Men should open their minds to strong and creative women

The concluding session was with CLS Chairperson Dr Sumita Misra in conversation with celebrated bestselling author, poet, activist and teacher of writing who joined in from Houston, USA, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

 

Best known for her work translated into twenty-nine languages many of which have been turned into films and her last novel was a retelling of the Ramayana from Sita's perspective, "The Forest of Enchantments". 

Men should open their mind to strong and creative women who handle their lives much better, she said thanking her readers.

She remembered her time in 70s when she arrived in the USA and would go to work in a mall wearing sarees, since not many Indians were not there in the state of Ohio, and this made me proud of being an Indian woman.

I started writing to analyse myself with the immigrants' stories published as "Arranged Marriage" that captured the travails and trauma of diaspora having been uprooted from their cultures, and that had been the subject of my studies, she said.

Women have shared and transmitted the centuries of our culture through stories and narratives.

As a writer writing on mythologies and i treat my subject with open mind and try to research afresh so that i can look at these subjects more effectively.  

What is important to me is to make writing graphically to depict that particular character would have experienced at that moment. 

Even my understanding of being-like Sita, self-effacing and tolerant was unpalatable and therefore, my representation had to be different not for those traditional reasons but being strong and how she faced the challenges. 

Punjabi Film writer, director, with famous movies like Jatt James Bond(2014) , Farar (2015), Babukaat (2016), Rabb Da Radio (2017), Saab Bahadur (2017), Ikk Sandhu Hunda Si (2020). Jass Grewal shared his journey with Ravee Pandher.

 

Down to earth, and deep thinker, Jass Grewal shared he believe in Vedanta and writings of Paramhans Yogananda, and a great believer in simplicity, said that he is working on a horror movie „Kaun aa Yaar" and „Bajre da Sitta"