Today March 13 2020 is Rang Panchami (रंगपंचमी, शके १९४२)... 57 years ago, my father's then 'controversial' book was published.
My father (1936- 2019), wrote a Marathi social novel (सामाजिक कादंबरी): 'Dhoka, Hamrasta Pudhe Aahe!' (धोका, हमरस्ता पुढे आहे!) that was published in 1963 (शके १८८४). The subtitle read: '(अत्यंत प्रक्षोभक आणि अपूर्व सामाजिक कादंबरी)/ [फक्त प्रौढांसाठी]'.
As I have said elsewhere on this blog earlier, the book was attacked by the likes of Jaywant Dalvi (जयवंत दळवी) but the right of my father to write it was defended by the likes of D K Bedekar (दि के बेडेकर).
I read that book when I was 18 or so. I liked it, not for sex (there is hardly any) but the way my father had successfully captured the mood of a frustrated young man, the family tensions and so on. I think the book is autobiographical in parts.
The collage of the covers of most of his books, under a glass frame, hung in our small drawing room , for as long as I remember and 'Dhoka''s cover always caught my attention for the prominent nipple it showed.
Mr. Kantak became a well known visual artist. I thought he had gone on a limb, drawing a bare nipple for this cover. I am sure it shocked some people in 1963. Today it looks as if he was campaigning for #FreeTheNipple!
Kantak had an illustrious predecessor in this area.
Artist: Raja Ravi Varma
Artist: Avi Steinberg, The New Yorker, March 2017
My father (1936- 2019), wrote a Marathi social novel (सामाजिक कादंबरी): 'Dhoka, Hamrasta Pudhe Aahe!' (धोका, हमरस्ता पुढे आहे!) that was published in 1963 (शके १८८४). The subtitle read: '(अत्यंत प्रक्षोभक आणि अपूर्व सामाजिक कादंबरी)/ [फक्त प्रौढांसाठी]'.
As I have said elsewhere on this blog earlier, the book was attacked by the likes of Jaywant Dalvi (जयवंत दळवी) but the right of my father to write it was defended by the likes of D K Bedekar (दि के बेडेकर).
I read that book when I was 18 or so. I liked it, not for sex (there is hardly any) but the way my father had successfully captured the mood of a frustrated young man, the family tensions and so on. I think the book is autobiographical in parts.
The collage of the covers of most of his books, under a glass frame, hung in our small drawing room , for as long as I remember and 'Dhoka''s cover always caught my attention for the prominent nipple it showed.
Artist: R S Kantak (र. स. कंटक)
Mr. Kantak became a well known visual artist. I thought he had gone on a limb, drawing a bare nipple for this cover. I am sure it shocked some people in 1963. Today it looks as if he was campaigning for #FreeTheNipple!
Kantak had an illustrious predecessor in this area.
a scene from Kālidāsa’s play Abhijñānaśākuntalam
Artist: Raja Ravi Varma
No comments:
Post a Comment