Taabiir will be a collection of essays, short stories, and long fiction, which I hope will be a manifesto for South Asian women everywhere. The English log line will be The Beating Voice, so it's Taabiir: The Beating Voice, as Taabiir means the interpretation of dreams and The Beating Voice refers to the inclination to write something like this.

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It's a work-in-progress and was initially released as a prequel in 2017 titled Azadi, available on Kindle, to raise funds for Sanlaap, which is an organisation working to end violence against women and girls in Kolkata, India. It is no longer available there.

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Two points to note:

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1. I call it a prequel because the work the writing tries to illuminate, that of gender equality, has been done by many before me and so for the sake of clarity it is not just a prequel to any specific work of mine, but rather an acknowledgment of the work that has been and is ongoing. The term prequel is often synonymous with sequel so it isn't chronology that interests me the most, but rather, the inclusiveness of a contribution.

 

2. I have changed the title for multiple reasons, but mainly because the nature of the writing will be different in Taabiir, and this is also why the publishing date has been indefinitely postponed.

 

The title is under copyright. Any attempts to use the title, as it has been declared publicly here, are strictly prohibited, and will be subject to legal action.

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The photograph above is a potential cover for the book taken by me in Edinburgh in 2015, and it's a still from an unreleased short film.

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