Zubaan: 90 books

The first autobiography in Bengali was written by an upper-caste rural housewife called Rashundari Debi (18091899). Published when she was 88 years old, Amar Jiban (My Life) is a fascinating first-hand account of life for women in Bengal at that time. Mother to eleven children, Debi reflects on her experiences...

Srinagar, capital city of the famed ‘paradise on earth’, Kashmir. Ailan Gali, a deep, dark narrow lane that lies at its heart, where houses stand on a finger’s width of space and lean crookedly against each other, so deep, so narrow, so closely connected that even thieves do not dare enter. Yet...

As the monsoon rains wash over the city of Kolkata, four women sit and read and talk in the kitchen of Kailash—the old mansion of the Chattopadhyays where Uma comes to live after her marriage in the summer of 1962. Her husband’s silence about his mother and the childhood tragedy that beckons him...

It has been ten years since Ram's return from fallen Lanka. Ayodhya is shining. Ayodhya is prosperous. But darkness lurks at the heart of the victrorious regime. A pointed question piques a young journalist's curiousity: What happened to Sita? Where is Ram's absent wife whose abduction triggered the...

In which an uncast ballot precipitates social embarrassment and recalls a past love, a young housewife finds her kitchen plagued by unabashed canoodling in the flat next door, an aspiring novelist tries to forget near-manslaughter, a schoolgirl discovers the travails of depilation, and, in a locked room,...

A thick mist envelops an isolated house and a cottage atop a hill. Raseel, looks out from the window of her house and watches as the mist covers first the plants, then the trees and finally the cottage. Suddenly it parts, and three men come into view, furtive, quick. Then they’re gone. Minues later,...

These deceptively simple stories uncover both the complexity and irony of women’s lives in Bhutan today. They show how ordinary lives, choices and experiences are both remarkable and poignant. In ‘I am a Small Person’, a despised woman uses her feminity as a means to control a man; the young girl...

Avinuo Kire’s is a fresh, young voice from Nagaland, in India’s northeast.In ‘The Power to Forgive’, the title story of this strong collection, Avinuo Kire tells the moving story of a rape survivor who, at the threshold of a new life, looks back on the incident that has shaped nearly...

Funny, poignant, macabre — a delicious spread, showcasing bestselling author Bulbul Sharma’s mastery of the stories of small actors and the drama and richness of women’s everyday lives. ‘[Bulbul Sharma’s] stories make for entertaining reading, but, be warned, they will whet the appetite and...

Twelve-year-old Sarojini’s best friend, Amir, might not be her best friend any more. Ever since Amir moved out of the basti and started going to a posh private school, it seems like he and Sarojini have nothing in common.Then Sarojini finds out about the Right to Education, a law that might...

In Suki, fabulist Suniti Namjoshi weaves a delightful tapestry from threads of longing, loss, memory, metaphor, and contemplation. The whole picture is a stunning evocation of the love and friendship shared between S and her Super Cat, Suki, a lilac Burmese. Suki suggests that she could be a goddess,...

The essential guide to the who, why, what, when, where and how of sexuality education. Talking to children and young people about sexuality is never easy. This non-nonsense, straightforward and accessible guide will help adults get across the necessary information in the best way possible. Since 1996,...

A quarter-century after the war that was meant to bring liberation to Bangaldesh, Mukti, a young researcher, comes into Mariam’s life, armed with a set of questions that have no easy answers. How did Mariam, and women like her biranganas, the raped women, touted as the new nation’s ‘honour’...

Who is the ‘Good Indian Girl’? What does she look like? How does she dress? Is she real — or is she a myth? In this funny, wicked, touching, irreverent, poignant collection of stories, Annie Zaidi and Smriti Ravindra lift the veil (or sari pallu) on the lives and loves of girls who have been born...