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Indian Sanitary Napkin Ads: No Change to Some Change by Shivangi Saxena

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    Indian Sanitary Napkin ads: No change to some change Shivangi Saxena     Menstrual health has taken a backseat in the list of our institutional priorities for the longest time in India. As many as 23 million girls drop out of school every year. The main cause behind it can be attributed to lack of awareness and information among the Indian households and schools.  Television advertisements are one of the strongest tools of educating the Indian audience. We have several sanitary napkin brands which pay huge sums of money to air their brands. However, we need to critically engage and try to understand what exactly is being shown in these ads? And has there been any transition in the content of the ads over the period of time?  For years, period ads have focused on the fact that people should be discreet about their flow like it's something to be ashamed of. National Association of broadcasters allowed sanitary napkins to be advertised on t...
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The politics of classical recitals: A proscenium perspective

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Introduction The cultural practice of attending a concert that features indigenous classical art far exceeds the desire to witness the artistic brilliance of the exponents taking the stage, but is embedded in complexities that mark such recitals as spaces of power and hegemony. Pune, with its varied socio-political histories is often recognised as an educational and culture centre, celebrated for its carefully cultivated identity by its upper-caste, upper-class literati through multiple practices, one of which is the celebration of classical art. Two festivals have endured in this city as markers of the pre-eminence of classical legacies, who can consume the classical and what form of the classical can take itself to the stage: the Shaniwarwada and the Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav. Both events are spectacularly organised affairs held on grand podiums erected in large open spaces, with excellent lighting and sound systems, fountains and flowers and a number of food stalls. The m...
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Depiction of Homosexuality in Indian Mythological Literature by Shivangi Saxena

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  Depiction of Homosexuality in Indian Mythological Literature Shivangi Saxena  Indian mythological wealth is often credited to reveal a lot about different concepts of human life that are beyond the normal human consciousness. Literature from Vedic and Post-Vedic periods like Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Upanishads have certain specific stories that connected the mythology to the living styles of humans. They have also provided various aspects of human life and one such aspect is Homosexuality or Third Gender.  Though, the term Homosexuality symbolizes the nature of a person of being sexually attracted solely to people of same-sex, the third Gender is identified as a different category. But the Indian mythological texts have attributed both in a single category called ‘Tritiya-Prakriti’. Three texts that stand out among them are the ‘Narada-Smriti’, the ‘Sushruta Samhita’ and the ‘Kama Sutra’. All these texts are attributed to different sages. For instance, the ...
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