Madhavi Desai

NISHIKANT, ENVELOPED IN PRIDE; 'BHAIRAVI' - INTRODUCES HIM TO REAL ART. THE WRATH OF YALLUBAI... FOR LOVE...'JATANTUN' 'RENUKA' - SEEKING TO BREAK FREE. 'MINI' - GETTING 'OUT' FOR HER MOTHER AND HER HOME, DESPITE THE THRESHOLD THAT BINDS HER. 'SARALA' - WHO HAS BECOME JUST A 'FILL IN THE BLANK' IN HER PARENTAL AS WELL AS HER IN-LAW'S HOME - 'RIKAMI JAGA' 'SUDHATAI' - WHO PERFORMS ALL THE RITES FOR HER ABSCONDING HUSBAND WHO HAS LEFT HER DESTITUTE. 'AKKA' - WHO BRAVES HER PITILESS FATE - 'GHARACHI CHAUTHI BHINT' ALL THESE WOMEN WHO LOVED LIFE WITH PASSION DESPITE BEING MERE PLAYTHINGS OF FATE, IN A WAY, MIRROR THE WRITER'S MIND. THE REFLECTION WE SEE IN THIS MIRROR ACTS LIKE A BALM TO OUR TIRED MINDS....अहंकारानं वेढलेल्या निशिकांतला खऱ्या कलेची ओळख करून देणारी - 'भैरवी' प्रेमासाठी यल्लूबाईचा कोप... 'जटांपासून' मुक्त होऊ पाहणारी - 'रेणुका' आईसाठी, घरासाठी... घराच्या रेषेवर घट्ट पाऊल जखडूनही 'आऊट' होणारी - 'मिनी' माहेर आणि सासरचीही फक्त एक 'रिकामी जागा' भरून काढण्याचं साधन बनलेली - 'सरला' परागंदा झालेल्या पतीमुळे बेवारशी झालेल्या... तरीही पतीचं सारं 'तर्पण' पार पाडणाऱ्या - 'सुधाताई' काळ्या कातळ्यासारख्या नियतीसमोर हार न मानताना 'घराची चौथी भिंत' उभी करणाऱ्या - 'आक्का' नियतीच्या या अगाध खेळातही जीवनावर निस्सीम प्रेम करणाऱ्या या स्त्रिया म्हणजे, जणू लेखिकेच्या मनाचा आरसाच... यात उमटलेलं प्रत्येक प्रतिबिंब... आपल्या श्रांत मनाला दिलासा देऊन जातं

Studies on architecture in South Asia continue to ignore women in canonical histories of the discipline. This book attempts to recover the stories of the women architects whose careers nearly parallel the development of modernism in colonial and postcolonial India. Writing their experiences into the narrative of mainstream architectural history wit

