“I wrote what I wanted to read” is what I would like to say. But no. That’s not entirely true. I wrote what came to me. Every drop of ink makes a unique design on paper. Here, every poem is a linear yet random expression of myself. Some are vents, some are thoughts and some are what left dents in my mind. Black day White is a collection of my words, my ink blots. Here’s hoping that you are able to resonate with some of my thoughts and they voice your words too… one blot at a time.

Ethnicity, Gender and Social Change explores the social space occupied by both gender and ethnicity. As recognition of the sociological importance of gender and ethnicity has grown, so has the opportunity for exploring the intersections between them. This volume brings together both theoretical reflections and new research in this key area. For the sociologist this presents a conceptual challenge, while for the individual it may present a series of dilemmas. These are intriguingly traced out in studies which take us from Punjabi families in the UK, to Surinamese migrants in Amsterdam, to Hindu and Muslim women and Black nurses in Britain, the African and Asian diasporas, and gender identity in post-Soviet Latvia.

This is the first volume of a projected three-volume work on the little known South Indian folk cult of the goddess Draupadi and on the classical epic, the Mahabharata, that the cult brings to life in mythic, ritual and dramatic forms. It focuses on the Draupadi cult's own double mythology, moving from its storieis about Draupadi's 'primal temple' near the capital of the medieval South Indian Kingdom of Gingee to its version of the Mahabharata war on the North Indian plain of Kuruksetra. Throughout, Hiltebeitel intertwines 'regional' data, gathered from both oral and written sources, with the 'epic', drawn from the cult's own performative traditions as well as from classical versions of the Mahabharata in both Tamil and Sanskrit. He re-examines many issues critical to Indological studies and takes up them while breaking new ground in investigating the further rapport between the Hindu goddess and the Indian epic. Future volumes will treat the rituals of the Draupadi cult and the Mahabharata as seen through a Draupadi cult retrospective.