As the name suggests “Sharda”, the first thing that strikes our mind is Maa Saraswati, because Sharda is her another name. Since Kashmiri Pandits were par excellence in the fields of education and knowledge, perhaps for this reason they kept the name of their script as Sharda. Another anecdote regarding the etymology of this script goes as – there’s a place called Sharda Peeth in Kashmir, which actually functioned as a temple institution between the 6th and 12th centuries CE. It is said that the temple institution played a pivotal role in the development of the Sharda script and hence the script was named after it. Yet, another anecdote holds that the name refers to one Shardanandana, who first developed a writing system for the Kashmiri language. However, the name is not found in early sources and is believed to be of later origins. Some also believe that the script owes its name to the region in which it was most popularly used, which was called Sharda Desh, the place whose main goddess was Sharda, or Saraswati, the goddess of learning. 

Sharda is the original script of Kashmir. It evolved from the Western branch of Brahmi approximately 1800 years ago, when the language of Kashmir was developing into “Kashmiri”, with its variations. As a result, Sharda, later became unfit for Sanskrit. However, it was continued to be used for writing Sanskrit in Kashmir. It was also said by few scholars that the old Sharda script remain confined with the Kashmiri Brahmans (Kashmiri Pandits)and was too restricted to religious purposes only . Most of the scriptures of Kashmir used to be written in Sharda till 13th century when Muslim kingdoms replaced it with Persian language.

Sharda script was much in use in Kashmir as well as it was too used in North Western India, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and even in Central Asia. Almost all the ancient Sanskrit literature of Kashmir is written in this script. To put it in a simple equation –

Script: Sharda + Language: Sanskrit = Kashmiri Literatures

If you carefully look at the Sharda script, you will find that it’s somewhat similar with the Gurumukhi script. And this is due to the reason that Gurumukhi is a direct descendent of Sharda. Devanagari emerged around 1200 CE from the Sharda script. Sharda script is first seen in a manuscript discovered from the village Bakhshali in the Peshawar district of Pakistan. 

The Sharda script has actually lost its identity with the pace of the decades. As a matter of fact, it has been designated the position of endangered script as a large number of population forgot the essence of the same. The Kashmiri Pandits have maintained and labelled this script as a part of their disrupting identity; they are the ones who are actually surviving to preserve the script as a part of their culture and heritage and are also making aware the younger generations about the same.

https://swarajyamag.com/culture/how-long-can-the-sharada-script-be-kept-alive

In this link, you can further read about this endangered indigenous script.

Finding Sharda Script on a Site

The earliest known records of the Sharada characters are the coins of the Utpala dynasty of Kashmir (9th century CE) and a brief record carved on the fragment of a broken jar discovered from the Avantiswami temple, mentioning the name of Avantivarman, (855-883 CE) the founder of the temple.

This is the major history associated with the origins of this script, that are now being preserved by the Kashmiri Pandit community.

“Women and girls can do whatever they want. There is no limit to what we as women can accomplish” – American Lawyer and Former First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama

Feminism is a concept that has helped women to acquire equal rights and a huge impact on the lives and roles of women in the society. In addition, feminism is gaining equal opportunities and rights for both men and women. Views on gender-based differentiation in the workplace and in interpersonal relationships have often undergone profound changes as a result of feminist and/or economic influences .

Simply put, feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression. Feminism is mainly focused on women’s issues and is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. The fundamental object of feminism is the feminine. The status of women in society, the roles of women in and out of their homes, the oppression and exploitation of women, gender differences, patriarchal society structure and male dominant power approaches and pressures are widely debated issues. Several feminist activists have campaigned for women’s rights—such as in contract, property, and voting — while also promoting women’s rights to bodily integrity and autonomy and reproductive rights. They have opposed domestic violence, sexual harassment, and sexual assault. In economics, they have advocated for workplace rights, including equal pay and opportunities for careers and to start businesses. Hence, feminism has caused new discourses, actions, perceptions and theoretical approaches to emerge in itself as a result of existing debates about women, the fundamental object of feminism.

