‘Be proud, Telangana women writers

Noted writer, feminist and activist Urvashi Butalia gave Telangana women a pat on their  back for having been proactive in their writings, much ahead of their counterparts in other states.
‘Be proud, Telangana women writers

Noted writer, feminist and activist Urvashi Butalia gave Telangana women a pat on their  back for having been proactive in their writings, much ahead of their counterparts in other states. “My publishing house has been fortunate to bring out a book titled We were making history, life stories of women in the Telangana people’s struggle in 1989 and till date it continues to be one of the most powerful women’s writings in the country,” she said. She was referring to the book by Stree Shakti Sangathana, a group of accomplished writer such as K Lalita, Vasantha Kannabiran, Rama Melkote, Uma Maheshwari, Susie Tharu and Veena Shatrugna. It was about the  Telangana people’s struggle,” stretching from 1946 to 1951, was the armed rebellion of men as well as women against the oppressive policies of the Nizam of Hyderabad.

She also applauded a Telugu book about women’s body and health which was later adapted into English. “You must be proud. Telangana is a region rich in women’s writing,” she remarked. She was speaking at ‘Publishing Women’s Voices from Kashmir at Gallery Cafe on Saturday as part of the 17th edition of Krishnakriti Festival and HLF on Friday.

“Until the 1990s, most feminists from the so-called mainland hadn’t ventured beyond the pale of nation-state discourses to engage with feminist narratives from Kashmir,” she said.  

“When activist Mani Mala went to Kashmir in the 1990s, women questioned her: “Where have you been?” That prompted Kali for Women to publish their first book on Kashmir, ‘Speaking Peace: Women’s Voices from Kashmir’. This led to an attempt to engage with and include more women’s narratives from the Valley. It has resulted in a series of publications such as: ‘Love, Loss and Longing in Kashmir’ by Sehba Hussain, the recent book in this series.

“Young women across India don’t have a sense of the history, especially the women’s movement. The art of writing is new and young women in the valley are neither familiar with Urdu nor fluent with English. In fact, our foreign source which did not allow us to publish a book on Kashmir. So we tweaked the idea and conducted a workshop on how to write a book. The strategy worked and women did eventually write book which is now a part of the Kashmir narrative,” she added.

She also spoke about the dilemma  deciding the cover of a book by women on Kashmir. How do you go beyond the shikara, the chinar leaf; the visual stereotypes? The idea is to give a truthful picture and we have succeeded,” she concluded.

— Manju Latha Kalanidhi
kalanidhi@newindianexpress.com
@mkalanidhi

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