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I am stuck together with thousands of shells. Each one cradling a secret, a hidden thought or a dark emotion buried deep. With time and patience you peel away each shell, making me tremble with fear. Why is it that love brings out the truth, strips away the facade? I cannot hide from you. But I fear of the day when you uncover that last shell, the day you truly see me, the last piece that will unveil me completely- the ugliness, the dirt, envy and poison. You would walk away with the discovery of my unclean soul and I would be subjected to an eternity of being naked and vulnerable to the mercy of your voice.

everytime i wish someone a happy diwali, i am actually hugging you and stuffing kaju katli in your mouth and laughing while someone takes our pictures.

Remember when Sadhguru said-“When terrible things happen to you, become wise not wounded.”

I think it’s high time our generation starts applying that.

Nesta and Eris would have been a power couple.

When you see houses and balconies twinkling with funky multicolored lights, alight with laughters, and sweet shops flooded with kids going "papa mujhe chamcham chahiye" and little girls lighting anars in their anarkalis and running away laughing and shooting chutputi guns at each other, and little boys in kurtas lighting candles on their balconies and throwing pop pops around, and uncles and aunts gifting the kids stuff and siblings poking fun at each other and reluctantly giving each other tiny gifts and toddlers clapping at a chakkarginni and a teenage girl hanging more and more types of lights in her balconies and when you feel the joy around you, you just know diwali is not just a festival

Did you ever wake up really early in the morning after Diwali, when the lights are still up & the birds are talking in music, the street dogs are asleep, the leaves are dancing slowly to the wind, the world is calm, nobody is on the streets but the alleys speak of presence of happiness and light, it's cold, but also warm.... you can feel the smiles,laughter and sweets in the air. There are less crackers on the road this year and most of the wrappers say "green" and this makes you smile, that little kid who lives on the corner most house cares about the world and that is so beautiful...You look at the rangoli that the little kids made, it's smudged but it still carries the stories of yesterday, looking at it you recall the chaos that went into making it, "Atta khaañ hai? mai sirf colours vali layi huñ, or tu? stencils? chal didi se aata lekr aatey haiñ? Ye vala design ??", you chuckle...a strong wind blows & it makes you wear your shawl properly, you rub your hands together with a warm smile on your face.... mcd vali didi has come to clean the roads, you exchange wishes, and head to the kitchen to make some tea.....

it's the morning after Diwali, vanvaas ended.

Nesta had to give up her powers because R/hysand didn’t think to tell F/eyre about possible risks of fae childbirth before trying conceive or after when those risks were confirmed. Gotta love a woman sacrificing her power to help a dude who isn’t going to face any consequences at all.

I don't mean to offend you, but do you dislike North Indians? We are not that bad also. (*sings kya itna bura hu main maa?.... in the background*)

*snorting at the gaana* Draamebaaz. 😆😆😆

Warning: Impassioned rant incoming. But you asked, so… 😗😗😗

Of course I don’t just outright dislike ALL North Indians unilaterally. But I *do* resent the suffocating hegemony that the North imposes on “desi culture”. You know, how the run-of-the-mill “Indian” is seen as fair, vegetarian and Hindi speaking. What about South India? The north east? Bengal and Odisha? WE HERE TOO! 🙋🏾🙋🏾🙋🏾 We’re all Indians too! But the overwhelming perception is that the North is mainly “India”, while the rest of the country are just hangers-on/afterthoughts. In the matter of entertainment, I especially HATE that Bollywood is recognized world-wide as “Indian cinema” while all the other industries that are churning out INFINITELY SUPERIOR CONTENT ON A REGULAR BASIS are marginalized as ~~~regional cinema and doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. There’s a general disinterest and unwillingness to explore outside of Bollywood. Whereas every “Indian” is expected to understand Hindi and know/keep up with Bollywood. 🙄🙄🙄

