A new superhero has arisen in India in the wake of the brutal gang rape on a Delhi bus two years ago: Priya, a mortal woman who is raped herself, but who fights back against sexual violence with the help of the goddess Parvati – and a tiger. – THE GUARDIAN “Priya’s Shakti is the first Indian comic book of its kind — not only confronting teenagers with the sensitive issue of sexual violence, but also engaging young people through its innovative use of augmented reality technology.” — REUTERS
PRIYA — India’s first female superhero, embarks on a mission to stop the spread of Covid-19. She befriends a little girl named Meena to show her the sacrifices made by frontline healthcare workers and instill the power of courage and compassion during this difficult time. She teams up with Pakistan’s female superhero, Burka Avenger, to foil her arch enemy from infecting her city with the potent virus.
Priya continues her adventures with her flying tiger, Sahas. She returns home and discovers all the young women have disappeared in her rural village including her sister, Laxmi. She discovers they were taken to an underground brothel city called Rahu, which is ruled by a demon who gets his power through fear and entrapment of women.
Life is joyful for childhood friends Sunil and Megha. Being teenagers is tough enough for both, but a hypnotic storm is brewing that can throw their innocent relationship into turmoil. The same swarm transforms Priya and her flying tiger Sahas into metallic beings and traps them in a digital maze. Can Priya the superhero confront the menace, and rescue Sunil, Megha and their friends from being consumed by the swarm?
Rape Culture and Religious Studies: Critical and Pedagogical Engagements stages a critical engagement between religious texts and the problem of sexual violence. Rape and other forms of sexual violence are widespread on college and university campuses; they also occur in sacred texts and religious traditions. The volume addresses these difficult intersections as they play out in texts, traditions, and university contexts. The volumegathers contributions from religious studies scholars to engage these questions from a variety of institutional contexts and to offer a constructive assessment of religious texts and traditions.
Set against the backdrop of pre-partition India, Jungee is a literary fiction novel based on actual events. It is the coming of age story of a mischievous boy, lovingly called Koogh. We follow his quintessential hero's journey, from carefree childhood days, flying kites and playing marbles, to being the first man in his family to leave the village for the big city and get awarded by the President of India. The protagonist's story of grit and glory is inspiring. It spans decades of Indian history, as he transcends his internal demons, and traverses boundaries and borders to teach us relatable life lessons, and complete his tryst with presence, to be the hero in every moment of his life.
Contributions by Bart Beaty, T. Keith Edmunds, Eike Exner, Christopher J. Galdieri, Ivan Lima Gomes, Charles Hatfield, Franny Howes, John A. Lent, Amy Louise Maynard, Shari Sabeti, Rob Salkowitz, Kalervo A. Sinervo, Jeremy Stoll, Valerie Wieskamp, Adriana Estrada Wilson, and Benjamin Woo The Comics World: Comic Books, Graphic Novels, and Their Publics is the first collection to explicitly examine the production, circulation, and reception of comics from a social-scientific point of view. Designed to promote interdisciplinary dialogue about theory and methods in comics studies, this volume draws on approaches from fields as diverse as sociology, political science, history, folklore, communication studies, and business, among others, to study the social life of comics and graphic novels. Taking the concept of a “comics world”—that is, the collection of people, roles, and institutions that “produce” comics as they are—as its organizing principle, the book asks readers to attend to the contexts that shape how comics move through societies and cultures. Each chapter explores a specific comics world or particular site where comics meet one of their publics, such as artists and creators; adaptors; critics and journalists; convention-goers; scanners; fans; and comics scholars themselves. Through their research, contributors demonstrate some of the ways that people participate in comics worlds and how the relationships created in these spaces can provide different perspectives on comics and comics studies. Moving beyond the page, The Comics World explores the complexity of the lived reality of the comics world: how comics and graphic novels matter to different people at different times, within a social space shared with others.
Former Prime Minister of India and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Atal Bihari Vajpayee was an understated politician of the kind not often seen in contemporary times. His patriotism was uncompromising, forged out of the paradoxes in his life: a sensitive poet who summoned nerves of steel to conduct the Pokhran-II nuclear tests; a man of humble beginnings who envisioned a project as titanic as the Golden Quadrilateral highways. Devoid of any natural political pedigree or patronage network, he harnessed his political acumen to transform India's relations with the United States which had long been mired in misunderstandings rooted in the Cold War. His prudent decisions led to key strategic and economic policy contributions. There is a need to understand Vajpayee as a decision-maker, with specific references to key initiatives in the strategic and economic fields that have had a significant effect on the India that we see today. Vajpayee fleshes out not only Vajyapee's political philosophy but also provides an insider's account and an intimate memoir of the person.
