Recapturing the mythical journey of love and longing in contemporary India Inspired by the story of Lakshman’s wife from Ramayana, Urmila traces a tale of rejection and a woman’s passionate search for love, rekindling questions of devotion and desire. The talented and passionate Urmila Karmarkar has recently married into a wealthy, politically connected family in suburban Mumbai. When Urmila’s brother-in-law is compelled to move to Dubai, her husband leaves her behind and chooses to follow him instead. Fuelled by this rejection, Urmila seeks solace in her art as she battles to keep her dreams of love and motherhood alive, waiting for her husband to return. Pervin Saket was shortlisted for the Random House India Writers’ Bloc award in 2013. Her fiction has appeared in Breaking the Bow: Speculative Fiction inspired by the Ramayana, The Asian Writer Collection, Earthen Lamp Journal and other works. Her collection of poetry, A Tinge of Turmeric, was published in 2008.

Urmila is an alternative narrative of the Ramayana, the story of the abandoned throne of Ayodhya, the bonds of sisterhood and the anxieties of a multi-racial, multi-cultural Bharat with matriarchal influences from the east. It's an ancient epic set in a fantasy world with modern values and political tensions between kingdoms that mirror the geo-politics of the modern world and its leaders. It follows a reluctant princess, the heir to the throne of Mithila who constantly questions her credentials and ability to rule and is always looking for ways to shrug out of those responsibilities. She's a strong, resolute and independent, always under the shadow of her older sister. Urmila, unlike her sister with her divine roots, is human, with fears and weaknesses that are human as is the way she deals with them, which makes for a relatable protagonist. It's mythology with a twist, where the route is the same, but the actions and motivations of characters make for a very different flavour.

In addition to her readings of a fascinating array of works---The Picture of Dorian Gray, Heart of Darkness --

Our forefathers from India sailed by dhow to Africa in search of adventure and greener pastures. Often, these young pioneers arrived in East Africa as teenagers, with stars shining in their eyes and little else in their pockets. And all of them have a fascinating story to tell. My parents were also one such family. I grew up in Dar-es-Salaam and got married, and we personally participated in momentous events taking place in Tanzania. I have endeavored to draw a word picture of our experiences and present this memoir as my tribute to all those who are young at heart!

To give a new definition of love and to give a new dimension to the relationship of mother and son, about 10,000 years ago, a divine woman named Sugarbha was incarnated on earth, who violated the rules of this world and not only married her son Sukam but by giving birth to his 100 daughters from her womb, she also set an example of being an ideal mother and an ideal wife. This story is the narration of the history of the same Goddess Sugarbha.

A Dalit, a Buddhist and a feminist: Urmila Pawar’s self-definition as all three identities informs her stories about women who are brave in the face of caste oppression, strong in the face of family pressures, defiant when at the receiving end of insult, and determined when guarding their interests and those of their sisters. Using the classic short story form with its surprise endings to great effect, Pawar brings to life strong and clever women who drive the reader to laughter, anger, tears or despair. Her harsh, sometimes vulgar and hard-hitting language subverts another stereotype — that of the soft-spoken woman writer. Pawar’s protagonists may not always be Dalit, and the mood not always one of anger, but caste is never far from the context and informs the subtext of each story. As critic Eleanor Zelliot notes, there is ‘tucked in every story, a note about a Buddhist vihara or Dr Ambedkar.... All her stories come from the Dalit world, revealing the great variety of Dalit life now.’ Published by Zubaan.

Ms. Patel's startling memoir of survival, and escape from Idi Amin's Uganda, is an amazing journey through cultures, beliefs, and life-and-death passions. her girlhood growing up in an Indian Hindu family living in the East African nation of Uganda in the 1960s and 1970s. Like all those of Asian lineage, they were expelled from the country when the brutal dictator, Idi Amin, seized power. Ms. Patel describes their life before Amin, as seen through the eyes of a young girl. When the violence began, she was just beginning her passage into womanhood. Amin started encouraging violence toward Uganda's Asian community as soon as he took over. This escalated, until the brutal dictator expelled all Asians, giving them 90 days to leave, or they would face death. Meanwhile his followers engaged in random murders, and more and more frequent massacres. Ms. Patel and her family witnessed much of this. At one point she even stood up to Amin's murderous soldiers, yet she lived to tell her tale.