Based on a large number of interviews with women politicians of many generations and women who have entered the three-tier Panchayati Raj institutions since the mid-1990s in Kerala, this book tries to initiate fresh debate on the impact of the large-scale induction of women into the institutions of local self-government in India. The State of Kerala has been hailed as a success story in accommodating gender concerns in local-level planning and political decentralisation; this conclusion ha...

This book explores how, in early modern Malayalee society, the emerging notion of the individual (as distinct from an identity based on jati, region etc.) was linked to the vision of a society based on gender differences. The process of individualizing thus also became a process of en-gendering. Social reform claimed to set `free people, to make them free individuals. In fact this process of individualization was implicated in institutions (education, home-making, parenting, political work...

The living, pulsating and ever-changing entity that is Kerala is best represented by its astute, critical and deeply insightful writers of the Malayalam short story, and in Feeling Kerala, a selection of some of the best and sharpest narratives from the region is now translated and curated for English readers to love and cherish.While staying true to its literary form, these stories provide a tour into the heart and soul of contemporary Kerala and aim at getting past the tw...

The living pulsating and ever-changing entity that is Kerala is best represented by its astute critical and deeply insightful writers of the Malayalam short story and in Feeling Kerala a selection of some of the best and sharpest narratives from the region is now translated and curated for English readers to love and cherish. While staying true to its literary form these stories provide a tour into the heart and soul of contemporary Kerala and aim at getting past the twentieth-cen...

A scathing social satireIn a small village in Kerala, people begin to feel threatened by an invisible rooster that crows at odd hours. It is heard interrupting the morning and night prayers at the temple, the mass at the church, the azaan at the mosque and the martyrs’ day ceremony. When it hoots in the middle of the national anthem being sung at the local school, it is instantly labelled as a threat to national security.It offends the sentiments of all tho...

The best of the contemporary short story writerUnni R.’s short stories thrive on the many tales rural folk tell each other to make up the tapestry of everyday life—fantastic stories, local gossip shared in whispers.His protagonists are always colourful; some of them live their lives in provincial circles, but their minds hover in worlds that they gained through the mind. No wonder then, that they dream about Giacometti and Lucien Freud and name their rooster...

Manasi is a stalwart of Malayalam literature. With her unparalleled feminist writing and powerful voice, she has mastered the art of telling radical short stories. Through Subversive Whispers, a collection of some of her best work, she continues to defy patriarchy, question Brahminical hegemony and push narratives that subtly yet fervently challenge the status quo. The book introduces readers to the irreverent 'Sheelavathi', which explores the Madonna-Whore complex in a uniquely local cont...

Enter the world of Umaiba, a girl at the threshold of youth, a magic time of life. She is a keen student at school but also curious about marriage, love and her body. Her confidant is Dechoma, a servant in her grandmother's house, who affectionately disapproves of her rebellious tendencies. But Dechoma is also a great fount of love that keeps Umaiba from falling into despair or loneliness as she exits her childhood.Fathi Salim deftly balances the buoyant and the poignant in her rad...

Kerala, 1974. Rajesh, the fourth-standard topper in a Malayalam-medium school in Tiruvalla, founded by his upper-caste Kshatriya ancestors, is excited to move to the big English-medium school there. But things go awry. Grappling with the challenges of English-medium studies, he is stuck in the middle of the rank-list. Desperation grows when the socially inferior Veeramani - the son of Rajesh's father's boss - gets the red badge for coming first. Rajesh goes into a tailspin, and even seeks ...

This edited collection covers the role of the process observer – a position that enhances the effectiveness of group functioning by observing the process, summarizing the behavior of the group so that the group can learn and, if needed, improve its functioning.There is little guidance on best practices for this role, and in most settings, process observers are forced to rely on whatever previous training they have received in group work to fulfil their role. The first of its kind, ...

From the award-winning author of Hangwoman.Late one night in November 2016, Satyapriya, a middle-aged professional living alone in a big city, is attacked by an unidentified assailant. Though she escapes unhurt, a conversation with her paralysed father reveals that this was no random incident but the latest in a series of attempts to kill her. And when he dies unexpectedly soon after, a devastated Satyapriya sets out to unravel the conspiracy coiling aroun...

It was hard to imagine that the post-apocalyptic world that only existed in the movies had suddenly become reality in the city of Matana. With the Budlyt-19 virus continuing to spread, leading pharmaceutical companies battle for the antidote and the wealth they would be rewarded with in return. Little did Nadia know she would unwillingly be entangled in the pharmaceutical corruption of LithLabs after receiving cryptic messages from an anonymous source. Taken against her own will, Nadia bec...