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India’s acclaimed writer, director, scholar, and voice of rebellion Girish Karnad passes away at the age of 81.

Girish Karnad (1938-2019) was an actor, film director, multilingual writer, playwright, and Rhodes scholar. He passed away on 10th June at the age of 81, after suffering from degenerative pulmonary disorder for some time. His sad demise has left a void in the abstract world of art and literature. One of the most revered personalities has left behind a long lasting and unfaltering legacy.

Born in Maharashtra and brought up in Karnataka, he began writing plays in Kannada at a time when they were heavily influenced by western literature and marked the coming of modern play writing in Kannada. Yayati (1961) was his first novel based on the predecessors of the Pandavas. Tughlaq (1964) till date remains one of his most acclaimed plays. He debuted as an actor and screenwriter in Kannada movie Sanskara (1970). His directorial debut was the film Vamsha Vriksha (1971) based on a novel, which also won him a National Film Award for Best Direction. He has also showcased immense talent in several Bollywood films, most recently Ek Tha Tiger (2012) and its sequel. Rakshasa Tangadi, a Kannada play on the Battle of Talikota, remains his final work.

Karnad is the recipient of several prestigious awards including Jnanpith Award, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, National Film awards and many more in the South and North Indian Cinema.

His contribution to activism remains invaluable. A champion of free speech, he was a critic of hard-line Hindutva and later the Babri Masjid incident. Further, he was also a proponent of secularism and multiculturalism, women’s rights, and identified as a liberal. He did not confine himself to films and plays, but fearlessly voiced himself for any cause. At an event at Bengaluru – which Karnad attended wearing a nasal tube, due to his deteriorating health – he wore a placard around his neck which said: Me Too Urban Naxal. Karnad commented, “If speaking up means being a Naxal, then I am an urban Naxal.”

In his biography, Aadadata Ayushya, he revealed how his mother intended to terminate her pregnancy when she conceived him. But due to delayed arrival of the doctor, his mother left the clinic. He went on to dedicate this biography to the doctor. Today the world mourns the death of this multitalented individual who could weave stories with colossal depth and meaning.

Kalrav Vashishtha, a first year B.A. (Honours) English student commented, “We had ‘Broken Images’ by Karnad in school, and I loved it. A few years later, I realised we just had a portion of it in our syllabus. It shocked me to the core to read the rest of the play. A masterful manipulator of words, he turns the whole play upside down with such haunting realism. We just lost one of the best writers in the country and the void can never be filled.”

His contributions in over ninety films in both Hindi and Kannada, thirteen directorial works, several plays and translations earned him places in institutes like Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Nehru Centre in London, and Sangeet Natak Akademi, among many others.

The master playwright was cremated in a quiet ceremony. He is survived by his wife, Saraswathy Ganapathy, and two children Radha and Raghu.

Feature Image Credits: Zee News

 

Shivani Dadhwal

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“Our backs tell stories no books have the spine to carry.”

Rupi Kaur’s milk and honey has been a New York Times Bestseller for 52 consecutive weeks. One of her initial works, the book is a collection of poetry and prose. A 24-year-old Canadian writer of Indian descent, Kaur has housed her times of struggle in this piece of art. Her style of writing is based on the Gurmukhi script in which just one case and only periods are used. Hence, she writes in lowercase and makes use of only periods as a way of honoring her culture. Her books have been translated into about thirty other languages; which explains the increasing love for her poetry.

Rupi tackles various issues through her poetry, from growing up seeing broken families to love and heartbreak, or gender and race, before finishing with a healing full of wisdom and lessons learned. People consume poetry through lyrics on a daily basis without ever realising, and that’s what she manages to do with the simplicity and brutal honesty of her words. She fearlessly challenges taboos, and this brave form of expression inspires her readers. Her honest, authentic voice speaks to the young people who relate to her portrayal of pain and struggle at different points of life.

The emotional intensity of her message of self-empowerment and affirmation, combined with her passionate expression truly resonates in the book. With a firm belief, her relatable poetry, not clouded behind elaborate metaphor or archaic syntax, can heal and prevent convulsions. Kaur breaks her book into four parts; “the hurting”, “the loving”, “the breaking” and “the healing”. The poems open in a certain dark aura depicting her battles with sexual assault and familial issues. The next section, “the loving”, is a more  emotionally uplifting read, about building and realising a sweet and idealistic bond of love. “the breaking” brings aching poems penned during heartbreaks. The last section of this book is about empowering women to embrace themselves and to value who they are regardless of the turmoil they have endured. Kaur holds nothing back; there is no mystery in her poems, but each one captures a seemingly familiar thought or feeling with such an exquisitely satisfying and unique form of expression. The poems are illustrated with simple line drawings, to accompany or offer a new understanding to the words.

While reading the collection from its beginning to end, one can walk through her own journey, or can find herself in a poem or prose while letting the book fall open on a new page, and venture into that one poem, exploring that one expression to its full depth. Whether you’re a regular poetry reader, or someone who dives into verses from time to time, you can quench your thirst through these poems.

Feature Image credits:  Stella constellations

Radhika Boruah

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