Forget recognition and appreciation, when was the last time any other regions got ACCURATE, if ANY, representation in mainstream Bollywood/Tellywood itself? Nope, it’s all stereotypical caricatures mired in terrible accents and nonsensical regional mishmashes. But greaaaaaat care is taken to ensure authenticity in portrayal of the North Indian regions. You’d never see Garba dancing in a movie set in Punjab. You wouldn’t see people speaking in a Haryanvi accent and eating Daal Baati Churma if a show was set in Lucknow. But you *will* see Kathakali and Mohiniyattam dancers in a movie that’s set in Tamil Nadu/Odissi dancers in a movie based in Calcutta. All South Indians seem to be on a strictttttt vegetarian diet (pls note that the south indian states are the LEADERS in meat consumption in the country) of idli-sambaar (every time someone pronounces it “saaambur”, i lose 6 years off my lifespan 😫😫😫) or bizarre noodle-yogurt concoctions (WTF???? 🤢🤢🤢) when not breaking into Carnatic music and impromptu Bharatnatyam steps every now and then. Oh, and not to forget the constant punctuation of every sentence with “aiyyo!“ 😒😒😒 A National Award winner like Dhanush is derided as looking like a “rikshawaala”, while the most pedestrian-looking of North Indians with a six pack (and of course, a rich and famous daddy) can become a Bollywood hero, finding marginal to immense success. Consummate actors like Mohanlal and Mamootty (also MULTIPLE National Award winners!!!!) are ridiculed by North Indian masses for being chubby and looking like “uncles”, while bloody Salman Khan (ALSO IN HIS 50s, AND TRUST ME, IT FUCKING SHOWS) gets 300 crores on the first weekend for just showing his expressionless mug on the screen (don’t even get me started on how he just stands there like a fucking lump of goondha hua atta in Swag Se Swagat. LIKE, AT LEAST PUT IN *SOME* EFFORT FOR YOUR MONEY MAN!!!!!??!!!!!) Priyanka Chopra is chosen to don yellow-face to portray Mary Kom, because most of the North Indian public won’t come to theatres to watch an actual Manipuri actress play her. Imran Khan, Shraddha Kapoor, and Alia Bhatt are cast as Tam-Brahms and Preity Zinta is being shoved in my face as a Malayali. The biggest South Indian successes are taken and churned into shoddyass remakes, because not only do North Indians not wanna watch anyone but the Khans and Kapoors and Kumars, but there’s also the general attitude of “Arre yaaar, who will watch all this with subtitles and all???? 😑😑😑” The inherent regionalism and racism of it allllllllllll is just maddening to me.

Coming to personal experience, most North Indians I’ve met have a benevolently ignorant (if not downright derisive) attitude towards South Indians and the culture. If I had a rupee for every time I was called a “Madraasi” growing up, I’d be rich enough to be a damn Oberoi. When informed that Kerala is actually a whole different state, and also, not all Malayalis are “Malabaris”, the response is mostly “ehhhh, same difference, na?” (Similar to how North East Indians are largely seen as one single unit of “Chinese” people who happen to live within Indian borders.) I’ve had friends repeatedly ask me to translate Kannada/Telugu/Tamil for them, and being perplexed when told that those are actually entirely different languages from the one I speak. I’ve heard North Indians regularly complain that Tamilians in CHENNAI only speak Tamil and don’t understand Hindi. (Like ????? 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 If you’re coming to visit/live here, make an effort to learn the local language instead of the other way round????? We don’t come to Delhi/Mumbai/Jaipur and speak to the autowaalas and shopkeepers there in OUR languages and then get mad that they don’t understand us????) From what I’ve noticed, there seems to be an innate unwillingness on the part of North Indians to acknowledge and educate themselves on the regions of the country that are equally, if not more diverse than the north (there are over 10 different regional dialects within Malayalam itself!!!!! I’m sure there are even more in Tamil!) while simultaneously placing the expectation on all others to just “know” things about North India and its culture. I don’t see any difference in this attitude of North Indians when compared to white people who think all brown people (whether they be Latinx, Middle Eastern or from the Indian Subcontinent) hail from one single, monolithic culture.

