Radioality with special Guest Padmini Emmaneni

Date/Time
Date(s) - 10/08/2019
FROM 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm ET

Call in number: USA 917-284-9015
Or Australia: 61 28 3171417

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Padmini Emmaneni

I am an author and a secondary school teacher of English and History.

I recently relocated to Perth and wish to promote my debut historical fiction novel Kaalachakra – The Wheel of Time, self-published in November 2017 and launched at the Museum of the Great Southern in Albany Western Australia.

My book has been embraced by the local community. It is endorsed on the front cover by famous Australian historical YA fiction author, Dianne Wolfer (Lighthouse Girl, Light Horse Boy, In the Lamplight, Shark Girl, The Dog with Seven Names).

In the time of Gandhi’s campaign for independence, widows in India were deemed untouchables, and in many parts of India, still are. Savitri, a free-spirited, intelligent girl is ripped from school at age fourteen to marry a man twice her age – Raj, the son of a wealthy farmer. Raj violently steals Savitri’s innocence, and she falls pregnant. Six years after her son’s birth, her ailing husband dies. Her father in law believes Savitri has burdened his palatial house with bad luck. He orders a defeminisation ceremony performed by the older women to strip Savitri of her coloured silk garments, shave her long, thick tresses and drape her in a white sari which she must wear for the rest of her days in an ashram in the holy city of Vrindavan. Banished, the widows of the ashram atone their sins, praying to Lord Krishna day after day, but Savitri has secrets which she dare not tell, for her idol is not Lord Krishna, it is Durga, the fierce ten armed matriarchal Goddess. The great story of Durga’s triumph of good over evil empowers Savitri to search for her long-lost son and make a better life for herself no matter how dangerous (her father in law wants her dead). She falls in love with a young priest which causes internal anguish over her carnal desires, strictly forbidden among widows.

My novel was inspired by an experience I had when I was a child. I love my late father dearly. He encouraged me to get an education, but even he was suspicious of the women in white in our village. He would ask me to step outside to tell him when they had passed by so he could safely venture out onto the porch. Many years later, I find myself being judged by many in the Indian community, not as a widow, but as a woman who left her husband. Single, unmarried Indian women my age are frowned upon, viewed with suspicion. We are expected to remain celibate. Any contact with men besides our relatives is considered dishonourable. Mine was an arranged marriage. I was twelve when we were introduced. He was much older. He abused and neglected our two children and me. When they became adults, the three of us arranged to escape and relocate to Australia. In 2008 we made a new life for ourselves. We were all granted Australian Citizenship, and I became an English teacher in a secondary school. I could not have written Kaalachakra had I still been living in India, as I would be judged harshly for drawing attention to a taboo issue. Widows are not to be spoken about. They are a non-subject in India, women to be forgotten.

Kaalachakra is a book based on facts, and it is relevant in Anthropology and Sociology studies. It deals with a range of interdisciplinary teaching including social science, women studies, gender studies, human rights and cultural studies. Savitri’s dilemma identifies with issues such as domestic violence and child brides, problem still relevant in many cultures. This book raises awareness and promotes cross-cultural understanding in Australian schools and universities.

I recently returned from a trip to India where I conducted interviews with members of another marginalised group, the transgenders, research for my next fiction novel. I was warned by members of the Indian community not to go near these people as they were deemed dishonest and dangerous. I am glad I did not listen to the warnings and have written the first two chapters.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

Padmini Emmaneni

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