It’s the month of March, the month of the wild daffodil, the season of the narcissus… the time to fall in love with one’s own self.
And it’s a good thing, because it makes one look into the mirror.
To most of us, our images appear distorted – maybe a crooked nose, uneven cheeks, slanted eyes, fat thighs, sagging breasts… but the idea is to fall in love with the distortions.
And with that deeper purpose, when one looks into the mirror, we might see, not one, but many images form. Each one, more alluring than the other, more luscious than the other, sultrier than the other, more radical than the other. These are images of the many women contained in us, of the many women we could be, of the many women we wish we could be, of the many women we dare not be, but secretly wish we could be.
And then one would perhaps see that, none of these images are normative, each one of them is crazy, amorous, wild, as astonishing, as rugged, as surprising, as treacherous as rocky mountain peaks.
Turn the pages, and you will find, the women of March – beautiful, wild, unabashed, unashamed, unrestrained, un-tethered… women who loved themselves with abundance, inspite of the distortions.
We lost a lovely woman this winter, one who sang “I’m every woman… I can cast a spell… of secrets you can tell… mix a special brew… put fire inside of you…”
This issue remembers and celebrates the ‘every woman’ who cast a spell, put fires inside us…
We came across the works of a fierce and lovely young poet Sharanya, this winter, who signs her books with the mark of her deep, dark lips, and her very first poem in the collection proclaims… “I am as dirty as a secret, brave as a matador, powerful as sin”… she put fire in our hearts, melted the winter and we celebrate the advent of spring, the month of March with more lines from her powerful poetry on the cover.
A special supplement carries a play by theatre activist and our Roving Editor, Parnab Mukherjee – a moving sketch of two incredibly intriguing women – Ruttie Jinnah and Kasturba Gandhi.
Hope you enjoy reading.
P.S: As a woman editor, I oft en get reprimanded for not being gender-sensitive enough by some of my staunch feminist friends and colleagues, often normalizing ‘his’ where ‘his/her’ would have been more appropriate and other such nuances, I carelessly miss out on. Well, I take this opportunity to publicly apologize for all the normalisations we might have failed to question through our medium.
A very happy women’s day to all…