And thus therefore thence, the general resentment and side-eyeing towards North Indians on my part. It’s nothing personal, just frustration that’s built up from all these years of fuckery I’ve experienced. 🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️If you’re a culturally educated North Indian who doesn’t behave like the above, then obviously I have no issues. If you happen to be among those who have (perhaps/mostly unknowingly) behaved this way, then I’d urge you to take an interest and learn more about your own country’s diversity. There’s a whole treasure trove of unexplored and underrated cultures, that have infinitely more to them than just the inaccurate nonsense the mainstream North Indian media propagates! ✨✨✨✨

What's wrong with Gandhi?

Where do I begin?

- Criticized the Jews for defending themselves against the Holocaust because he insisted that they should have committed public mass suicide in order to “shame” the Germans instead of fighting back. His exact words were, “But the Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from the cliffs. As it is, they succumbed anyway in their millions.”

- Wrote an open letter to the British people in 1940 telling them to surrender to the Axis even if it mean accepting genocide.

- Was very anti-black. I hope you can stomach reading how he treated black people in South Africa. It’s fucking disgusting.

- Refused his wife life-saving medication (for religious reasons), but those religious reasons all of a sudden no longer applied to him when he was in a similar position.

- Refused to have sex with his wife for the last 38 years of their marriage. He felt that in order to test his commitment to celibacy, he would have beautiful young women (including his own great niece) lie next to him naked through the night. His wife, whom he described as looking like a “meek cow” was no longer desirable enough to be a solid test.

- Believed that Indian women who were raped lost their value as a human.

- During his time as a dissident in South Africa, he discovered that a young male was harassing two of his female followers. He responded by cutting the girls’ hair off to ensure the “sinner’s eye” was “sterilized.” He later boasted about the incident in his writings, pushing the message to all Indians that women should carry responsibility for sexual attacks upon them.

- Argued that fathers could be justified in killing daughters who had been sexually assaulted for the sake of family and community honor.

- Believed that menstruation was a manifestation of the distortion of a woman’s soul by her sexuality.

- Waged a war against contraceptives, labeling Indian women who used them as whores.

- Held the attitude that women were simply creatures that could bring either pride or shame to the men who own them.

Sources:

Websites:  Women Suffer From Gandhi’s Legacy,  People who most likely chose Gandhi as a historical figure to do a report on and immediately regretted it, On Mahatma Gandhi, his pathetic racism and advancement of segregation of black people by Sentletse Diakanyo, Not All Peaceful: 13 Racist Quotes Gandhi Said About Black People by Nick  Chiles

Books: Sex and Power by Rita Banerji, On Pacifism by Derrick Jensen,  The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi

Classical Dance things

Admiring the Nataraja statue in your dance class while doing your bhoomi pranam.

Taking your own sweet time to tie your ghungroos/salangai even when your teacher told you to tie them quickly

Counting the bells in your ghungroo every now and then and randomly jingling it.

Tattadavu for Bharatnatyam dancers and Chauka for Odissi dancers is basically leg-day for you all. They tone your legs.

Cringing when you see that neck movement in films

You don't know how to react when you hear some people say "Oh you learn classical dance. It is this right? Ta thai tom" *tight smile on the face*

Touching the dancing sculptures of ancient temples and dreaming about them.

You love to pose like those dancing sculptures and secretly wishing to have someone who would take your photographs in a dance pose

Reading the Natyashastra and Abhinaya darpana. You have a hard time pronouncing the long Sanskrit names for the types of nayikas but slowly getting them right.

Spinning randomly in your class, school/college corridor. You gotta practice those chakkars/bhramari

Making choreographies inside your head while doing household work.

Dreaming about forgetting steps during a dance performance. Every dancer's nightmare!

