Contemporary Cheerharan -Women fighting Indignity and Injustice

The idea of this anthology was born out of a simple conversation between us authors as we were sharing our angst about the plight of women and the countless issues faced by them. We decided we wanted to express our infuriation with words without sugar-coating anything and expressing reality as it really is - partly from experience and partly from observation. This is a collection of works comprising poetry essays short stories diary entries epigrams open letters written by the co-authors. A shloka in Sanskrit states that – “Yatra Nariyastu Pujyante Ramante Tatra Devta” which means that the Lord resides in the land where women are worshipped. For all our lofty cultural ideals the reality is pitiful. Gender bias and sexual harassment largely plague the lives of most women holding them back. In this book there are various emotional accounts based on some real stories illustrating the hardships that are the unfortunate reality faced by thousands of women - be it dowry domestic violence acid attacks forced prostitution or rape. In our book you won’t simply find short stories or straightforward open letters; we are here to represent our voice using art & literature in the hope that our country has eyes to gawk the reality. We are here to enunciate. We hope to throw light upon these issues so we can all collectively agitate to change this repulsive culture of wronging women which has set in like an indelible stain on our social fabric. We deserve better; we can do better; and we must do better. Our society can only flourish when it is fair to all. This book is a clarion call to voice our concerns fears and desires altogether for an India which is free from gender bias where women do not have to settle for feeling unsafe as a way of life where women have equal access to opportunities where women aren’t held back by fences barriers and ceilings at every stage.