She# the Raconteur
She-the Raconteur: Dr. Seema Anand
London-based mythologist and narrative practitioner Seema Anand is an acknowledged authority on the Kama Sutra and lectures on Eastern Erotology, Tantric philosophy, the Mahavidyas, Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita, among other subjects. Her work on the revival and reproduction of oral literature from India is associated with the UNESCO project for Endangered Oral Traditions.
As for the millennials, Seema is best known for her book The Arts of Seduction. Seema reconnects us to some hidden aspects of our roots and culture not only by her conventional ethnic outfits but also through her storytelling. Her boldness and ease on a topic so ‘sensitive and dark’.Seema, has a strong legacy of empowered, liberated and non-traditional women. Seema’s great grandmother was a well-educated social activist who died during a protest against violence towards women and this set the tone for following generations of women in her family. She grew up understanding that, just as all barriers are imposed, equally they all can be dissolved .Although it may sound glamorous to be ahead of others in thinking and lifestyle, it wasn’t an easy journey. Seema was internally broken at the age of 19 when her stepfather was assassinated and her uncle hospitalized with severe injuries around the same time. Her stepfather was the Ambassador to India and way back in 1982 this was the first such incident. Following his assassination, she and her mother were placed under house arrest and went through horrific accusations flashed all over media.
She changed her course of studies to travel around Europe as a tour guide, telling stories of one culture to another in a language that did not belong to either, looking at how stories change when they are told. Coming from a family where gender did not define your identity she was aghast at the gender inequality she encountered - what society expects of you as a married pow man. For a long time, she tried to fit in by being like others, overcompensating by developing qualities alien to her, like being the ‘joker’ in the group and so on. Life changes and we change. A wife and a mother of two sons had a desire to change the world when her daughter was born, to make it better for her.
“I began exploring female role models only to discover the myth of female stories - the identity of a woman is a perfect figure of tolerance and beauty. ‘Imperfections’ make her not a ‘good’ woman and there were no stories of a woman having the right to her own sexuality. Her body was always someone else’s property.”
"The core of the being that defines a woman is boxed for someone else to own.”
“I am determined to change attitudes. I want people to stop looking at sex as punishment or a weapon of war. Women (or men for that matter) are not property. We have the right to belong to ourselves. I want us to learn from the wisdom of ancient Indian sages who wrote
about the importance of pleasure and its beauty as the path to spiritual attainment.”
The Power of NO is something we all have to learn to use without any guilt.
“It gave me so much peace - that one little realization that my body and feelings are very individual to me and that there is nothing wrong with me. I don’t need to fit into anybody’s mold. Easier said than done of course. Coming to this understanding is a real journey". This was a brief biography of Seema Anand the contribution she made to women and their rights is so immense.