Standing up to people including your own friends when they make fun of male classical dancers by calling them 'womanly' and 'boys don't dance like that'

If you were enrolled into a dance school as a child, you loved to imitate your Akkas/didis and the senior dancers and wanted to dance like them.

Feeling a little emotional after your Arangetram.

Your first solo performance has a special place in your heart.

Dance mates >>>>>>> school mates

Balancing dance and academics together or you will have your school teachers complaining about a slight dip in your report card. Eventually, you learn to multitask.

From making excuses to not go to the dance class to impatiently waiting for your dance, you grew up.

Rehearsals turning you exhausted the entire day but you always look forward to it.

Doing your homework during dance breaks. Exam time rehearsals? Carry books to the class and get things done.

You may skip school for a day but hate to skip your dance class

Reading biographies about your favourite dancers at night and secretly wishing if you could grow up to be a dancer like them.

Hearing parents say "Yes, you can choose to be a dancer" and shedding happy tears.

Realising that the final dance performance ends faster than the stage rehearsal even though they are of the same duration. Does time move fast on stage?

Sitting like a statue when make-up dada applies makeup. You look at the mirror and for a second don't recognise yourself.

Holding hands with your dance friends and whispering all the best minutes before your group is called.

Getting dressed up in the costume with your hair pinned with pins and ornaments is tiring but the final look makes you swoon over yourself.

The way your heart beat accelerates seconds before the music starts on the stage.

Hugging your dance teacher after you return backstage and touching their feet for teaching to such a beautiful art form and finding you worthy to present a dance to the audience.

Your dance teacher is your best friend.

So what if you did not become a professional dancer as you once wished. Once a dancer, always a dancer!

(Feel free to add more to this )

Here's a rant because I am bored.

Anybody remembers this baby Krishna?

And then came the time when I considered them as my best friends. Like I would talk with them inside my head for hours.

And this made me fall in love with Krishna. Do you see that hair and those muscles over there? The way he is playing his flute....god!

That hand tugging movement!! My six year old heart swooned at that sight and seriously the makers made this soo romantic... Besides the scenes are from that song if you remember and if you don't- here's the name: Krishna eternal love song. The flute tune is magical and transhports you to Vrindavan.

I remember making a swing for myself so that Kanha and I could sit together and what did I use? My brother's hotweels ka orange bridge sort of thing as a seat which broke later on.

His arms!!! If Kanha ever gave me a hug, I would be holding him for god knows how long and in that second picture he gets a little surprised when Radha comes and hugs him. (They had a lightning scene so she comes terrified and embraces him)

This!!!! Yes, exactly this is the scene where I lose my mind and blush. This was a freaking cartoon but they made it so pleasing and so romantic. The way they are holding each other (i am still crying) is just... sjsjjsjsjshhs and this part also has a bg flute tune which is as good as the initial flute tune in the video

This cartoon would always come on tv during weekends and i would this with my family after lunch and now it is telecasted on Janmashtami.

This song and the movie literally made me write a song and draw a stick figure. I still remember the lyrics which sounds absolutely bad now (found that rough copy and drawing last year) and my mother had read that too when she had given me sums to do back then.

We may have Kisna and other similar cartoons now but this Krishna cartoon is always going to be the best XD. And about Little Krishna? That was good too but I have a soft corner for this one.

I hope Pogo and Cartoon Network telecast it again on weekends. Also the parting scene is quite emotional (where Kanha tells Radha about his purpose and then leaves his friends and family)

I never really got over Krishna. Jsjahshsbbsbsjsjshsghs

Yagyaseni

Draupadi moodboard

“Tapsee Pannu’s Thappad is a slap on those unsaid rules of marriage that humiliate women in their own families and shatter their self-esteem in the process. A husband slaps his dutiful wife in a party to vent out his frustration and this starts an emotional battle that goes beyond domestic violence – even one slap is not okay, and moving on is not the solution! The woman’s family even tries to talk her out of taking legal action against her husband stating that women are meant to adjust to such situations. Other crucial women-oriented topics explored by this film include bearing the brunt of a family’s legacy, clinging to the idea that marriage is the ultimate destination, and believing that being physically abused by the husband is the norm.”

