Undoubtedly, International Women’s Day is a day for positive reinforcement, an occasion to celebrate the diverse potentials and achievements of women both locally and globally. In India, slowly but steadily, women are shattering stereotypes as well as glass ceilings in their upward flights. Women priests performing religious ceremonies, women pilots undertaking long, hazardous flights, sportswomen winning laurels and tournaments, women performing leading roles in political, corporate and medical fields: these are the women of a transitional, contemporary Indian society. Globally too we proudly appropriate Indian-origin women like the US Vice-President Kamala Harris and the NASA scientist Dr. Swati Mohan whose bindi made a strong cultural and style statement. They represent a qualifie...

She is eternal, She is strength, Bereft of her presence, the loss feels immense.   She is sky, She is earth, She represents glories, of everything from birth.   She is always with us, And forever meant to be, Near or far, and even in the coming times to be.   May we dwell in her blessings, And remember the joys and forgivings.   She is eternal, She is strength, She is forever with us and will be remembered till the very end.   Dr. Anavisha Banerjee Assistant Professor Department of English Bharati College...

The International Women day is celebrated to commemorate the accomplishments of all those women who created history by challenging the socially created binaries and structures and made marks in different spheres of life. No doubt, we have moved a long way in empowering women ever since 1911, when it was celebrated for the first time to demand equal rights for women. The slogan ‘beti bachao and beti padhao’ says a lot about the ground reality of women's condition in India. Despite introduction of various laws and provisions for eliminating discrimination against women and procuring them special environment  for their development  so that they can act as vehicles of development, the condition of majority of women particularly at grass root level (in India) is quite disa...

बस वो ही मेरी मंजिल है मुझको मंजिल तक जाना है अब तक तो मैं ही सोई थी, बाधाओं का था ज्ञान नहीं मेरे जगने की आहट से – बाधाएं भी अब जाग पड़ीं | देखें  बाधाएं, हिम्मत से ताकत से मेरी बिंधती हैं या मैं उन बाधाओं से डर जाती हूँ ........ डरना मुझको आया ही नहीं, हटना मुझको आया ही नहीं, बढ़ना ही मुझको आता है, चलना ही मुझको आता है | सौ-सौ बाधाएं आए तो, आकर मुझसे टकराएँ तो,  टकराकर मेरे हिम्मत से- मेरे पथ से हट जाएँगीं | जिसमें हिम्मत, जिसमें ताकत जिसमें शक्ति, जिसमें भक्ति- जो मंजिल तक पहुँचेगा ही, वो अपना लक्ष्य बिंधेगा ही          - प्रो. पूनम कुमारी भारतीय भाषा केंद्र जवाहरलाल नेहरु विश्वविद्यालय दिल्ली ...

An Indian woman has broken shackles that for centuries chained her in the closet of oblivion.  She has scaled heights that were unimaginable for many just a few years back. She has dared to dream and has fearlessly barged in many male bastions to affirm her faith in the possibilities of improbabilities. When the world said, “ No! you can’t do it”, she just turned around and said, “why not?”. From Apala to Rani Laxmi Bai, from Fatima Beevi to Bachendri Pal, from Kiran Bedi to flight lieutenant Bhawana Kanth -women in different time frames have stealthily and continuously challenged every space unofficially/ officially reserved for the men in their communities. Every first attempt by a woman left a trail of toil, sweat, and blood for thousands of women to f...

Chaos is everywhere, Dilemmas to confront, Anxieties to overcome, Aspirations to consummate, Relationships undergoing twists and turns, Faith and Worth of human life is on stake, Unemployment on peak, health is compromised and economy has paralysed, Migrants leaving the city, farmers leading the protest but administration acting as a meek spectator, Mental piece is lost at the expense of absenteeism of collective efforts of authorities and citizens, Libraries closed and Universities emptied, Virtuality replacing social form of learning, Campaign of COVID vaccine is hanging between the Unruly past and the uncertain future, Can we say it’s a post-COVID world or is it too early to suggest that? When sciences are engaged in anthropogenic debates and finding solutions through ...

Who am I? How do I understand my existence? Several times these questions relating to my ‘self’ haunts me and make me dilemmatic about: “Should I hear my inner voice or should I subjugate it for the voice made for me in this androcentric world?” As Simone De Beauvoir rightly pointed out “One is not born a woman but rather becomes a woman”. I wonder, what is real and what is imaginative in these concrete categories revolving around the concept of ‘gender’?  Beauvoir further pointed out “Man is defined as a human being and woman as a female – whenever she behaves as a human being she is said to imitate the male." Within this absolute imposition of what we are provided with and how we have to behave in particular according to th...

As we bid adieu to 2020, We hope the next year brings hope for plenty. A short prayer for those who have suffered this year, May their broken dreams get repaired in full gear.   - Dr. Anavisha Banerjee Assistant Professor Department of English Bharati College...

लगभग पन्द्रह दिन बाद रोहन दिल्ली लौट आया और उसे एक कंपनी से इंटरव्यू लैटर मिला। इंटरव्यू 27 मार्च को था। कंपनी अच्छी थी पर वेतन पहले से थोड़ा कम था फिर भी रोहन और उसका परिवार खुश था कि कम से कम सब एक साथ रह सकेंगे। किन्तु उनकी यह खुशी अधिक दिनों तक न रह पायी। इंटरव्यू से दो दिन पहले देश में लॉकडाउन की घोषणा हो गई और इंटरव्यू टल गया। रोहन अपनी बहुत सी जमा पूंजी अपने विवाह पर खर्च कर चुका था। नौकरी छोड़ते समय कुछ रकम मिली थी उससे घर खर्च चलने लगा। पिता बीमार रहते थे। अतः कुछ पैसा उनकी दवाईयों पर चला जाता था। रोहन ने सोचा कि कुछ दिनों की बात है फिर तो नौकरी मिल ही जाएगी। किन्तु एक के बाद दूसरे और फिर तीसरे लॉकडाउन की घोषणा से रोहन टूट गया। उसे अपने चारों ओर केवल अंधकार ही अंधकार नज़र आने लगा। समीरा और माता-पिता का सामना नहीं कर पा रहा था। 30 मई की रात रोहन ने अपने कमरे के पंखे से लटक कर सभी च...

Madhura went about her daily task like an automaton. A mother and a homemaker, her days and nights were a kaleidoscope of tasks and the only changes happening around here was the increase in the height of her children and the growing anger that seemed to dissipate from Sameer. Over the years, as the slim-waisted, long-haired Madhura transitioned into her current matronly form, Sameer’s anger seemed to burst forth from each pore of his being.Yet, Sameer and Madhura had been in love once upon a time. In Madhura’s mind, the love continued, albeit in a different mode but it was there. It was as if it had sunk deep into her being, it took time to bring it out, dust it and realize it but it was there, it had to be. On her wedding anniversaries, as she cooked his favourite kheer, snat...