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THE AGENDA THIS YEAR

My attempt this year was to make people aware of the "fairer sex"  through a collection of dark stories. Coming from India which tops the list in matters relating to female feoticide, dowry deaths and honor killing, my exposure to the reality during my public policy research days made me realise that despite the Fourth Estate being active in highlighting the plight someway the essence of relation is with the readers/ viewers. Thus, I decided to do what I do best - spin stories around causes and come out with a compilation of short stories and poems called "A Calendar Too Crowded".

 

A Calendar too Crowded is a collection of 22 short stories and poems, where the concept revolves around the celebratory days on the calendar we follow, where a large number of important days are dedicated to women or life in general where women play a major role. The attempt is not to highlight how in January, there’s a day in India dedicated to girl children, or how April has come to be officially declared as a month against sexual abuse throughout the world. The attempt is to delve deeper and analyze whether it is merely enough to rely on statistics and be complacent in the knowledge that the numbers indicate a better society in the making, or whether there is an urgent need to look beneath the covers and realize that despite all such dedicated days, there are 300 odd days when there is nothing special that life has to offer. Where each day is still an unending drudgery, where womanhood is cursed and trampled upon.

It is also an attempt to look into houses where everything looks picture perfect on the surface, but there are blatant cases of domestic violence and gender inequality that have been swept under the carpet for fear of tainting the family name and image. The attempt is to bring forth the bruises hidden beneath each lavishly draped body that need to be highlighted even on days which are not dedicated to campaigns against domestic violence. All the voices that have found expression in this book through their stories are nameless, because no name would justify a voice which represents millions. They transgress all boundaries of geography, religion, age and caste to become one voice— the voice of womanhood.

Each and every voice in these stories can be connected to any woman you see around you and they seek to say that all women deserve to be happy every day of the year, because every day in the calendar of every woman’s life is precious, just like yours.

Release Type: Print, Soft Cover

Price: Rs. 295

Binding: Soft Cover

Imprint: 1^st Edition

Genre: Fiction

Page Extent: 189 pages

Pub Date: January 2012 (Niyogi Books, New Delhi)

Territory: Indian

 

BLURBS

 

Ashwin Sanghi (Author):

                        "Sagarika's writing is gut-wrenching. It reaches deep within and makes you wonder why deep-rooted gender biases persist. A Calendar Too Crowded is not for the fainthearted but is certainly a work that needs to be read, particularly by someone like me who has personally experienced the power of Shakti and the sacred feminine."

Vinay Pathak (Actor/ Social Activist):

 Actor Vinay Pathak, when told that the story “Sisters by Choice” had drawn inspiration from his struggle of adoption picked up the book and gave reviews on two stories.

Sisters by Choice:  “Got my book in mail today. And the first story I read was sisters by choice. I can't begin to tell u the emotional journey it took me onto. Needless to say very well written. The emotional quotient u arrived at was very poignant n touching.

Naked: The prose has a poetic and a poignant mystique that gives the reader a whole lot to ponder.... 

 

Dileep Jhaveri (Poet/ Author):

 “Inspite of witnessing all that we have failed to acknowledge, is observed in detail by Sagarika. She has read fears hidden behind, apparently placid security of middle class mind. But, she transcends time and class with changing narrative styles, sharpness of statements, satire, surprises, sensuality and sense of history and mythology. As a woman she confronts life and as a human being conquers death!”

 

Alaknanda Roy (Danseuse/ Social Activist):

“We all wanted to just come and see if Sagarika is really 27 after reading the book. It gave us shivers and yet we couldn’t put it down. The way she connects the life of a woman from pre natal stages to death is not only wonderful but gives us the solace that young writers like her are there who shall guide the society.”

 

ABOUT (ME) THE AUTHOR

 

Sagarika Chakraborty, born in Kolkata, studied law at National Law University, Jodhpur and is currently studying management at Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

 Her projects and numerous articles on diverse subjects—corporate governance principles with special emphasis on emerging and transition economies, globalization, ethics, monetary economics, religion—have been published in Indian and international publications. She has presented papers on E-Governance, corporate law principles, sexual harassment, asset pricing models at international conferences and global forums in Sydney, Glasgow, Korea, Wellington and Washington D.C. Her paper on E-Governance in India, has been appreciated in the ‘Working Paper series’ of the World Bank and she has also won the ‘Best Economic Crisis—Paper Award’ at the World Summit on Economic Financial Crisis and International Business, 2009, held at Washington D.C. Looking into her contribution in the domain of policy work she was recently awarded Fellowship by the Royal Society of Arts, UK.

 Apart from delving into serious research work, she has also written light fiction/poetry for various online and print media, and is an avid salsa enthusiast. This is her first book.

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