— Apeksha, ‘Bollywood’s Depiction Of Gendered Violence: Are We Changing For The Better?’, Youth Ki Awaaz

THAPPAD (Slap) Directed By Anubhav Sushila Sinha

Thappad is a relationship story of Amrita whose seemingly perfect life is shattered with a slap. But is one slap enough to question what a relationship stands for? Should a slap shake up her trust or is a Thappad “Bas Itni Si Baat” ?

«  I neither want to go back to the place from where you brought me, nor to the place where you are going to take me, but this road is very good, i don’t want to leave it. »

Masaan (2015)

Vicky Kaushal in the movie, Sardaar Udham Singh (2021)

They may kill me, but they cannot kill my ideas. They can crush my body, but they will not be able to crush my spirit

-Bhagat Singh

Raazi, 2018.

I love krishna. There can be a serious war scene going on but the moment my boy makes an appearance sweet flower music comes on and thats powerful.

Society if homophobic/transphobic Hindus realize Krishna was a bicon (and as) Mohini was a trans woman, shiv and parvati combined to form a hermaphrodite, and bhramha is gender nonconforming

There is so much lgbt+ representation in Hinduism but people choose to ignore it

Amren had no right to call Nesta a “pathetic waste of life.”

What was SJM thinking to have Nesta get on her knees begging for forgiveness.

Let me clear this up for you:

Since no one seems to understand. Time to rant. 

CONCEPT OF KARMA

I absolutely hate how western practitioners have twisted the meaning and bastardised it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not completely rooted in my roots and I’m not an extreme traditionalist but people using the concept of karma by first misunderstanding its foundations and then using it to justify horrendous shit is unbelievable. Which then, leads to people trying to divorce karma from its associations.

Okay, let’s just break it down. Idk how they just reduced Karma as “what goes around, comes around” & treated it like a cause and effect deal, because it isn’t. Using Karma to justify suffering and oppression was NEVER it’s original purpose. Looking through Hinduism & Vedic teachings, Karma is a law that human in the centre of responsibility, in every way, shape and form. There is a reason Karma is tied with Saturn (Shani), the God of Karma, Justice and Retribution, and ANY astrologer can tell you how Saturn operates in similar principal. Karma doesn’t teach people to shut up & suffer because they deserve it. Karma says that the cycles that exist are created by and through humans, their suffering & good fortune accordingly and by virtue, it is in their hands and will alone on how they want to cultivate their actions.

It DOESN’T discount systematic oppression.

It DOESN’T tell you to sit on your hands and suffer because it’s your fault.

It DOESN’T tell you that you’ll get good things after suffering.

What Karma does is present you with the situation of your life, then waits and watches what YOU choose to do with it, how YOU work or manage it. Ultimately, being tied to Saturn, it expects you to take responsibility on creating your own situation.

And no, I’m not saying this in the way that the way people are, and how they’re suffering is because they somehow “were a bad person in their previous life, etc etc”, I’m saying that it acknowledges that people have different situations & personal suffering, yes, a LOT of things in life are fundamentally difficult but you need to understand, the planets or the gods didn’t create suffering on such a global scale, it was ultimately humans/men themselves that perpetuated and continued the cycle of suffering, and it is, ultimately, in our hands to make it better or worse. Karma treats everyone equally this sense, but it is very difficult to understand this if you don’t realise that the concept of Karma is deeply tied with cycles, especially as Hinduism treats time as a cycle itself, and often times people really can’t and don’t have the knowledge of comprehending anything but their own/current life while they’re alive. 

