Another clutch of Redbirds from the Writers’ Workshop aviary, this time trans¬lations of foreign poets, or ‘transcreations’ as P. Lal prefers to call them. The check¬list at the back of each ‘Birdbook’ shows a cartoon of a pair of eyes struggling to remain above a line, and the note ‘Simply submerged’.
India! Down the ages, travellers of every description, monks and missionaries, traders and merchants, poets and novelists; soldiers and administrators, plenipotentiaries and proconsuls have sought to describe something of the beauty and the pity, the squalor and the splendour of this country.
A national movement requires organi¬zation, funds, leadership and popular support. If one or the other is lacking or weak, the movement becomes not only lop-sided but ineffective. It was Gandhi’s great achievement in India that he ensured all four basic elements, even though he left to others the reconciling of the contradiction in the manner in which he provided these essential ingredients.
Through the pages of this book which number about two hundred and seventy, Devaki Jain and her associates Nalini Singh and Malini Chand describe to us five different endeavours in which women have an important role. They are mainly in western and eastern India.
One of the indicators given importance in assessing the status of women in a nation is the presence of women in the politica arena. Percentages are given against total membership in representative councils or politburos or political parties and the higher the percentage the more the marks given to the country for having moved women up the ladder.
The declining sex ratio and the status of women in India are questions which should concern specialists and non-special¬ists alike. The Women’s Studies Program¬me of the ICSSR has’ taken up and funded a number of studies on women, but to inform the general reading public they have issued a number of pamphlets high¬lighting the main issues.