ALL THE 13 STORIES HAVE BEEN WRITTEN DURING MY STAY IN THE SERENE VICINITY OF GOMANTAK SINCE LAST FOUR YEARS. EACH WOMAN APPEARED TO SOLVE THE LIFE PUZZLE IN HER OWN UNIQUE WAY. THOUGH THE CHARACTERS ARE FICTITIOUS, THE QUESTIONS THAT THEY HAVE ARE TRUE TO THEIR FULLEST. A FEW OF THESE WOMEN HAVE FACED LIFE SENSIBLY AND IN SANE MANNER. INDEED, THEY WERE CONFRONTED WITH A VICIOUS TURN IN LIFE WHICH THEY CROSSED IN A POISED MANNER. I GUESS THIS WAS POSSIBLE BECAUSE OF THE EQUILIBRIUM WITH WHICH THEY LED THEIR LIVES AND ALSO BECAUSE THEY WERE BASICALLY MATURED IN ALL ASPECTS. 'LADY DIANA' AND 'JASWANDI' PORTRAY TYPICAL WOMEN FROM GOMANTAK HAVING COMPLETE FAITH UPON LOVE. THE OTHERS LIKE 'ASAWARI', 'POORVA', 'RESHMA', OR THOSE WHOM WE COME ACROSS IN STORIES LIKE 'MOKAL ZAAD', 'LEKURWALA' OR 'HARAVALELA CHANDRA' HAVE THE ABILITY TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THAT THEY HAVE COME ACROSS. THEY HAVE INDEED REACHED THEIR FINAL DESTINATION. THE CHARACTER IN 'KATHA SAWALICHI' IS THE ONE WHO HAS WILLINGLY ACCEPTED TO BE A SHADOW. TO BE A SHADOW OR TO HAVE A SEPARATE IDENTITY IS AFTER ALL INDIVIDUAL PERSPECTIVE. I HAVE TRIED MY BEST TO PORTRAY THESE CHARACTERS IN SHADES I UNDERSTOOD...गेली चार वर्षे, गोमंतकातल्या निसर्गरम्य गावी वास्तव्य झाले व याच कालखंडातील या कथांचा जन्म यामधल्या तेराही कथा स्त्री-जीवनकथा आहेत. कथेमधली प्रत्येक स्त्री ही मला पडलेल्या स्त्री-जीवनाचे कोडे सोडवणारी स्त्री बनली. सर्व पात्रे काल्पनिक आहेत पण त्यांचे जीवन व प्रश्न मात्र वास्तव आहेत. काही स्त्रिया विलक्षण समजूतदारपणाने जीवनाला सामऱ्या जातात. त्यांच्या जीवनाला आलेले वाईट वळण, समंजसपणाने त्यांनी ओलांडलेले असते, याचे कारण त्यांच्या विचाराची मूळ बैठकच प्रौढ, समंजस असावी, असे मला वाटते. 'लेडी डायना' आणि 'जास्वंदी' या खास गोमंतकीय स्त्रिया, प्रेमावर अतूट विश्वास बाळगणाNया, तर 'आसावरी', 'पूर्वा', 'रेशमा' या कथानायिका अगर 'मोकळं झाड' किंवा 'लेकुरवाळा', 'हरवलेला चंद्र'मधल्या कथानायिका यांनी स्वत समोरची प्रश्नचिन्हे... स्वत च सोडवून त्या पूर्णविरामाला पोहोचल्या आहेत. 'कथा सावलीची' ही एका सावलीची भूमिका स्वीकारणारी स्त्रीकथा आपण सावलीची भूमिका स्वीकारावी की स्वत ची स्वतंत्र सावली निर्माण करावी, हा पुन्हा जिचा तिचा स्वतंत्र प्रश्न आहे. माझ्या मगदुराप्रमाणे मी त्यांना व्यक्त करण्याचा प्रयत्न केला आहे.

HUMAN NATURE IS STRANGE INDEED. ONE NEVER LIKES WHAT ONE HAS GOT. THE MIND LUSTS FOR THE UNATTAINABLE. WHILE WALKING ALONG ONE PATH, THE OTHER PATH SEEMS BETTER; AND AMIDST THIS CONFUSION, THE TRUE PATH ELUDES US. MANY COUPLES STRUGGLE TO FIND THE TRUE PATH AS THEY LIVE THEIR LIVES. BUT THOSE WHO HAVE UNDERSTOOD THE MEANING OF LIFE, SUCCEED IN ACHIEVING BALANCE AND EQUANIMITY. 'HARAVALELYA VATA' - A NOVEL THAT EXPLORES SUCH SUCCESSFUL LIVES.

