The Daily Rumpus
Get Overly Personal Emails
From Stephen Elliott
There is a total silence in the West on India’s culture of dissenting women in the face of severe patriarchy and authoritarianism. It doesn’t quite fit, does it, into the dichotomy carved out for Indian women by Americans and the British…
...more
Years later, Bombay is still fresh in my mind and in my bones. As a visitor, I was naïve and lost. When I hear bells, I still see statues of Ganesh in a cool, stone temple and smell sandalwood incense.
...moreAs reports of the utterly horrifying rape and death of a woman in Delhi have made clear, India, like most countries, can be a dangerous place for women.
In a guest post for Racialicious, Hannah Green uses an Indian performance of The Vagina Monologues as a jumping-off point for ruminations on sexual assault and women’s rights, in both India and the US.
...more
On what would turn out to be the eve of the death of the recent gang rape victim in Delhi, my family and I gathered together to watch a Hindi film that my parents had ordered on Netflix. The 1951 movie, Awaara, which translates to “tramp” in English
...more
Set in contemporary Mumbai, Aravind Adiga’s second novel, Last Man in Tower, focuses on Yogesh Murthy, the man who wants nothing, and the community who doesn’t understand him.A summer spent abroad at an Indian call center sheds light upon the many people who work in business process outsourcing, a competitive field that promises only the equivalent of around $2/hr.
Training for the job includes “‘culture training,’ in which trainees memorize colloquialisms and state capitals, study clips of Seinfeld and photos of Walmarts, and eat in cafeterias serving paneer burgers and pizza topped with lamb pepperoni.” Read about one American journalist’s experience being outsourced.
...more
Manu Joseph’s satirizes contemporary India, “pounding away at the caste system like a pitcher repeatedly throwing his best fastball.”Burnt Shadows is the most admirable new novel I have read in a long time, a work of astonishing naturalism, wisdom, and grace.
...more