Feminism first emerged as a social movement on the local level, and later on it became a social and political movement on the broader plane. Some of the earlier forms of feminism have been criticized for being geared towards white, middle-class, educated perspectives. This led to the creation of ethnically-specific or multicultural forms of feminism. However, feminism has brought a theoretical perspective within the disciplines such as international relations, sociology, economics, philosophy, law and politics and aims to understand the nature of gender equality.Women have sought to find ways in which feminist theory based on a large number of approaches can reduce chaos, mishap or misery of situations that women must deal with such as gender discrimination in the fields of politics, social, economic, legal, administrative or private and public areas. Because of the different approaches which feminist theory holds, it has produced feminist phenomena that exhibit a very different tendency within itself, and each feminist phenomenon has differences according to the sources of perspectives, constraints on women, oppression and forces exposed to obstacles. Feminist theory examines women’s social roles and lived experience, and feminist politics in a variety of fields such as sociology, communication, psychoanalysis, economics, literary criticism, education, and philosophy. Several themes have been explored in feminism which include art history and contemporary art, aesthetics, discrimination, stereotyping, sexual objectification, oppression, and patriarchy.

Feminism as a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression is alive and well. While we do not have a mass-based movement, the renewal of such a movement is our primary goal. Women and men have made great strides in the direction of gender equality. And those strides towards freedom must give us strength to go further.
We must courageously learn from the past and work for a future to live together, realizing our dreams of freedom
and justice, living the truth that we are all “created equal.” Feminism is for everybody.

Over the past decade, LGBT people which includes Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people have gained more and more tolerance,acceptance and respect in India, especially in large cities.

Discrimination is still present in rural areas, where LGBT people often face rejection from their families and forced opposite-sex marriages.
Nonetheless, most LGBT people in India remain closeted, fearing discrimination from their families, who might see homosexuality as shameful.

Nowadays people in the LGBT community are fighting for equal rights and acceptance same as normal citizens. Trans people, especially, face a lot of difficulty in finding acceptance. People in the LGBT community are looked down upon all the time. This is a major issue because discrimination against the LGBT community is highly prevalent.

People’s prejudices lead them to think that LGBT people are odd and very different. Today, homosexuality and queer identities may be acceptable to more Indian youths than ever before but within the boundaries of families, homes and schools, acceptance still remains a constant struggle for LGBT people. I have heard of people coming out of the closet and declaring to their families that they are not the person their family expected them to be.

Being L,G,B or T is not a ‘problem’, nor is it a ‘choice’ as such. LGBT individuals are merely individuals who have sexual preferences that differ from what would appear to be the ‘normal’, due to differing learned behaviours and, you know, having a personal perspective and mindset that differs from everyone else’s. Saying that it’s objectively wrong for people to have sexual preferences that differ from the normal is objectively wrong itself.

Article 15 of our Indian Constitution Article 15, 1949

15. Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, Sex or place of birth.

If normal men and women have the right to live in this society with respect then why not a person who belongs to LGBT can live in this society with respect. It’s not about what our religion says it’s about what humanity says…If we talk about religion as per the Hindu aspects Lord Rama had given a boon to hijras for their loyalty that’s why the curse or boon of hijras means a lot to the normal beings.

I think everyone who is living in this world, either normal or abnormal has equal rights to live in this society with full respect..!!

Do you know we have to breathe in over 10000 litres of air in a day( more than 4 million litre in a year) to remain alive. We cannot stop breathing even if one can feel the air to be polluted. Several harmful and noxious substances can contaminated the air we breathe. Generally, much is said and written about outdoor air pollution, most of which is due to vehicular and industrial exhausts. The fact is that most of us spend over 90% of our time indoors, it is important to recognise that the air we breathe in at home or in office or where we working can be polluted. It can be a cause of ill health. Air pollutants that are generally present in very low concentrations can assume significant in closed ill- ventilated places. The indoor air pollution. The indoor air pollution can lead to allergic reactions and cause irritation to the skin, the eyes and the nose. But as is logical to assume, the burnt of insult by pollutants is borne by the lungs. It can worsen the existing respiratory illness like asthma and bronchitis.

There can be several sources of indoor pollution. 1. Most important source of indoor air pollution is the allergens. House dust mites (HDM) are very small insects not visible to the naked eye and are the commonest source of allergy in the house. They are everywhere and develop in a warm and moist atmosphere. They breed very fast and very difficult to get rid off. Modern house present ample breeding space for them in the form of carpets, mattresses, pillow etc. 2. Pets are very important part of life for some of us. But they can plenty of allergens to our indoor atmosphere. Cats are infamous for doing this. Fine articles from feline fur can remain stuck to the padding and carpets for a long time even after the removal of the animals and lead to the worsening of asthma and skin allergies. Fortunately, owning to religious and social customs cats are not very popular pets in India. Dogs, however, are quite popular and can be as troublesome. Pets should be kept out of the bedrooms and washed periodically. To remove the fur particles one has to use vacuum cleaner as the ordinary broom and the mop are not effective. 3. Tobacco smoke is one of the most important air pollution in closed place.”Passive smoking” or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) pollution can lead to all the harful effects of tobacco seen in the smokers in their non smoking companions. ETS as a health hazard has been indisputable proven and is also getting social recognition now. One can occasionally see signs displaying the all important message.” Your smoking is injurious to my health” in offices and homes. The children of smoking parents are among the worst affected person. 4. Other important pollutants are toxic chemicals like cleansing agent, pesticides, paints, solvent, and inferior quality personal care products, especially aerosol. Asbestos is a hazardous product that can cause cancer in humans.