WHAT IS EVER PRESENT IN THIS WORLD? IS LIFE A NON-STOP GAME PLAYED BY HAPPINESS AND SORROW? WHAT MAKES US SURVIVE? WHAT DO WE WANT FROM LIFE? WHAT MAKES OUR LIFE COMPLETE? THERE IS SOME TRUTH HIDDEN DEEP WITHIN THE CORE OF LIFE. WHEN WE REMOVE THE MANIFOLDS ENVELOPING US WE COME ACROSS THE TRUTH; LIFE. HAD IT NOT HAD ANY MEANING TO IT, THE MANKIND WOULD NOT HAVE RACED BEHIND IT FOR SO LONG AND SO FAR. THE HUMAN LIFE IS NOTHING BUT A SWING. AS THE SWING RIDES HIGHER THINGS DOWN APPEAR BEAUTIFUL. IT LASTS ONLY FOR A FRACTION OF SECOND BEFORE THE SWING ZOOMS DOWNWARDS. IT WOULD NEVER REMAIN ON THE TOP. WHAT REMAINS IS THE VIEW THAT WE SEE FROM HIGH ABOVE OF WHICH WE GET JUST A GLIMPSE AND NOTHING ELSE. ALL THAT WE CAN DO IS REMEMBER IT AND GET DOWN FROM THE SWING, BACK ON THE LAND.

EVERY ONE OF US LIVES LIFE, BUT WHAT DOES THAT EXACTLY MEAN? ACTUALLY, THERE IS A BIG VOID WHICH WE TRY TO FILL IN SOME WAY OR OTHER. MONEY, RICHES, FAME, FELICITATION, FRIENDS, JOURNEYS, TRIPS... THE VOID REMAINS AS IT IS. WHY SO? A HUMAN BEING COMES IN THIS WORLD ALONE AND LEAVES ALONE. THAT IS THE REASON WHY HE FINDS HIMSELF ALWAYS ALONE EVEN IN THE COMPANY OF MANY. AT TIMES THOUGH, HE COMES ACROSS A PLACE TO WHICH HE GETS IMMEDIATELY CONNECTED. HE GETS A FEELING THAT HE HAS MET THE PEOPLE THERE DURING HIS LAST BIRTH. HE LINGERS THERE FOR A WHILE. HOW CAN ONE FULFILL THE RELATIONS OF LAST BIRTH IN THIS BIRTH THOUGH? HE HAS TO CROSS THE PATH AND MOVE FORWARD WHILE LEAVING EVERYTHING BEHIND. AFTER ALL, LIFE IS NOTHING BUT A HUGE VOID WHICH WOULD NEVER BE FILLED, HOWEVER ONE MAY TRY....आपल्यापैकी प्रत्येकाला जीवन जगले, पण याचा नेमका अर्थ काय होतो? प्रत्यक्षात, आम्ही काही मार्गाने किंवा इतर भरण्यासाठी प्रयत्न जे एक मोठे शून्य आहे पैसा, संपत्ती, प्रसिद्धी, सन्मान, मित्र, प्रवास, ट्रिप ... रिकामा राहणे तसे आहे. असे का? एक मनुष्य या जगात येतो आणि एकटाच असतो याच कारणास्तव त्यांनी अनेकांच्या संगतीमध्ये सुद्धा एकट्यानेच स्वतःला शोधले. काही वेळा तरी, तो एक स्थानावर येतो जेथे तो लगेच जोडला जातो. त्याला असे वाटू लागते की आपल्या शेवटच्या जन्मादरम्यान तो तेथे लोकांना भेटला. थोडावेळ ते तिथे थांबायचे. तरी या जन्माच्या अखेरच्या जन्माच्या नातेसंबंधाची पूर्णता कशाप्रकारे पूर्ण होऊ शकते? त्याला सर्व मार्ग सोडून जाताना पुढे जाणे आवश्यक आहे. शेवटी, जीवन काहीच नाही पण एक मोठे व्यर्थ आहे जे कधीही भरले जाणार नाही, तथापि एक प्रयत्न करू शकतो.

