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A review by sravreads
Vimuktha Kadha Samputi by Volga
5.0
Volga is my first Telugu author.
I've always been proud of my heritage and especially prideful of being a Telugu person- perhaps it comes from my not living in India. This form of longing to understand and be a part of Telugu cultural norms as best as I can be has always gnawed away at my being. It shows through my accent-marked fluent Telugu. But, reading this book has finally given me the understanding of what it really means to be a Telugu woman marked by the societal standards that I have only been half-exposed to my entire life.
This book is quite short- it's around 70 pages (on my Kindle Paperwhite) and is a very alluring read. Essentially, it is a short story collection in which Sita has various discourses with female characters with tragic backgrounds like her. To this day, I've probably read 20-30 different variations of the Ramayanam but after reading this- I finally can retire from searching for the feminist answers I kept asking throughout this book. This is a book that we need in these times. For women, this is an abandonment of old values that are impressed upon us from the Ramayana and it is a nod toward understanding the injustices that are served to the woman. Essentially, it's a feminist lens reading of the Ramayana. I won't get into the analysis because then the book will not hold its charm.
The interview at the end of my copy with Volga was equally mesmerizing. A marxist, feminist Telugu author and activist, she has set out to accomplish for this country what we have constantly failed to do. We need to start accepting Telugu and other Indian authors and need to bring them out into the public because their views and ideologies will help progressive ideologies prosper in this country. Women are slowly becoming aware of their status as an equal, but we need to pursue it on a more governmental, societal level. I absolutely admire the progressive ideas that these authors are putting out, and wholeheartedly thank Volga for writing this book: the Ramayanam that women need to read. No longer should Ramarajyam be the ideal. We should all strive to be the Sita at the end of this book: bound to nobody but herself.
I've always been proud of my heritage and especially prideful of being a Telugu person- perhaps it comes from my not living in India. This form of longing to understand and be a part of Telugu cultural norms as best as I can be has always gnawed away at my being. It shows through my accent-marked fluent Telugu. But, reading this book has finally given me the understanding of what it really means to be a Telugu woman marked by the societal standards that I have only been half-exposed to my entire life.
This book is quite short- it's around 70 pages (on my Kindle Paperwhite) and is a very alluring read. Essentially, it is a short story collection in which Sita has various discourses with female characters with tragic backgrounds like her. To this day, I've probably read 20-30 different variations of the Ramayanam but after reading this- I finally can retire from searching for the feminist answers I kept asking throughout this book. This is a book that we need in these times. For women, this is an abandonment of old values that are impressed upon us from the Ramayana and it is a nod toward understanding the injustices that are served to the woman. Essentially, it's a feminist lens reading of the Ramayana. I won't get into the analysis because then the book will not hold its charm.
The interview at the end of my copy with Volga was equally mesmerizing. A marxist, feminist Telugu author and activist, she has set out to accomplish for this country what we have constantly failed to do. We need to start accepting Telugu and other Indian authors and need to bring them out into the public because their views and ideologies will help progressive ideologies prosper in this country. Women are slowly becoming aware of their status as an equal, but we need to pursue it on a more governmental, societal level. I absolutely admire the progressive ideas that these authors are putting out, and wholeheartedly thank Volga for writing this book: the Ramayanam that women need to read. No longer should Ramarajyam be the ideal. We should all strive to be the Sita at the end of this book: bound to nobody but herself.