A Feeling for Feminism

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A feeling for Feminism is a collection of stories written by V.K. Subramanian, which reflects his empathy for women, especially the women of India.

In these stories, various feminine facets are dealt with understanding and insight: women as affectionate sisters, tender, loving mothers, devoted wives and women facing the brutal realities of life: betrayal, disappointment and ingratitude.

The reader will enjoy meeting these women characters created by Subramanian (all drawn from life): Lali, Kamala, Amba, Alamelu, Ranee, Janaki, Susheela, Shobhana, Sunanda, Rajee, Rita, Lakshmi, Meena, Leela, Aarti, Roopa, Lekha, Reena, Parvati and Supriya.

A feeling for Feminism will provide entertaining reading for all. For feminists it will be soothing nectar. For those who live outside India, the book will be a revealing guide to the social mores of India.

To movie makers and television producers, it will be a veritable treasure house of ideas.

V.K. Subramanian is a U.S. based scholar and writer whose life mission has been to present to the world the wisdom of ancient India in the field of literature, philosophy and religion.

He has to his credit over 20 published books.

These include: Sacred songs of India (ten volumes) which deal with the devotional lyrics of the mystic saints from different parts of India, Maxims of Chanakya, dealing with ancient political wisdom, and the Holistic Way to Health, Happiness and Harmony, in which he has spelt out the regimens for holistic health and spiritual harmony. He has been an astropalmic counselor for the last 10 years.

A former member of the prestigious Indian Audit and Accounts Service (which he joined in 1953 and served for 28 years), Sri Subramanian has held important positions in Government as Financial Commissioner, Nagaland, Accountant General, Haryana, Director of Audit, Indian Embassy, Washington, Financial Adviser, Hindustan Zinc, Director, National Academy of Audit and Accounts etc.

Sri Subramanian is also reputed painter, who has held 23 one-man shows (some of them inaugurated by the President and Vice-President of India) and whose paintings (some of them in the Chandigarh Museum) have won wide acclaim from leading art critics of India.

Subramanian who has traveled extensively in India and abroad has been living in the United State for the last 19 years.

Subramanian is an avowed feminist.

I did not realize that I was a feminist until I was told by my eldest son that my stories reflected a deep empathy for women and I was out and out a feminist. This gave me the idea of going through all the stories. I had written and verifying whether my son's remarks were ture.

I realized that my stories were mainly centered around women-the women of India-and I had dealt with a wide variety of feminine facets: solace of sibling affection, tenderness of maternal concern, anger of unrequited love, agony of loneliness, the torment of sin, unbelievable capacity for forgiveness and forbearance and the yearning for motherhood and an unflinching faith in loved ones.

Relationship with men have proved problematic for many of the women in my stories and all of them coped with the situation to the best of their abilities.

I have referred to some of the women in our epics and myths to indicate that the problems we face today existed even in the ancient past.

Sigmund Freud once said: "After thirty years of research I have not been able to find out what a woman wants."

I, however, do know: what a woman wants is love, understanding and affection and if she misses out on these, she becomes a problem for herself and for society.

Years ago, I wrote a poem, titled "Woman" which I reproduce below:

"Unbridled passion's victim

Wilful desire's doll
Nature's slave,
She carries
The world's cradle.
For her, in her,
Battles rage
And to her, come
Betrayal, cruelty,
Yet she lives
In hope and love,
Ennobling this spirit of Woman."

Mine may be a reanimated, idealized view of womanhood, especially womanhood of India, but I can reassure my readers that all the women characters in my stories have been drawn from life and there has been no attempt at exaggeration or delineation of the incredible and improbable.

Having lived for many long years in America, I am nostalgic about the devotion, love and affection with which the Indian wife, mother, sister and daughter pamper the Indian male.

The men of India have not always treated our women of India and an apology on behalf of the erring men.