The primary era of this study - the twentieth century - symbolizes the peak of the colonial rule and its total decline, as well as the rise of the new nation state of India. The processes that have been labeled 'westernization' and 'modernization' radically changed middle-class Indian life during the century. This book describes and explains the various technological, political and social developments that shaped one building type - the bungalow - contemporaneous to the development of modern Indian history during the period of British rule and its subsequent aftermath. Drawing on their own physical and photographic documentation, and building on previous work by Anthony King and the Desais, the authors show the evolution of the bungalow's architecture from a one storey building with a verandah to the assortment of house-forms and their regional variants that are derived from the bungalow. Moreover, the study correlates changes in society with architectural consequences in the plans and aesthetics of the bungalow. It also examines more generally what it meant to be modern in Indian society as the twentieth century evolved.

Studies on architecture in South Asia continue to ignore women in canonical histories of the discipline. This book attempts to recover the stories of the women architects whose careers nearly parallel the development of modernism in colonial and postcolonial India. Writing their experiences into the narrative of mainstream architectural history within the challenge of non-existent archives, it sheds light on seven pioneering women who broke male bastions to go beyond the traditional confines of the era from the 1940s onwards. The author also examines 28 contemporary practices to demonstrate the ways in which architectural modernism in India was shaped by the contribution of women. The book uses a format that weaves together social, professional and biographical factors into a productive account; pluralizes various concepts of design; and redefines the idea of ‘work’ of women through a greater range of activities, including pedagogy, mentoring and activism. Alluding to challenges faced by women, the study celebrates practices in diverse regional settings even as the designers move in transnational contexts in an increasingly globalizing India. Extensively illustrated, featuring drawings and photographs, this book will be a milestone in the modernist narrative of South Asia and will be of interest to scholars and researchers of architecture, gender studies, modern Indian history and sociology.

A LONG PATH STRETCHES BEFORE THE EYES. MEANDERING THROUGH THE GREEN FOLIAGE - LONELY BUT THEN LIFE IS LIKE THAT. THE PATH BECKONS - WITH ITS SCENTS AND SOUNDS. TREES OFFER SHADE. BIRDS SING. STREAMS BURBLE. THE SKY - SOMETIMES OFFERS SHADE, WITH LOVE AND AFFECTION; SOMETIMES SCORCHES. ONE FINDS COMPANIONSHIP; WHICH SOMETIMES BREAKS. ULTIMATELY, MAN IS ALONE... ABSOLUTELY ALONE THERE IS SOMETHING LIKE THE MIND, BEYOND THE BODY. IF THIS MIND IS MATURE, ONE CAN FIGHT ALL KINDS OF ADVERSITIES, EVEN LONELINESS JUST PEEP INTO ANY HOUSE, AND YOU SHALL FIND SILENT SUFFERING. THE SUFFERING OF LONELINESS. BUT EACH ONE TO HIS FATE... INEVITABLE FATE

'MANJIRI'...'TULSI MANJIRI'... THE VERY NAME EVOKES A VISION OF PURITY... THE SIGHT OF A TULSI PLANT IN FULL BLOOM CALMS THE MIND... IT FILLS ONE'S MIND WITH ITS SACRED SIMPLICITY...'JAYA' THE PROTAGONIST WHO ALWAYS BESTOWED LOVE, IS LIKE THE MANJIRI - THE BLOSSOM OF THE TULSI... GAVE SHADE TO THE LITTLE LORD KRISHNA. BUT NEVER ONE CROSSED HER LIMIT THROUGH HER PEN, THE WRITER HAS BEAUTIFULLY SKETCHED VARIOUS FACETS AND EMOTIONS OF WOMAN....'मंजिरी'... 'तुळस-मंजिरी'... नाव उच्चारताच नजरेसमोर तरळते एक सात्विकता... तुळशीवृंदावनात बहरलेली तुळस बघितली की, मन शांत होतं... तिच्या पावित्र्यानं, साधेपणानं मन भारावून जातं... ...कथेची नायिका 'जया' ही या 'मंजिरी'सारखीच... जिनं सदा प्रेमच दिलं. तळाखालच्या बाळकृष्णाला सावली दिली. पण स्वत ची मर्यादा कधी ओलांडली नाही आपल्या भावोत्कट लेखनीतून लेखिकीने स्त्री स्वभावाची अनेक गुण-वैशिष्ट्यं... मनोभावना... या कादंबरीत सहज-सुंदरतेने रेखाटली आहेत...