Indoor air pollution is the degradation of indoor air quality by harmful chemicals and other materials; it can be up to 10 times worse than outdoor air pollution. This is because contained areas enable potential pollutants to build up more than open spaces. Statistics suggest that in developing countries, health impacts of indoor air pollution far outweigh those of outdoor air pollution. Usually indoor air quality problems only cause discomfort. Most people feel better as soon as they remove the source of the pollution. However, some pollutants can cause diseases that show up much later, such as respiratory diseases or cancer.Making sure that your building is well-ventilated .

Getting rid of pollutants can improve the quality of your indoor air.Public awareness: One of the most important steps in prevention of indoor air pollution is education, viz., spreading awareness among people about the issue and the serious threat it poses to their health and wellbeing. The education should help people in finding different ways of reducing exposures with better kitchen management and protection of children at home. People should also be educated about the use of alternative cleaner sources of energy to replace direct combustion of biomass fuel. The stakeholders must include not only public, but also politicians and administrators to ensure their commitment and increase their awareness about health effects of indoor air pollution.

Modification of design of cooking stove: The stoves should be modified from traditional smoky and leaky cooking stoves to the ones which are fuel efficient, smokeless and have an exit (e.g., chimney) for indoor pollutants. A good example is the one designed by the National Biomass Cookstoves Initiative, of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy under a Special Project on Cookstove during 2009-2010, with the primary aim of enhancing the availability of clean and efficient energy for the energy deficient and poorer sections of the country.

Improvement in ventilation: During construction of a house, importance should be given to adequate ventilation; for poorly ventilated houses, measures such as a window above the cooking stove and cross ventilation though doors should be instituted.

Intersectoral coordination and global initiative: Indoor air pollution can only be controlled with coordinated and committed efforts between different sectors concerned with health, energy, environment, housing, and rural development.

It is important to realise that the air we breathe at home may not be clean always and we must try to eliminate the source of pollution. We should give due consideration to ventilation.

I opened my eyes, and it was still dark outside

I found myself sobbing, not knowing what’s causing the pain.

You cannot see what’s going on,

 Because what’s going on is too deep and dark for you to see.

Everyone is smiling and talking, and happy

I am thinking, how are you so happy when

I am screaming inside!

I was told that I was meant for the cleaner life,

But the sorrow lasts like a winter night;

It’s strong, cold, long and lonely.

Meanwhile the world goes on, when the happiness breaks down with the dawn.

And, I am here lying on the floor as cold as ice, not knowing what’s causing the pain,

Your heart tearing statements or it’s just my body shedding blood all over again.

I want to leave,

But I can’t;

I am bound by the will I never made,

But I cannot give up!

It is common knowledge that the lockdown has severely affected most industries in India. The pandemic struck with so much vigour and with so much surprise that industries were left shell-shocked and paralysed. But there are some exceptions to this trend. The biscuit industry in India seems to be one.

There are confirmed reports that not just the top-end branded biscuit producers but also the local brands have been able to register unexpected growth during the pandemic. Biscuits became a favourite item for buyers deciding to stock edible items since the beginning of the lockdown. Biscuits traditionally attract mass consumption. It is also undeniable that since the 1990s leading biscuit companies in India have come up with an astonishing variety. The components vary from wheat and flour to coconut and oats. Now biscuits in India come in very attractive packaging. No less important, there are packs costing as less as two rupees and five rupees. In yesteryears Britannia was the leading market brand enjoying near-monopoly. Gradually several companies gave Britannia a good competition and began occupying their own space in the biscuit market. Parle Products, ITC, Bisk Farm are some of the leading companies enticing Indians to have their biscuits and eat them too. The healthy competition is leading to more and more ‘innovations’ in the biscuit industry.

