The Witches of Vardo by Anya Bergman

Another book which makes you sad and angry together. The central idea is based on witch trials and hunts in Vardo. It is a work of imagination but not completely. It puts the visualisation and builds a story around what was a common trial which is actually not very old.

The word witch-hunt comes from the history of such trials where the women were killed (why do they even call them trials while it was pure hunt supported by legal power to just go ahead with the execution in the worst way possible) for the sole reason that a life of woman was not worth a thing and can be taken away for the stupidest whims of power.

The neighbours, royals or representatives of power who reported on each other as a practitioner of dark magic. More powerful they were, more likely it was easier for them to pronounce someone as witch. And it was not just limited to a small village or a country, it was a full fledged program across.

Witch hunt was prohibited by laws in 17th and 18th centuries in different countries but no one was ever tried for killing a real person in the cruelest possible way. The most common argument which at least tries to mollify the whole spree is that it was the way of those days. Well, you never left anyone to tell the history otherwise.

Power is a corruptor. A lot of people desire it but nobody knows what to do with it.

Peace

Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong

The discrimination doesn't stop at AfroAmericans or marginal communities but also with the wider communities who have been around for ages but still not accepted the part of the society irrespective of them being here for generations. Or worse, it puts a particular label to them which stops them from being seen as any other person who is not part of the majority.

The South East Asians have been one of these who are demeaned by different names, and after being one of the most successful communities and labeled as model community still face discrimination. These labels push the behaviour and self sensor for the people who belong to this one.

Additionally, even after with all the model behaviour the discrimination stays when people are called yellow, slant eye and what not. The stereotypes which don't go away but manifest in different ways.

The sensitivity to these cues is still a far cry but you hope against the hope, right?

Love

Femina by Janina Ramirez

The whole idea of male superiority stands strong in a vacuum created by the suppression of thoughts, ideas, and works for female.

This suppression worked in many forms, from outrightly removing any reference/work from the records to brazen theft. Challenging the notion that history is made by man and woman just existed in the margins is an insult to all the brave and intelligent women who had the equal right to fame and history.

The author picks some of the most prominent women from history who excelled in war, intellect, innovation, religion, business and what not.

Its not a comprehensive list but you don't need a comprehensive list to understand the contribution of female, and how they were marginalised.

Peace

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum

How do young people respond to the environment of racial differences around them?

This book tries to answer this question, and suggests a framework how it is possible to build an environment of trust by educating people about racism.

Of course, no other person can live the experience of a black person irrespective of their education/empathy but this should not stop one from being educated and be a part of the better social understanding.

For the black kids in cafeteria sitting together, the reason is that they share a common experience which only the people in this close group can understand, and provide care and support.

Peace

The Anti-Cool Girl by Rosie Waterland

Everything we found funny is funny as long as it is not happening to us.

Reading this memoir of childhood, growing up in a difficult household, growing up with obesity, and other health complications (physical or emotional) sound funny until it hits you that it was all happening to a real person. A person who was going through all of it but came out with enough shine to tell it with a lighter mood.

The struggle to fit in a society which doesn't look like you because it has not seen what you have been through.

Worth reading even if you're not in contemporary first hand accounts of peoples lives.

Love

Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree

Some stories are meant to be told unfinished but that is not the case here.

This one is long, and speaking at so many imaginative levels that it can't fall into magical realism of Rushdie. It is a slow story of daughter and mother with everything else. Specially, lists of sweets, spices, flowers, and what not.

Half way through, the thought of abandoning it comes, and almost by the end of it, when the shadows come into the picture, the narrative asks if you're still around :)

Couldn't appreciate much because this is a translation in English from Hindi, and it is very much possible that it does read better in Hindi but not sure if everyone is going to see it.

Love