THE RETURN OF MAA-dom
Now I’m waiting for a book on Radha, to view her through a brand new prism. We’ve had Irawati Karve on Kunti. Devdutt Patnaik on a new free spirited Sita. Amish Tripathi on a transformed Parvati with her twin Kali. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni on Draupadi in the Palace of Illusions. Did I miss out on any major one? Our ancients are a discovery for me. At my mother’s knee, I learnt very abbreviated versions of the Ramayan and the Mahabharat. No grandmas abroad in those days. My first interaction with the ancients was when my children sat around my knees for bedtime stories from that wonderful Amar Chitra Katha series. Could any civilization survive millennia with petty minded women and such brutes of men? Then I discovered modern prisms ton history and the scenario stood transformed. I even wrote my own historical novel, MASTANI: from the rumored dancing girl of old text books, she emerged as a true blue Bundela Ks...