It is not only the brisk buying of biscuits for home consumption that leads to such jump in sales. The social sector also contributes to it in its own way. The NGOs, voluntary organizations and state agencies engaged in relief purchase biscuits in huge quantity to provide them to the distressed people facing the brunt of the lockdown in severest ways. The lighter weight, good taste and long shelf life make biscuits an attractive item for relief.

The plight of the migrant workers gave a boost to the biscuit industry. India enforced Lockdown 1.0 on 25 March, 2020. Its sudden announcement put migrant workers in great distress. Amidst the lockdown, they desperately wanted to reach home. For them, like everyone else, it was the safest option. They started their journey from the host states to home states across the country with a very small savings in hand. Many are forced to resort to long walk. Food became a major problem. They needed food to boost energy and sustain the struggle. Biscuits came in handy for them. Easy availability of biscuits in every part of the country facilitated the process. Incidentally, India also has a wide range in local biscuits and it is evident for anyone familiar with the roadside makeshift tea stalls.

According to reports in The Indian Express and The Times of India Parle G has been the biggest beneficiary of the lockdown-led sales in biscuits. March, April and May have registered an unprecedented growth in sales in eight decades though the officials have not disclosed the exact amount in public. The company reported that the manufacturing units are functioning with fifty  per cent of workforce keeping in mind the government rules and regulations to curb escalation of the coronavirus outbreak, but the production is happening in full force to serve the community with sufficient supply in the market. Britannia, which has fifteen manufacturing units in India, is ready to take up the challenge with 65 percent of its capacity. ITC also promises to do the same to sustain smooth functioning of the supply chain.

It seems biscuits are dear to all. For the upper class and middle class biscuits are linked to both style and wellness. For people down below, especially in crisis situations, biscuits are means of survival. With such utility value cutting across social strata biscuits shine amidst pandemic times.

This is one of the most remarkable books when it comes to a detailed description of western literary and cultural tradition. Dollimore has done a great job of keeping the most essential cultural tendencies intact while still being quite meaningful and interesting at the same time.

The introduction of the book gives a clear picture of how the concepts and ideas of death, desire and loss have been portrayed and viewd in Western culture by innumerable writers, theorists and critics for several ages. Dollimore begins the introduction with the depiction of the protagonist Hugo from Oscar Moore’s “A Matter of Life and Sex” (1991) whose journey includes being a narcissistic erotic adult to dying from AIDS by the end. Dollimore compares this story with the supposed real life story of Foucault who after getting diagnosed with AIDS, wanted to infect as many people as possible before taking the last breath. The supposed link between homosexuality and death has been portrayed over and over by many writers and critics in literature and other forms of art as well. Moore along with other writers brought about a sense that gives rise of a certain feeling that sex, desire, death and disease go hand in hand.

This connection between death and desire perhaps found its most extreme statement during Renaisance but it is an endemic to Western culture whch later got associated with homosexuality. For Jacobeans, what connects death and desire is mutability.
In his poem “Logs on the Hearth”, Thomas Hardy recalls a childhood memory of his sister climbing the tree who is now dead. His sister hence, is recalled in a moment of unselfconscious happiness now frozen forever.

“To his coy Mistress” is one of the most famous of all carpe diem (sieze the day) poems that makes us keen to sieze the day and at the same time prevents us from doing so. This narrative is not only about seizing the day but it also makes the readers realize how time and change drive us towards a horizon of oblivion which makes it hard for us to sieze anything.

As Freud puts it “the aim of all life is death”, Western tradition has always been in crisis which is driven further by mutability and death.
Including Freud, there had been ,many critics and theorists who put forward an unusual image of death in a scandalous way, what the philosophers call the “principle of individuation”. Death has been famously eroticized in works like “Tristan and Isolde” and “Ode to a Nightingale”.

While discussing the representation of these concepts through gender, Dollimore brings forth how “The Second Sex” by Beauvoir brought a new direction in the field of feminist criticism. It not only changed lives of thousands of women but also posed each of the problems the feminists are dealing with today.
In Bronfen’s Over her Dead body, she draws an imaginary line to show the aesthetic connection between death and femininity. She also claims gender constructions are supplementary to the division between life and death.

Dollimore moves on to discuss a certain fear of failure that causes social death. The extinction questions caused by internal and mostly external forces generally cause this fear that leads to a certain anxiety of social death among people. Social historians also speak about the increasing tendency of denial of death in modern times. But when revolution fails, the preoccupation of death returns. Considering the wide angles of western tradition this book covers, it would be highly recommended to anyone who is willing to take a look at the “West world” in a brief yet a detailed account for the betterment of their vision of the world.

– Suvasree Bandyopadhyay