Chronicling transition of Indian women

Author Sesh Damerla’s Darpan: Indian Women in Transition, is a compilation of short stories that emerged from the conversations she initiated with family members and others out of a genuine interest in their lives, a trait that persists in her even today. 

“During my vacations I would have long conversations with my aunts, uncles and cousins. My in-laws’ family had their own share of interesting and powerful stories and anecdotes.  Once I took to teaching soft skills in management institutes and training managers in the industry I got an opportunity to study human behaviour with greater interest.  

All this resulted in these 22 short stories,” Sesh says. The teacher, trainer, feminist and social worker, attempts to show through these stories how women have had to balance diverse roles more than ever today. 

“Dar pan is about the post-Independence Indian woman transitioning from different stages of diffidence to a reasonably high degree of self-confidence, irrespective of her social, cultural and financial background. 

The characters in the short stories are true to life — whether they are about home makers or socialites or hardcore professionals. Their success stories and disappointments are realistic — one can relate to them, irrespective of age or background,” says Sesh, who drew on the experiences and anecdotes of people around her. 

Each story conveys how women manage to rise up no matter how daunting the situation. Two of Sesh’s stories, Life for a Life and Mani – The Woman of Courage, were published by PublishAmerica in two separate anthologies, Stories of the Unex pected and America’s Finest Short Fiction, respectively.  “I had the honour of being the only Asian author in both these collections,” she adds. 

The funds generated through sales of Darpan will go to Vishranti hospital, a charitable institution that renders hospital care to terminally ill cancer patients and treatment to those detected early. “My publisher, Vishwakarma Publications, is very generously matching my royalty to this worthy cause.  Each reader of Darpan will thus be directly reaching out to these cancer patients,” she articulates. Sesh has started working on her next book, titled, Chasing the Stars, which deals with the occult sciences and their demystification. 

“It is based on my research and meetings with world famous psychotherapist astrologer, Dolly Manghat, who started her career of ‘predictions with a difference’, right here in Chennai,” says Sesh.