Women through her perspective

KOCHI: "It was men who wrote all the stories and epics in the ancient times and that's why all of them were dominated with patriarchal images. I wanted to make the girls of Mahabharatha more accessible and show what they are," said Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan at the launch of her latest book "The One Who Had Two Lives" on Saturday in Kochi.

The second book in her series of 'Girls of Mahabharata' will narrate the story of Amba, the princess of Kashi and her rebirth as warrior shikhandi in a new way."The character is probably the first-ever reference of a transgender man in an epic. It excited me to explore more and write about it in the time of #metoo and gender fluidity," says Meenakshi.

"Epics are always fascinating to writers and they are never tired of reinventing, retelling and demythologising them. Many of these experiments are changing the sensibility of fiction writing," said writer Sangeetha Sreenivasan after releasing the book.

"Meenakshi has invented a free-flowing language of her own with clarity which makes it is an easy read. It is interesting that she is coming up with a total of 12 such women stories in this series," said Sangeetha.
Daughter of N S Madhavan, who played post-modernism in ancient texts, Meenakshi was conscious about establishing her own ideas through the book. "The emotions are mine, the language is mine and a lot of backstories are also mine. I tried a young girl's fantasy to put a spin on an already-told tale," quipped Meenakshi.

At a time when political correctness in literature and the sensitive nature of religious epics are taking centre stage in the online world, the writer is not wary of the criticisms. "I wanted to write a book that feels true to me. I believe those who criticise the new perspective in ancient texts are the one who hasn't read it,"  she said.  

Prasanna K Varma, Malayalam translator of Manu S Pillai's 'Ivory Thrones' received the book. "We all have grown up reading R K Narayanan's stories. Now, we are witnessing a group of young writers like Meenakshi taking the Indian-English literature to a different level. Amitav Ghosh winning the Jnanpith award shows the popularity of the genre."

The opening franchise of the series,  'The One Who Swam With Fishes' was published in 2017 and narrated the story of Satyavati. The book launch and conversation were hosted by H&C Books Store Hall, Kochi.