Women are treated like a bonsai tree kept in sunlight, never given opportunity to grow into a banyan tree.
Women are treated like a bonsai tree kept in sunlight, never given opportunity to grow into a banyan tree. Women are like elephants, with immense power but they hardly realise it. These were some of the metaphors used for women in patriarchal Indian society by women writers gathered in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
The ambience at the Gujarat Vishwakosh Hall in Usmanpura was bold and lyrical as around 25 women writers from across India gathered here for the two-day National Colloquium on Indian Women Writers in English hosted by Delhi Sahitya Academy and Department of English, Gujarat University.
In the inaugural session Gujarat governor Dr Kamla, writer Esther David, Shobha De, Bama, Gitanjali Chatterjee, GU VC Parimal Trivedi and Pro VC Mukul Shah and head of department of English Ranjana Harish shared the dais.
Speaking at the inaugural session Dr Kamla said that it is matter of pride that Indian English writers have attained global acknowledgement and also women writers in Indian languages have also made their place in the world. She said that with the power of translation, even regional language literature like Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil and Kannada are gaining importance beyond Indian boundaries.
In her keynote address, Shobha De said that it is time to make good education accessible to every woman. “In many cultures women have to learn two languages - first the one she is conversant with and another of silence,” she said.
Shashi Deshpande, Noor Zaheer, Harish Narang, Arundhati Subramanyam, Tejdeep Kaur Menon, Parul Shah and Usha Bende were some of the women writers who attended the colloquium on the first day.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}