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Shikhandi and Other Queer Tales They Don't Tell You  By Devdutt Pattanaik As the word ‘Queer’ which means unconventional or unusual so is this book which is a collection of unorthodox tales from Hindu Mythology. After reading this book you will realize what seems unusual and unconventional to us in present has always existed in Hinduism since ages but have been overlooked by everyone as we cannot accept our deities whom we bound our heads to, are part of these tales. Yes, I am talking about those tales of our traditional history where the relationship between 2 men or 2 women, or where a man becoming a woman, or a woman becoming a man were not considered unconventional, were not demeaned, were not looked down upon by the society, rather were well accepted and worshipped at times. Queer stories are not restricted to Hindu mythology. Arctic regions have a different tale, as per them the first couple on earth were two men, they got married, made love but child conceived coul...

The Forest of Enchantments by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Someone has very well said ‘Only a woman can understand a woman better.’ That’s the reason Chitra never fails in expressing the women side of the story and once again she proved this. She has re-written India’s epic saga, previously Mahabharata and now Ramayana, from a woman's perspective. In the patriarchal society, very few bother about writing emotional turmoil a woman goes through when she is being wronged. Her writing style portrays a visual in front of the reader’s eyes. It’s always a delight to read her books, they have never disappointed me, and this one has taken a special place in my heart and is one of my favorites now. When I was reading this book I was so mesmerised, I felt as if I am in that era. And all this is happening in front of my eyes. This is one of the very few books where I was waiting for the end but at the same time sad when it's ended. Now I am eagerly waiting when Chitra will write ...

Elephant Prince By Amy Novesky Once I was randomly going through the books recommended by Goodreads, I encountered Elephant Prince and seeing it was related to Ganesh about whom I was already looking for a book to read, so I added this one in my reading list. Neither did I read the synopsis nor any review. It’s the title and the book cover which made me excited to read it. Then and there, I searched this book on Amazon and added it in my wishlist. I didn’t order though, it stayed in my wishlist for almost a year. It’s recently I bought it and read. And realized its a folklore and not the kinda I was actually looking for. :D I know it sounds silly but the truth is I was not aware that Amy is a children’s book editor based out of America, and even by the book cover on good reads I couldn’t figure it out that it’s a children book. But after reading the book, I didn’t regret buying it as I enjoyed it. Its the illustrations (by Belgin) in the book which further added to my happy feel...

Sita – Warrior of Mithila By Amish Tripathi This book is mainly focused on Sita. How was her childhood, her relation with her parents, her upbringing and her education, that’s why if you have read Book 1, you may find repetition of few events post Ram and Lakshman came to Mithila for Sita’s Swayamvar, however, this time they have been explained from Sita’s perspective i.e. what Sita was thinking and feeling during all those events. Disclaimer : This book has no reference to Ramcharitmanas or Ramayana. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Examples  of few such instances, which I believe were either deviated from what we all know about Ramayana or maybe, I was personally not aware about them are as below: Sita met Hanuman first time while she was in gurukul. She met him through one of her gurukul’s friend Radhika, who ...

Ram - Scion of Ikshvaku By Amish Tripathi Starting the discussion of Ram Chandra Series and not beginning it with the quote ‘Raghukul reet sadaa chali aayi, praan jaye par vachaan naa jaye’ is incomplete. Amish Tripathi's persuasive style of writing would actually make you believe that Ram and Sita (like Shiva and Sati in Shiva Trilogy) are not deities of Hindus, but human beings who transformed and eventually through their acts became Vishnu (Mahadev in Shiva Trilogy). And Ram Chandra Series is a journey of how Vishnu came up at the right time to guide his people and society and named this transformed kingdom, which was ruled by law and based on equality, as ‘Meluha’. And Meluha was the starting point in the journey of Shiva to become a Mahadev. Thus, it’s a prequel to Shiva Trilogy in the sense. But this time Amish took the big risk by dare writing fictional inspired by Ramayana, one of the greatest epics of Hindu mythology. And here, I am wondering ho...

Shakuntala - The Woman Wronged By Utkarsh Patel Prior reading to this book, I have heard about Shakuntala as some character in Hindu mythology but never knew her story. As we, all know about Shakuntala’s famous dramatic representation in Kalidasa’s play Abhgyanshakuntalam in which Shakuntala has been presented as gentle distress damsel who was cursed by Sage Durvasa, however, the original characterization of Shakuntala was done by Vyasa in Adiparva of Mahabharata. Shakuntala was one of the first female characters of Mahabarata who ensured she got justice and did not succumb to the man. She was no less than women like Kunti and Draupadi of Mahabarata but we all know her nothing more than a gentle and lovelorn lady, and was a mother of Bharata and wife of Dushyant. But after reading this book, I realized today Bharata whom we know as a king is all because of her mother Shakuntala. I have never realized before that Shakuntala was a protagonist woman character of Mahabar...