When Rajshree Anand, a teacher, left Dehradun in January to visit her daughter in Auckland, little did she knew that she would be stranded in New Zealand for few more months than originally planned. Credit to her though, she used her time wisely and has just released her 33-page-long book on Amazon titled, Kaushiki The one who is enveloped in silk: The Goddess in every women.

Essentially a collection of poetry, the book is divided into 13 chapters, each describing the indomitable spirit of the Goddess Durga as depicted in the Hindu mythology. These are Kanyaka, Niranjana, Aarya, Kamakya, Tanvi, Tvarita, Purala, Anika, Sarvani, Shambhavi, Gayatri, Mahamaya, and Kaalaka.

“Every phase in a woman’s life is like the nine days of the Durga Navratri, with celebrations bringing with it, her spirit of a strong home-maker, loving wife, and a mother. These attributes of the Goddess are passed on from generation to generation, by every mother to her daughter. This is what my book is all about,” says Anand describing her motivations for the book.

Next up is another book tentatively called, Buddhism: through my lens. “Presently I volunteer a lot with monks and nuns at monasteries in Dehradun and Ladakh, and the book is a narration of my experiences with them. It will be out next week. After that, I will focus on my third book, which is about vedic cooking,” Anand adds.

-TIN Bureau