#Telugu people, what are the top historical fiction works in Telugu literature? (Please don't say Veyi Padagalu. It is more of a social novel set in a historic period. I am looking for works based on real historical people).
Yesterday, soul sister @DimpleAtra had called for a solution we can come up with to battle the elitist gatekeeping in the publishing industry (Original thread by @sanjeevsanyal ). Here are my two paise +
A. What can the writers do? 1. Write that damn book.
Believe me, in the last six months or so, I encountered at least ten writers with promise who are not motivated to write because of the uncertainty w.r.t publishing.
Any thing can be done only if you have a workable draft.
Worst case (not necessarily, but that is a different topic), you can publish on platforms like Amazon KDP. In my case, the turning around started with KDP.
But WRITE. And WRITE MORE
2. Embrace Technology - Study how social media works and work on building your platform+
The left wing indulgence of 'Savitri shaming' is deeper than we all think. Let me recollect a conversation from past when I was struggling to get my early draft of Abhaya published.
I approached a certain literary agent who tried to influence my book towards 'left'.+
How his left leaning attitude made me dump the plan to traditionally publish it and instead opt for self publishing is a long story.
There is a Savitri episode in this long story 😊.
I had realised that this guy was trying to game my lack of access to publishing world and+
+ use the opportunity to push my story left. So for a few of our sessions, I fought him passively.
In one scene he asked me to think of an 'inspiring' (read rebellious) female character to influence my heroine Abhaya.
I made the father of my heroine tell her story of Savitri+
Shall compile my running thoughts about #Kurukshetra as I compile the numbers in this #thread.
There are three kinds of confrontations - I am terming them 1. duel = One to one 2. general battle = many vs many 3. and cumulative = one against many
Deciding the victor in a duel if the opponent is killed or is forced to flee or is carried away by a friend of his or is spared by the victor. #Kurukshetra
Number crunched #Kurukshetra till Day 11
188 Confrontations of all kinds
46 in favour of Pandavas
28 in favour of Kauravas
Rest are inconclusive
The number of inconclusive confrontations is rather a bit frustrating but natural for the early phase of a war
Have been tagged in multiple discussions related to #Karna in the last couple of days. Will attempt to clarify them in this thread.
Firstly, about the alleged discrimination he faced because of being a SutaPutra and not being admitted into Drona's Gurukula+
Let us first understand the role of a saarathi that a typical Suta was supposed to fill in.
A Sarathi readies the chariot. Makes decisions on the horses to yoke, number of bows and arrows to keep, how many kinds of arrows to keep and how many of each type. A wrong decision+
+can prove fatal to the Rathi, the warrior and the Sarathi too. And to make great decisions, a basic to middle level training in Dhanurvidya is necessary for a Saarathi. He is supposed to train in Dhanurvidya. There is no way Drona would have refused to teach Karna archery.+
@KritrishaDivya Even with Arjuna holding off the full Kuru host, Drona proves to be a handful to the Panchalas, Bhima and the twins. They were like dry hay caught in fire that was Drona. Krishna sees the destruction suffered by Panchalas and gives an idea. #Kurukshetra#Day15
He says, in order to protect the remaining soldiers and stop Drona from fighting, let us have him believe that his son Ashvatthama died. Arjuna hates the idea. Yudhishtira is hesitant. Meanwhile Bhima finds an elephant named Ashvatthama and kills it #Kurukshetra#Day15
Then, Bhima comes to the forefront and shouts that he killed Ashvatthama. Drona is shocked to hear it but recovers quickly and attacks Drishtadyumna with a renewed anger. Panchalas struggle to save their prince. #Kurukshetra#Day15
ButvKarna sliced that arrow into 12 pieces, saving Drona. Drishtadyumna had to now fight multiple warriors Karna, Shalya, Duryodhana, Shakuni and others. But retreating was not the Panchala's way and he wounded tham back, all of them. #Kurukshetra#Day14
Drishtadyumna, while withstanding the cumulative attack, killed a warrior called Drumasena and broke Karna's bow, enraging him. Shalya, Shakuni, Ashvatthama, Duryodhana and Drona surround him. At that instant, Satyaki comes to Panchala's rescue. #Kurukshetra#Day14
Another violent duel takes place between Karna and Satyaki (This guy is superhuman!). Vrishasena arrives to help his father but Satyaki engages both of them. At that instant, Arjuna is seen from a distance. Duryodhana is concerned. #Kurukshetra
Kripa countered Shikhandi, Shakuni fought Nakula. Dushasana met Prativindhya. Ghatotkacha was again stopped by Ashvatthama. Vrishasena countered Drupada and Virata had to fight Shalya. Nakula's son Shatanika tried to attack Drona but Chitrasena stopped him #Kurukshetra#Day14
Arjuna found Alambusha facing him and Drishtadyumna faced Drona. The battle restarted.
