Out of the Jungle

The growing number of South Asian women who challenge traditional racial or gender roles—and write about them—now includes one more North America-based author. Bombay-bom California resident Ginu Kamani has just published her first book, which is a pensive and lyrical short story collection. Ms Kamani shares a desire with some others of her kind to uncover truths about South Asian cultural identity and sexuality, matters that have rarely been touched in fiction.

The author seems willing to take on almost any taboo subject of South Asian society: incest, homosexuality and the sexual degradation/oppression of women. In the 11 short stories that comprise Junglee Girl, Ms Kamani seeks to explore the differences between ´normal´ and ´wild´ women. ´Junglee´ itself refers to wild, or uncontrollable, women, and the author means to reclaim and redefine the subject.