Karma isn’t an immediate slap in the face (unless you have those placements that make it so) as you know, the GOD OF KARMA is literally called the slowest/slow moving planet and is symbolised by a tortoise, the effects of your Karma accumulate and thus it usually manifests in the various cycle of lifes. I understand that western practitioners or those growing up with largely Christian themes/society can’t understand because we don’t have a definite “end”, the only “end” that comes from cycles of reincarnation is through burning the ties of Karma and liberating the soul. There are three types of Karma:

1. Sanchita karma, the sum total of past karmas yet to be resolved. 2. Prarabdha karma, that portion of sanchita karma that is to be experienced in this life. 3. Kriyamana karma, the karma that humans are currently creating, which will bear fruit in future.

There are some things in life you can’t control, there are also things in life that you can control. Karma is a continuous cycle until you achieve moksha, which is the ultimate goal of liberation.

Hinduism/The Vedas has recognised and understood the way the Law of Karma works, that’s one of the main reasons Dharma was made one of the aims of life, the act of good deeds, performing proper responsibilities & personality that ultimately gears you towards attaining (good)karma that will make it easier for you to pursue the other “Purusartha” aka aims of life, and of course, the path towards liberation in general.

From this perspective, we see life as fundamentally connected with everything, including people, action, deeds, nature, planets, the universe etc etc, Karma is just a law that explains one part of such. Astrology has always been one of the main tools used to deeply study the bond between the planets and a human existence (soul & body), one of the main reason Karmic Astrology exists is because the intrinsic ties our existence has with different elements of life, and of course, the soul that has & will be going through everything. Now that you’re in the end of this post, I hope you never misuse the concept of “Karma” because I’m going to arrive there with Saturn to slap a bitch.

The beauty of Khajuraho!

There’s a witness, a little girl. She was saying the goddess killed him. 

BULBBUL (2020) dir. Anvita Dutt

Best historical novels for all time in Marathi

History is best topic to read and to understand also. Benefits of reading of reading such type of books is we can improve our behavior from mistakes that can harmful to us. Also, it helps to understand why the present rules or world are like this? (history tell us the reasons behind that) with that it gives the chance to understand our real hero’s and legends, sacrifices done for peace.

So, Here are the 5 historical books suggestion that can help you to improve yourself.

Mrutyunjaya by Shivaji Sawant

Mrutyunjaya is the autobiography of Karna, and yet it is not just that. With deceptive case, Sawant brings into play an exceptional stylistic innovation by combining six “dramatic soliloquies” to form the nine books of this novel of epic dimensions. Four books are spoken by Karna. These are interspersed with a book each from the lips of his unwed mother Kunti, Duryodhana (who considers Karna his mainstay), Shon (Shatruntapa, his foster-brother, who here-worships him), his wife Vrishali to whom he is like a god and, last of all, Krishna. Sawant depicts an uncanny similarity between Krishna and Karna and hints at a mystic link between them, investing his protagonist with a more than-human aura to offset the un-heroic and even unmanly acts which mar this tremendously complex and utterly fascinating creating of Vyasa.

Shriman yogi by Ranjit desai

This is a biographical novel on Shivaji Maharaj. This historical novel has created history in the world of literature and books. Shivaji Maharaj is the most worshipped person in Maharashtra. Every single household here knows Shivaji Maharaj. He is the most respected character. He was a dream come true. Shivaji Maharaj was born as a Hindu but at such time when Hinduism was forgotten by the Hindus. In his novel Ranjit Desai pictures Shivaji from his birth rather he starts with the days prior to his birth. Before writing this novel Desai has searched history, he has not left any stone unturned while doing so. Writing on Shivaji Maharaj was a very difficult task. Shivaji Maharaj had many qualities and the last 34 centuries have changed people`s view about him. They have become more possessive about him adding unnecessarily, and untruthfully to his qualities considering him a god. On this background it was very difficult to portray Shivaji Maharaj as perfect as possible Desai had realised his responsibility. He has pictured Shivaji Maharaj meticulously in this novel. Religious but not superstitious, strict but not wicked, adventurous but not impetuous, practical but not aimless, realistic, visionary but not dreamy. Graceful but not prodigal. Desai has succeeded in highlighting Shivaji Maharaj human nature. His base was that of a human. He valued all, respected every religion. He was an expert commander. He awakened the love for motherland in the sleeping mind, of people. He ignited their confidence. While describing this, Desai has brought many of Shivaji Maharaj qualities into limelight. Shivaji Maharaj was a noble king but he was a nobleman. He also had his own sufferings. He lost many, but his first preference was his motherland. As we go on reading, we get involved in the book so much that we live each moment and when Desai ends the novel, we feel that “WE” have lost Shivaji Maharaj.