Yudhishtira was the first to draw blood in his fight with Kritavarma who severed the former's bow. The king took up another and wounded Kritavarma in arms and chest. #Kurukshetra#Day14
Kritavarma foight back angrily. But Yudhishtira gained and broke the Yadava's bow. Kritavarma picked another and wounded back Yudhishtira and his charioteer. The Pandava took up a lance and hurled it, injuring Kritavarma's right hand. #Kurukshetra#Day14
Karna stalled Arjuna for a while, but soon, lost his bow, horses and charioteer to Arjuna and ascended Kripa's chariot. Kuru soldiers retreated at this and were sent back by Duryodhana who came to the fore to fight Arjuna. #Kurukshetra#Day14
Ashvatthama stops Duryodhana from going on that dangerous mission and proceeds to fight. Till this moment, we realise he was as averse to fighting the Pandavas as Bhishma, Drona and Kripa were. His valour sees the death of eight Panchalas. #Kurukshetra#Day14
Drishtadyumna and Ashvatthama thrn met for a duel. A long drawn one but in front of Drishtadyumna, Ashvatthama destroyed the Panchalas. Yudhoshtira and Bhima came to the forefront to stall him. Drona joined his son. #Kurukshetra#Day14
Ashvatthama became unstoppable. A host of Panchala princes fall to his fury. Another sharp arrow of his makes Ghatotkacha faint. Drishtadyumna fears the worst and has him moved away from the fore. The Pandava warriors retreat. #Kurukshetra#Day14
While they rearrayed themselves, Somadatta attacks Satyaki. Bhima, perhaps mindful that Satyaki was exhausted with multiple duels, girls a mace at Somadatta. Satyaki simultaneously shoots back an arrow. Under the twin attack, Somadatta falls to the ground. #Kurukshetra#Day14
Seeing his son fall, Bahlika attacks Bhima. The oldest man (as he is the younger bro of Shantanu perhaps) of the battle gives a tough fight but Bhima kills him at the end. Ten sons of Dhritarashtra too follow him to Yama's abode #Kurukshetra#Day14
After seeing Jayadrata killed, Kripa and Ashvatthama attacked Arjuna. But he repulsed both and made Kripa fall unconscious. Though he was gentle in his defence many of his arrows wounded Kripa. Eventually both had to flee #Kurukshetra#Day14
Arjuna gives into to guilt seeing Kripa wounded so badly by his oen arrows. He then sees Karna attacking Satyaki. He tells Krishna to lead him yo Karna so that Satyaki who is fatigued, could be protected. Krishna disagrees #Kurukshetra#Day14
By now, the Upa Pandavas have come to Satyaki's aid. Krishna tells Arjuna that between them thry can manage Karna. As Karna was still in possession of Vasava Shakti, Krishna does not want Arjuna to face Karna then. #Kurukshetra#Day14.
Getting into the details of these duels, Drishtadyumna stopped Drona for a while but Drona still got better of him and would have almost killed Drishtadyumna if not for Satyaki's intervention. Then another duel ensued between them. Totally nail biting #Kurukshetra
Satyaki broke many of Drona's bows. Soldiers on both sides stopped fightinv or cheering and began to watch them. Drona invoked Agneya and Satyaki counteracted it with Vaaruna. The Sun then began his downward journey #Kurukshetra
Dushasana rushes at Abhimanyu assuring Duryodhana that he will kill the son of Su hadra which would distress Krishna and Arjuna so much that they woukd due of grief and that in turn would make the enemy retreat forever. By then Abhimanyu had been mangled by arrows. #Kurukshetra
Yet, the sight of Duhshasana reminded him of the wrongs his father, uncle and step mother had faced. He decided to kill Duhshasana for Bhima and fought. His shower of arrows made Duhshasana swoon and the charioteer drove away to safety. #Kurukshetra
Exhilarated at Abhimanyu's victory, the Pandava host began to cheer aloud and fight with renewed vigour. This agitated Duryodhana and he sent Karna again. Karna began a fresh attack. But Abhimanyu broke his bow and flag. Karna's brother intervened. #Kurukshetra
#Thread#Kurukshetra#Analytics#Mahabharata
Started a fun project of mine today. Recording the duels of Kurukshetra war in an excel sheet in anticipation of some interesting pattern. Watch this space for interesting tidbits. Full exercise may take quite a while
Interesting Results! #Kurukshatra#Analytics. So many duels without a declared result on Day One
Could record two general battles and 26 duels on Day One. Only 6 of those duels ended decisively. Pandava side suffered horribly in the hands of Bhishma. Uttara killed in the hands of Shalya. Saving grace being Abhimanyu countering Bhishma and winning over Brihadbala #Kurukshetra
