SUNDAY FEATURE

In our childhood, we all love to see and play with dolls. Not only girls but the dolls that are made up of cotton are also liked by everyone. And when this love for dolls becomes your wish to show everyone, it leads to the collection of dolls and finally shown in a museum. And Shankar’s international doll museum is one of them. It is not only famous among children but people of all ages. It is incomparable because of the variety of dolls there from not only India but foreign countries also. 

The house sparrow is the most loved and commonly found bird in the urban cities. This bird is not bigger than a tennis ball with black streaks on its back. The male and female can be distinguished very easily because of difference in the color. The male is dark brown in color with a grey chest, black bib and white cheeks whereas female body is of light brown color with no bib or different colored cheeks 

This bird makes nest in the buildings by finding the holes and openings in the walls or using the bird houses or nest boxes placed by humans in the garden. It mostly feeds on seeds but during the breeding season it feeds its hatchlings insect. But sadly, the number hese birds have started depleting in number in India, 20 March is observed as World Sparrow Day in order to spread awareness to raise consciousness in this regard.

The Mahabharat, one of the longest epic poems in the world containing over 100,000 Shloaks 200,000 verses, with about 1.8 million words, believed to have been written over the course of 600 long years and set at the end of the Dvapar Yug or the Third Age of Men. Most of us have heard fragments of the story at our home, watched the T.V and film adaptations or read long chapters in textbooks. We were mystified and entranced by the magic, the politics, the intersecting lives of Gods and men, the myriad of stories within stories, the various protagonists and antagonists, their psychology and but of all the family rivalry that led to the biggest war of all time.

Vyas composed the poem glorifying the men, explaining their complexities, their motives but what of the women? They remained as shadows lurking on the pages only to serve the men, to be exploited for gain and to bear the consequences of their actions. Kunti, the widowed mother of the Pandavas giving her all to raise her five children; Gandhari, the queen of Hastinapur, but rarely mentioned as, sacrificing her vision for her husband’s sake, and Panchaali, the women berated by all, painted to be the one who caused the terrible fate. It is she; Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni gives voice to through the pages of her Palace of Illusions.