situation.A White Trail originally began as a series of newspaper articles written by Lahore - based Haroon Khalid for Pakistans widely - circulated weekly, The Friday Times.