Bhumi by Tina Sequeira
"If you are alive, you produce some light.” Makosinski (From the story ‘Switch’) ‘Bhumi’ is an anthology by a bold young writer, Tina Sequeira, who has created a mosaic of stories around strong and intrepid protagonists, mostly women. Her narratives bring out the fact clearly that modern women are no damsels in distress, but are one step ahead always, finding solutions to life’s darkest problems. Understandably, the book was the winner of the Rashtriya Gaurav Award by the Government of Telangana. The foreword by the versatile and prolific writer, Ms. Santosh Bakaya, is yet another reason to look forward to these beautifully written stories. Hope and resilience are the themes of many of the stories in this anthology, be it ‘Mirror, Mirror on the Wall’ or ‘Fat Chance’. Women who have been hurt or shamed also rise like the phoenix and batter down the walls that have tried to contain them, breaking out in glorious freedom. ‘Climax’ has one such protagonist who picks up the pieces of