On The Ning Nang Nong

Theme: Femme and Feminism

Okay, this week been an exploration of a different kind. "Femme" is the in-topic of the week and I discovered three women who are remarkable femme feminists.

First, Harriet Taylor Mill. I have never heard of her till this week. Harriet is noteworthy for her times. She flouted the rules of a puritanical society not only due to estrangement from her husband Mr Taylor but also because of her collaboration with John Stuart Mill. It was a strange set-up where Harriet's husband was sympathetic to her flourish and growing fondness for John Mill. Thus, formed a fruitful coalition between Harriet and John, which, though scandalized by society, eventually led to their marriage after Mr Taylor passed away. Though she shied away from being recognised as a partner in John's writings, nevertheless, JSM credited her as an equal to his intellectual might. Her progressive views on liberation and enfranchisement of women were published under John's name. John's legacy is striking in philosophy and sociology but Harriet holding a candle and sometimes a pen to inspire his luminous writing should be made more available to the masses.



Second, Anandibai Joshee, the first female physician of India and the first female who set foot in US. Her story is available here. It is not the first of her kind stripe which attracted me to her but her hardship in marriage at the age of nine to an unrelenting mentor and subsequent turmoil in defending her faith in an alien land fascinated me. What were the thoughts running in that 18-year old? Was she vexed with the expectations of her family and society? Was she torn or triumphant to uphold her ambition, religion, marriage, medical degree on her burdened shoulders. Her circumstances of travel and what her embarkation represented to a staunch religious nation back then piqued me. For an irreligious person like me, I would give up my indoctrinated religion, convert to any Rastafari or Pastafari faith in exchange for a medical seat because religion is not a defining trait for me. But for Anandi ...what would it have been like.

At the same time as she faced obstacles from American Protestants who wished to see her convert before studying in America, Joshee was also facing opposition from other Hindus who doubted that she would maintain Hindu customs while living in the West. Yet Joshee’s commitment to her religious beliefs remained firm. As she told the crowd at Serampore College, “I will go as a Hindu, and come back here to live as a Hindu.”

Even throughout her studies in America, she continued to wear her sari and maintain a vegetarian diet. She was aware that Hindus in India would be watching to see if she kept her promise to return Hindu, and she was openly critical of missionaries and religious dogmatism. So by maintaining public display of her religion and culture, she both satisfied her Hindu community and subverted the religious imperialism embedded in the college's mission.



Third, Madame Giselle. Wait, I said "femme and feminism" but why a con-woman in the list? A woman who proclaims to be secretly married to two Presidents and has a private office next to the American President and has duped people into business ventures that didn't see the light of the day shines as a truly ingenious femme. Evil lurks everywhere but sometimes it lurks in the allure and extravagance of a mysterious soul in the corridors of Apartment 713. Full story: The mysterious Madame Giselle.

 

Are your siblings like you?
This is an inquiry that I am posed with very often and I respond, "No, they are normal".
But you are slightly eccentric.
Yes, I know that. I am unflappable and these days unsinkable.

However, recently all my siblings had a long international conf call and we realized that as a family we are dysfunctional and we are not as "normal" as we pretend to be. We don't deal with crisis or grief as "normal" families deal with. My mom is the epitome of resilience and she is extremely resourceful and adaptive and unafraid for a women of her age. She may not be technology savvy but I fail to grasp her strength of character. My siblings are grounded and deal with things in a more thoughtful manner. I, on the other hand, can rapidly switch contexts and swap emotional states. We realised that we don't deal with pain and suffering like traditional families deal with. We are capable of surmounting emotional setbacks quicker than most take time to register in their minds. I had a nagging doubt after the call. How does our family appear to the outsiders? Would we appear cold and unemotional because of this mutated gene that all of us share to evince no agony and emote no outcry. Our dinner jokes are incidents from our lives that most may not even recover and are traumatised. And we are flippant about the devastating contretemps of our lives. We laugh out on the incidents of our teens and twenties that most might describe as frightening.

Are we dysfunctional? I asked my sibling. Why don't we deal with misery and sorrow like the other families? Even during the trying times we go about our excitement in life in tandem feasting and laughing and bonding. We are abnormal but the secret is that this abnormality is the greatest blessing we siblings share. If I had different-minded siblings, each of us would have alienated the other as a basket case for the way we perceive and tackle life and its attendant surprises.

 

@Gauri03 , will write back later.

For now, I am so excited today over this sketch. For the first time, I feel like I am on to something. I drew this for Cheeniya here and then kept adding finer details of the rambling beard. You know that I get psyched up quite easily at my own silliness.

 

That's broken wheat szechuan. I added szechuan sauce for a twist.

As such I have no spice regimen, you know me and my on-the-fly cooking. That is one reason I prefer no husband and kids. I might make them sit at the dinner table promising biryani and chicken, and , midway, I will change my mind and serve them 'tamarind rice' and lamb. I don't cook the dish in the same style twice. A level of horrendous innovation has to be added! All is not hunky-dory during innovations. Once a broken wheat dish turned gooey. It went awry! I post "pretty" dishes and hide the frankenstein dishes. That is one reason I have no standard recipes at my end. Every day is a new combination of flavour and texture. With no-legume husband and fussy kids, you don't dare such things, I am telling you. They will clamour for decent food through your innovation phase.

Squash?! I don't eat much squash. The only squash I have is in soups. Hence, I squealed soups on seeing your squash galore. They are colorful and all that but they are trifle boring vegetables. Alam Panah might have ideas because he "liked" it. Post the pictures of your 'squash mela'. Few years ago I bought a juicer. A juicer telemarketed as able to extract juice out of every dull and boring vegetable that one routinely skips. So, I bought that juicer and pulsed all uninspiring vegetables like celeriac, leeks, curly kale and tuscan kale. The extracted juice tasted nice though the vegetable in itself was dull. Did you try squash juice? Squash can also be used in sambar. Wait, I will make squash sambar this weekend in solidarity and post pictures.

 

Mothers acquire distorted lens through their motherhood during which they deem their daughters to be malnourished and stick-thin even though they are bulging from all corners. At least my mother did. I know how it is with mothers! My mother is amusing in that she offers me a glass of milk in the morning and then another glass in the night. Two glasses of milk a day? Yes, one must drink two glasses of milk a day. She would dismiss even the most liberal dietitian's plan as inadequate. No wonder losing weight with such mothers around is a Sisyphean task.

 

That poster is inspired from a scene in the movie "Song of the Sea". I changed the context, the sky, the rocks and made a Mt Sinai of it. Hubble Deep Field is iconic! With James Webb launching soon (another year), we can look forward to more of these night wonders.

Rain dance is appealing! You are giving me ideas! Cheeniya with his rambling beard is a prodigious feat. I had to scratch my head to portray him in all his glory. That's ok if you had mistaken the fluffy beard for a frilly gown. When I look back at my own sketches I get confused what I had in mind when I drew them.