TILL DATE, THERE HAVE BEEN MANY NOVELS PUBLISHED ON THE SERENE AND BEAUTIFUL BACKGROUND OF GOA. YET, THIS IS THE FIRST OF ITS TYPE DESCRIBING THE CONTEMPORARY LIFE IN GOA. WE COME ACROSS PEOPLE FROM VARIOUS RELIGION, CREED AND RACE SPEAKING VARIOUS LANGUAGES AND FOLLOWING VIVID CULTURES. THEIR STRUGGLES, CONFLICTS, EMOTIONS, FEELINGS, LAWFUL AND UNLAWFUL RELATIONS, LEGITIMATE AND ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN, ALL HAVE BEEN WELL PORTRAYED. THE STYLE EMBRACED BY THE AUTHOR ITSELF IS PROOF ENOUGH OF HER LITERARY SKILLS. IT ALSO SHEDS LIGHT ON THE DEPTH OF HER KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING CAPABILITIES AND INNOVATIVENESS. HER MULTI-FACETED NATURE HAS GIVEN A TENDER TOUCH TO IT AS WELL. THIS NOVEL HAS POTENTIALS ENOUGH TO LEAVE THE READERS IN AN UNEASY STATE OF MIND...निसर्गरम्य गोव्याच्या पाश्र्वभूमीवर आजवर अनेकानेक कादंबऱ्या प्रसिद्ध झालेल्या आहेत; परंतु गोव्यातील समकालीन समुह-जीवनाचं यथायोग्य चित्रण करणारी ही पहिलीच कादंबरी आहे. भाषा, वंश, धर्म, चालीरीतींनी आणि भिन्न जीवनशैलींनी बध्द अशा अनेकानेक व्यक्ती तुम्हांला या कादंबरीत भेटतात. त्यांचे आपापसांतील संबंध, संघर्ष, त्यांचे भावना-विचारांचे कल्लोळ, त्यांच्यातील विहित-अविहित नाती, औरस-अनौरस संबंध यांचं सिध्दहस्त लेखणीनं केलेलं चित्रण पाहून वाचक केवळ स्तिमित होईल. या कादंबरीचं उल्लेखनीय वैशिष्ट्य म्हणजे तिचा आकृतिबंध हे आहे. पारंपारिक सर्वमान्य असा आकृतीबंध न निवडता, कादंबरीच्या प्रकृतीनं स्वत च स्वत साठी घडवलेला हा आकृतिबंध लेखिकेच्या सर्जनशक्तीच्या विस्तृत परिघाचं मनोज्ञ दर्शन घडवतो. महालक्ष्मी आणि सरस्वती या दोन देवींचं वास्तव्य असलेल्या आणि निसर्गदत्त सौदर्यानं नटलेल्या गोव्याच्या पाश्र्वभूमीवरची व्यामिश्र समाजजीवन यथार्थपणे चित्रीत करणारी ही समर्थ कादंबरी वाचकाला अस्वस्थ करुन सोडील

