Ret Samadhi – by Geetanjali Shree
This is the first time I am posting about a book before reading it. But I am so excited to read it and wanted to share some words on Ret Samadhi.
On Friday when everyone was bombarded with the news of the Tombs of Sand winning the International Booker Prize for 2022, it was also the silent victory of her invisible readers and her Hindi publisher Mr. Ashok Maheshwari from Rajkamal Prakashan. It’s a victory for the millions of aspirations, who write in their vernacular languages, and all the readers of Hindi as well. It feels a little weird to write this post in English, but the excitement and happiness of this win by a Hindi book helped me overcome it.
Many congratulations to Geetanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell.
Daisy Rockwell and Geetanjali Shree
Tomb of Sand written by Geetanjali Shree and Translated by Daisy Rockwell
About the book
I read the following on the booker prize website about the book and found it the most apt short note on Tomb of Sand.
“An urgent yet engaging protest against the destructive impact of borders, whether between religions, countries or genders.”
“In northern India, an eighty-year-old woman slips into a deep depression at the death of her husband, then resurfaces to gain a new lease on life. Her determination to fly in the face of convention – including striking up a friendship with a hijra person – confuses her bohemian daughter, who is used to thinking of herself as the more ‘modern’ of the two. To her family’s consternation, Ma insists on traveling to Pakistan, simultaneously confronting the unresolved trauma of her teenage experiences of Partition, and re-evaluating what it means to be a mother, a daughter, a woman, a feminist.”
It will be inspiring to see how Geetanjali Shree could share a tale on so many complex topics. The partition of India and Pakistan, feminism, friendship with a transgender, the man-made borders on land and, of religions.
It’s been a long I have read any book in Hindi (except the Hindi comics reading spree I am on). Ret Samadhi is good to re-start my Hindi reading.
Amul again did a marvelous job with their staple cartoon
Was so happy to see Ravish Kumar’s entire Prime Time Editorial on this book. Do watch it.
Also watch the acceptance note by Geetanjali Shree at the award ceremony.
#CuriousTitans #ReadMoreBooks
