Shakti, meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that course through the entire universe. Shakti is the personification of feminine creative power, actively manifested through female embodiment and creativity. Art by Sreetama Ray.
A woman who has had a difficult and challenging past, chooses to relieve herself of bitterness by opting to forget and forgive, and move on. Jessu John writes a poem inspired from the single ‘Better Days’ by the Goo Goo Dolls. The poem combines fantasy and a few Biblical references including that of the story of ‘Balaam and his Donkey’, to paint the picture of a woman who doesn’t fall too hard for or entirely disbelieve traditional faith.
As teenagers, what makes us consider a woman beautiful or attractive? And what happens to this definition as we grow up? Aman Chougle pens a story on the narrow perspectives of how men – and the society – view women, and why these narrow definitions might be to our detriment.
Do women love to cook and excel at it simply by virtue of, well, being born women? Divya Natarajan shares her thoughts.
Of the many facets of a woman, one is that of a possessive lover. Loreto M explores this aspect through a poem that also highlights the ‘woman’s instinct’
Fourteen-year-old Ipshita has questions about her late arrival and her place in the family. Her mother, though not revealing the odds she faced for wanting to have a girl, tells Ipshita exactly how it all happened! The story, by Gauri Trivedi, is an attempt to highlight the fact that even in some well-educated, urban Indian families the girl child is not as welcome as a male child. Read on.
She is a woman who is bold, a woman who daringly meets the challenges that life throws at her everyday. She is the woman who serves the food and wine. Satish Pendharkar writes an ode to a waitress.
THE LOUNGE | SLICE OF LIFE “This is a true story. A story about some bicycles, mopeds, scooters. And me. And how our lives have criss-crossed from when I was as young as five,” writes Anupama Krishnakumar, fondly recalling memories of cycles and two-wheelers she has grown up with since childhood.
THE LOUNGE | THE INNER JOURNEY The right way to understand reality is through the process of intimate feeling of one’s existence, rather than intellectualizing and making a theory of the message about the absolute reality. This is the right and total action says Viswanathan Subramanian.