FOR LAST SEVEN DECADES, THE SOUL RESIDED IN THIS PARTICULAR BODY WHICH WAS NOW EXTREMELY TIRED. HOW LONG IT COULD BE USED SUCH? HOW LONG CAN ONE STAY IN PARENTAL HOUSE? THIS BODY WAS BESTOWED WITH THE PRIME FUNCTION OF RELEASING THE SOUL. THERE WAS NO LUST TOWARDS THE BODY, RATHER A FEELING OF TOTAL RETIREMENT COMBINED WITH EAGERNESS TO GET DISSOLVED WITH 'THE ULTIMATE'. THE MELODIOUS TANPURA WAS ACCOMPANYING BEGUM. SHE WAS SINGING: 'NAIHAR CHHUTO JAI'... AS I LEAVE MY PARENTAL HOME. APART FROM THE BRIGHT WHITE LIGHT THE EYES COULD NOT SENSE ANYTHING ELSE. OH, THERE IS A BLUE LAKE AS WELL. AND WHAT IS IT AT ITS FAR END? A SNOW-COVERED MOUNTAIN PEAK. THE VERY TALL PEAK... KANCHANGANGA. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HER LIFE, MAI COULD SEE VALUKESHWAR DEEP IN MEDITATION. OH, SO THIS DISPASSION HAD A MEANING AFTER ALL? IT ENABLED HER TO VIEW HIM THUS. ANJANI'S LIFE REACHED THE FLOW OF THE GANGA. HER PATH WAS LINED WITH KACHNAR FLOWERS. ANJANI HAD BECOME AS HOLY AS THE GANGA NOW. NOW THERE WAS NOTHING BUT 'NADBRAHMA' THE SOUND OF GOD...गेली सात तपं...हा आत्मा या शरीरात वस्ती करुन होता. हे शरीर...आता थकलं होतं. ते किती वर्षं वापरायचं? नैहर झालं, म्हणून काय झालं?ज्या आत्म्याच्या उध्दारासाठी म्हणून हे शरीर लाभलं होतं, त्या शरीराची आता आसक्ती नव्हती, तर निवृत्ती होती. त्या भव्य सुरात आपला सूर मिळवण्याची आतुरता तंबोरा झंकारत होता. बेगमचा आवाज कानांवर पडत होता. नैहर छुटो जाय... आता...मिटलेल्या डोळ्यांसमोर फक्त पांढराशुभ्र प्रकाश दिसत होता. एक निळं सरोवर...आणि त्या पलीकडलं हिमालयाचं बर्फाच्छादित शिखरही... एक उत्तुंग शिखर...कांचनगंगा त्या शिखरावर ध्यानस्थ झालेला वालुकेश्वर माईला आज प्रथमच स्पष्ट दिसला. तो नजरेसा दिसावा, म्हणूनच तर होतं हे वैराग्य कांचनाच्या पायघड्यांवरुन चालणारं, अंजनीचं जीवन पार गंगेच्या प्रवाहापाशी पोचलं होतं. गंगेइकंच् पवित्र, विशाल. अंजनी स्वतच बनली होती कांचनगंगा जिथं..फक्त. नादब्रम्ह झंकारत होतं

ALL THE STORIES IN THIS COLLECTION EXPLORE THE DEPTHS OF A WOMAN'S MIND. WOMAN WHETHER SHE IS RURAL OR URBAN; A TEENAGER OR AN ELDERLY WIDOW, HER PATH IS STREWN WITH DIFFICULTIES - BOTH DUE TO SOCIETAL TRADITION AND FAMILY STRUCTURE. BUT LIVE SHE MUST. SOME COLLAPSE, SOME SURVIVE BY SHEER GRIT. SOMETIMES IT BECOMES INEVITABLE TO SEEK SHELTER BY LEAVING ONE'S HOME - THE PRESENT COLLECTION ATTEMPTS TO FOLLOW THESE WOMEN AND THEIR PROBLEMS.

The primary era of this study - the twentieth century - symbolizes the peak of the colonial rule and its total decline, as well as the rise of the new nation state of India. The processes that have been labeled 'westernization' and 'modernization' radically changed middle-class Indian life during the century. This book describes and explains the various technological, political and social developments that shaped one building type - the bungalow - contemporaneous to the development of modern Indian history during the period of British rule and its subsequent aftermath. Drawing on their own physical and photographic documentation, and building on previous work by Anthony King and the Desais, the authors show the evolution of the bungalow's architecture from a one storey building with a verandah to the assortment of house-forms and their regional variants that are derived from the bungalow. Moreover, the study correlates changes in society with architectural consequences in the plans and aesthetics of the bungalow. It also examines more generally what it meant to be modern in Indian society as the twentieth century evolved.