Shaymchi aai by sane guruji

Shyamchi Aai (Marathi: श्यामची आई; English: Shyam’s Mother) is hailed as one of the greatest tributes to mother’s love in Marathi literature. It was written by famous author and social activist Sane Guruji. this book is representing the love between mother and her child.

Shyamchi Aai is an autobiography of Sane Guruji belonging to a Brahmin family in Konkan region of rural Maharashtra during British Raj. Sane Guruji, fondly called Shyam during his childhood, is narrating his memories to a group of children in a nightly sitting.

Chapters in the book are named ratra meaning “night” in Marathi. They are named first night, second night and so on. Every passing 5, the story takes you into the family setting in rural Konkan and its beautiful seaside landscapes with adjoining ranges of Sahyadri.

As the title suggests the central character is Shyam’s mother and the kind of enormous influence she has on Shyam’s life and upbringing. It involves sticking to one’s ideals even though one is neck deep in abject poverty.

The narration is flamboyant and involves readers in the setting smoothly. As the story progresses, we come to know the deterioration of Shyam’s debt-ridden family. The communication between father and son, mother and son, and siblings is exemplary. It shows that if love is present in a person’s life, the person can be content; no matter how poor he is.

The book starts with Shyam’s mother getting married into a wealthy family, its slow progression into debt-ridden poverty, and ends with illness and death of his mother.

Pavankhind by Ranjit desai

Maharashtra, the state in Western India, had been under the rule of the Muslims since the thirteenth century. For about four hundred years it had tyrannical and intolerant kings from outside who never allowed the local population to live in peace. Loot, exploitation in the name of religion, rape and violence were rampant until Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj challenged the rulers and set up a Maratha empire in the seventeenth century. His mission was not a cakewalk: he had enemies from within, outside the state as well as those from other countries (the Portuguese and the British had made their present felt by then.) Loyalty of his followers was one major factor that helped Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj build an empire which was held in awe. Pavankhind is a historical novel that covers the events leading to the War of Pavankhind. (Pavankhind is a pass near Kolhapur.) The king successfully made his way through a siege of the pass; thanks to Baji Prabhu Deshpande who made the break through possible. Ranjit Desai (1928-1992) tackled the genre of novels with such ease that his collection includes all types of novels: historical, social, mythological, and biographical. He was also a playwright and has to his credit short stories.

Panipat by vishwas patil

The third battle of Panipat was fought over the throne of Delhi between the Marathas and the king of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Abdali. While the face-off had stretched for months, the actual conflict took place on 14 January 1761. And within a span of twelve hours, 150,000 soldiers lost their lives. About 80,000 horses, bullocks and elephants were slaughtered too. And even though the Marathas fought like absolute heroes, the battle ended up bringing their empire to its knees, emptying out its coffers and decimating an entire generation of youth.  Panipat has received thirty-eight awards since its release in 1988, and sold more than 200,000 copies. Published in English for the first time, this translation is going to be an absolute treat for connoisseurs of historical fiction.

None of the Archeron sisters should be given positions of power. All three of them are uneducated and lack class. I love nesta but I don't want her to be the leader of Illyrians or whatever. Feyrug has already proven that she is unfit to be a high lady when she pulled that stunt in spring court during acowar. And Elain is just a no for me.

feyrug knows exactly how being locked up and having no control over your life can be traumatizing but she still proceeds to do the same because she wants to help nesta.