Shakti

Shakti unites women of all walks of life, from all over the world. Any reader would identify herself with women mentioned in the published collection of articles.

The little digest reflects how women are perceived, how women perceive. The reader finds herself no different from other women. She spontaneously relates her own life to situations that woman face in the book. The essays transcend time and cross-cultural difference.

In “Golden Lilies”, writer Bhuwan Singh Thakur gives a picture of women’s status and lifestyle in ancient China. But women of modern times would still find in it resemblance of their own status and lifestyle.

Tiny feet were called “golden lilies” which, if a girl did not have, then no one would marry her. “A strange, painful custom,” says Thakur. Today, we no longer have the custom of foot-binding. But we still have other strange painful customs that have bound us in chains since time immemorial.

Bound by a set of social, religious mores, women live within its tight periphery. We dare not venture out, lest we be condemned, banished from society.

“It is this dark fear that makes us censor ourselves,” says Marie Elena Varela in the essay, “Self- censorship”. Although it is a Latin American woman’s perspective (translated into English by Charles Kuchinski), self-censorship is a universal experience that most writers face. Here, Shakti goes beyond women’s perspective of the subject of censorship. Men would also strongly identify themselves with Marie and her views on self-censorship.

Shakti is not a magazine totally oriented towards women. Although, one would think it is. The sketch of a seething female demon on the cover and the editor’s comment could mislead readers into thinking that it is a women’s magazine.

Shakti has a collection of short, simple articles and poems that are interesting for both men and women. The well-edited simple prose flakes open the stark realities of life. The essays – such as “All Those Clothes We Washed”, “Thus Has It Been Being Born”, “Violence Against Women”, “Frogs In the Bedroom” – portray life as it is. Those who see life through tinted glasses, those who read to escape into an unreal world get jolted back to real life.

The collection of poetry includes “Insanity” by Laxmi P. Devkota (translated into English by Pallav Ranjan), “Separation” by Koumanthio Z. Diallo, “Respect” by Charles A. Law, “Exposed In Huairou” by Shakti, “Looming” by Thomas L. Guta and “Communicating” by B. Thangden.

Photos of traditional art and simple sketches adorn the pages. The photo essay entitled “The Mistress” by Pukar M. Pradhan gives a touch of nostalgia to the journal.

The serialization of Greta Rana’s novel Right As It Is is another noteworthy feature of the magazine. The spring volume contains the sixth chapter of the novel, enough to motivate the reader to buy the next issue of the quarterly.