A woman's poetry is often personal - mistakenly called 'confessional' by men. That suggests shame, which is hardly the case. We're simply less afraid to expose our inner selves than men who tend to be oblique in their references.

- Jane Bhandari

Meher Marfatia ferrets out Indian women writers who have, only in their autumnal years, discovered they can push pen on paper – with rare sensitivity.

Her voice was ever soft, gentle and low, an excellent thing in a woman’, grieved Lear over Cordelia’s corpse, yet, when she was alive, he wouldn’t listen to a word she said, argues American activist writer, Meredith Tax. Extending the illogic of tragic Shakespearean character to contemporary context, she continues, “In our lifetime women have spoken up to all the crazy old King Lears, challenging their folly, and had the extraordinary, transfiguring experience of hearing our collective female voice raised in political expression of our demands and interests. Despite talk of female agency, few feminist organisations work explicitly on questions of (the feminine) voice.”

Fewer still spotlight older women braving the start to write. Make that older Indian women authors and the bind gets even narrower. Those who, for the very first time, nudging the autumnal years, discover they can push pen on paper with rare sensitivity are hard-found, hesitant to talk. But, bordering almost-a-lifetime 60, they lend obvious maturity and uncommon grace to the literary lexicon, be it the genre of the short story, novel or poetry.

What drives this delayed debut? “By the time they reach their 50s, women have a wealth of experience to draw upon. There’s a breathing space – between caring for children and parents, with career concerns further out of the way – that gives us time to consider writing,” observes 61-year-old painter and textile designer, Jane Bhandari, explaining the frantic preoccupations of the years before taking the call to write. “It’s as if a woman’s entire creative energies are diverted to ministering a family of husband, kids and in-laws, with no moments left to follow other pursuits.”

Ritu Menon, publisher of Women Unlimited and Chair of the British Council-hosted South Asian Women Writers Conference in New Delhi two years ago, pushes for a safe platform where women find and amplify their tone: “People will say women’s writing is everywhere, filling the bookshelves, spilling over in libraries. Yet, the literary establishment and marketplace are primarily male, and the commonest complaint by women is that they are seldom taken seriously by critics or reviewers. At best, they are patronised….Women themselves write alone, enter the market alone and are usually in competition with each other – because most decisions are still made by men.”

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