Brajesh's Review : Sita's Ramayana

Ordinary text with Extraordinary Art, is the best way to describe this graphic novel - Sita's Ramayana. The Patua Graphics are the only reason you should pick up this book. This Bengali folk art-form has been beautifully and artistically adopted for the graphic novel genre, but the text falls short on providing any surprises.

Maybe Samhita's "Missing Queen" had raised my expectations. The story begins at Vanvaas and ends at Sita's departure into Earth's belly. It is told from Sita's perspective but the only interesting perspective for me, was the passage describing the plight of war widows.

The 2.5 is all for the beautiful drawings in the book.

Rating : 2.5 / 5

Also Read : Kim's Review of Sita's Ramayana

Kim's Review : Sita's Ramayana

After reading the Missing Queen, I knew I had to go back and read Samhita Arni's first book - Sita's Ramayana, which had been lying unread on my book shelf for almost 2 years. (with my love of books, my book buying speed overtakes my book reading speed by about 40%)

If you expect another piece of brilliant speculative fiction like her 2nd book, then Sita's Ramayana is not for you. It is much more traditional in the sense that it retells the events as is accepted by most famous retellings, but it tells the story from Sita's perspective and hence the label of Speculative Fiction.

Sita's feelings and thoughts imbue this book and that is what made it feel so familiar to me. The same thoughts and questions that plague me when I read the "Ramcharitmanas" or other more popular versions are vocalised by Sita in this book by Samhita Arni & Moyna Chitrakar.

The futility of war and the loss of life worry Sita, The predicament faced by Tara (wife of Sugriva, remarried to his brother Vali and then handed back to Sugriva by Rama) upsets Sita, as it would any other woman who values her independence. This is the beauty of Sita's Ramayana. Samhita Arni has given Sita a voice and a voice that echoes with womanly sentiment, emotions, fears and reasoning.

Moyna Chitrakar is a Patua Artist from Bengal who has adapted the Patua scroll paintings style to a graphic novel with wonderful illustrations like these.

Moyna's paintings came first and Samhita Arni then added the text to the story by building on Chandrabati's Ramayana (a 16th century female re-teller of the epic from Bengal) which tells the tale of a brooding and sorrowful Sita who is abducted, rescued, doubted, tested, temporarily accepted, re-doubted and banished by her husband.

Its a beautiful book, that anybody interested in different versions of the epic would appreciate. But most women would resonate strongly with the Sita in this version which begins with the appearance of Surpanakha in the forest and ends with Sita returning to her earth mother.

Rating : 4/ 5

Also Read : Kim's Review of The Missing Queen






Note: The 2nd picture is an image that appeared in the DNA's Review of Sita's Ramayana

Kim's Review: Curses in Ivory

Curses in Ivory traverses three generations of women as seen through the eyes and memories of Sreya. The 3 main characters are Sreya, her grandmother Hansabati and mother Regina. The minor but still important characters are her mothers sister Queenie, her Fathers brothers wife Brishti and her sister-in-law Nilima.

The curse supposedly has its origin in the time of Hansabati's mother-in-law Kamala and carries on in various forms through the Rai Bahadurs family.

This novel is a subtle yet wonderful exploration on the status of women across 4 generations in West Bengal. Societal norms, the prevalence of purdah, the British influence, the lowered status of women who lost their mothers or were orphaned, the overwhelming obsession for a male heir all of these are explored in this novel.

Curses in Ivory is a relatively easy read but will leave lasting impressions on the reader. The slow decay of once wealthy households holding on to their past. Family secrets - explosive if revealed but even more destructive if concealed. Arranged marriages where pre-teen spouses grow up together and office romances that lead to marriage. The changing fabric of society reveals itself in the course of this book.

While Curses in Ivory is not chicklit, women readers will be more appreciative of the subtleties in the story telling and the implications of events.

Anjana Basu's story telling flows very smoothly and there are minor differences in the flow depending on which characters perspective is being put forth. The poetic turn of phrase around Brishti is the most palpable.

While not in the league of Saratchandra Chattopadhyay or Satyajit Ray, she still succeeds in bringing an older Bengal to life.