This week on The Wire Talks listen to our host Sidharth Bhatia in conversation with American Indologist Wendy Doniger. The episode unfolds her keen interest in the Indian tradition and the motto behind her book, An American Girl in India: Letters and Recollections 1963–64.
During the interaction, Wendy Doniger shares that her mother gave her a book, A passage to India by E. M. Forster when she was 10-11 years old, which led to her developing interest in India and its tradition.
In the chapters of her book, she has penned an incident when she fainted while she attended an animal sacrifice event, thus giving up on the thought of being an anthropologist, witnessing of Indo-Pak war in 1965 and more.
Recalling her days in India and why she decided to drape saree, she said, "When I first came to India, I wore my European clothes, I wore dresses and short skirts, and when men started staring at my legs because they weren't used to seeing women's legs at that time, so I started wearing saree and they are more comfortable."
She further added adoring Ali Akbar more than Ravi Shankar. Through her books, she debunked myths in terms of politics and gave the readers a different perspective on it. Tune into this brand new episode now.
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