Shainanigans

Critical Appreciation Source 'Small Towns and the River' written by Mamang Dai was published in 2004 in Dai's poetry collection, 'River Poems.' Dai belongs to the Adi community of Arunachal Pradesh and voices the issues of her hometown Pasighat in many of her poems, including 'Small Towns and the River.'  Although the poem is essentially about celebrating the immortality of nature (primarily the river in this poem) and those associated with it (tribal people), it also laments its destruction due to ever-growing small towns and political unrest. Thereby making the title of the poem apt for it.  The most prominent theme that can be spotted in the poem is life and death. "Just the other day someone died" throws light on the tensions between natives and migrants in the North East region, which sometimes cause clashes leading to bloodshed.  When the speaker says "dreadful silence," it actually denotes the curfews that are imposed. Additiona...

Brief Details: Title Art & Narrative Source Bhimayana is a graphic novel based on the life of B.R Ambedkar, published in 2011.  The novel subverts or presents an alternative to the epic of heroism. Its very title signifies political importance in parallel with Ramayana . As for the storyline, the first wife of king Dashrath in Ramayana, Kaushala Rani, is replaced by Ambedkar's mother. The replacement of Ram's image (a central figure of Hinduism who is revered as perfect) by that of Ambedkar in the popular culture is a powerful subaltern. It essentially flips the Hindu social order on its head as now an untouchable man (as per the Hindu varna system) becomes the ideal.  Moreover, it breaks the Aristotelian ideas of a hero. Ambedkar does not come from a royal family and posses no tragic flaw. His heroic acts include going against the rigid caste system, fighting for caste equality, and burning the Manu Smriti.  In terms of the art used in Bhimayana, it breaks the West...