Initial reaction and discussion to proposal

dear prerna,
i read your proposal & i have a problem with it, i suggest you leave out the bride and wife bit, instead leave it at till lover this would tie in powerfully with the temple. you would have to fictionalize it. suggested readings include - around the world in 80 days - jules verne, raja ram mohun roy -i will send you a paper i wrote which has a bibiliography that tells you what books of his to look at. watch a film called giddh -it's on the yellamma cult. that's it for now
you can watch it online or download it here - giddh i mean
http://www.bharatmovies.com/hindi/video/Giddh.htm
p.s. the idea of the new birth - initiation into sex, first night etc., -is a powerful idea and in this context i wish you'd read shashi deshpande's novels

thanks koshy
I'm a little confused... what do you think will tie in powerfully with the temple?
the child abuse or the bride and wife bit?
which one of shashi deshpande's novel do you think i should read?

prerna,
India does not talk yet "powerfully" in images of two things - the sexuality of girl children harmed at home by relatives. A husband or a lover harming a bride or lover or wife at night in bed in the act of sex against her consent often in the first night or first nights immediately after marriage. Both these things tie in with the temple. The woman is still a burning figure, still acceding to her death or to becoming a partner in masochism to a social (male) sadism for some nameless larger cause that has to be examined, uncovered, again something not yet done powerfully in images so far etc. the three novels i'd like you to read are "the dark holds no terrors" and "the binding vine" especially and also "that long silence" finally if you have the time.

koshy, what's disturbing is that in the case of sati, this burning figure of a woman becomes the image of a protector by some strange logic. the more she suffers the more holy she becomes.

prerna, that is the point at which you have to interrogate the concept -at the point where it is at its most disturbing.
is it true or hogwash? - could be both and more.