Blackswan8043 - Sky And Stars✨️

His - The Wolf and The Lamb

“May my life’s breath find refuge in your heart, destroyed in your love, may my life depart.”  

Wang So’s and Hae Soo’s ill-fated love story in Goryeo comes full circle as So spurs his horse on, rushing to Hae Soo’s side one last time. While she’s spend the last months of her life waiting for him, just like she had spend the previous years. Even after she left him, her life has been centered around him. Soo might have escaped the Palace, but she could never escape her lover, could never be free of him because they are eternally bound. Her memories of him, her visions of him by her side have kept her alive each day; the thought that she’s carrying his child and the hope that he would one day return to her gave her the strength to survive each new day. The first time she had arrived to Goryeo she wanted to survive only for herself, now she is living for him and their unborn child. In the end, WS truly has been Soo’s lifeline. But he comes too late because without him she couldn’t last even a one whole year, far less ten; because she spent all her lifeforce on giving birth to their daughter - TO PROTECT THIS LITTLE PIECE OF HIM. And so she draws her last breath wearing So’s lotus hairpin, the token of his love that marks her as HIS - HIS lover, HIS friend, HIS queen, HIS partner, HIS equal, HIS wife, the mother of HIS child,… -  and listening to the song that made him realize he loved her what seems like an eternity ago.

“Soo may be dead, but she’s my person.”

Even after her death Wang So can’t let go of his Soo, his sun that has burned out. He keeps clinging to her ashes, just like he keeps clinging to the memory of her. Theirs was a love doomed from the start, and not only because Soo’s been always living on borrowed time (he kept her alive and protected her all this while) and just like the sun and the moon during the eclipse they could spend only a limited time together. He was the wolf who fell in love with a lamb - a predator who fell in love with a healer. She had woken up in the body of a girl who had a heart condition, later her body went through cruel torture and hard labour which shortened her life span even more. She never belonged to this world to begin with; its air was like a poison which slowly killed her. Wang So, on the other hand, WAS BORN TO RULE THIS WORLD - almost since birth HE’S BEEN TRAINED TO ENDURE, SURVIVE AND DEFEAT HIS ENEMIES. His body and mind is too much resilient to give up.  A POISON IS LITERALLY COURSING IN HIS VEINS, he himself is the deadliest weapon - HE IS SCARRED INSIDE AND OUT BUT THOSE SCARS ARE ONLY A TESTIMONY OF HOW MUCH HE’S SURVIVED, A PROOF THAT WHAT DIDN’T MANAGE TO KILL HIM ONLY MADE HIM STRONGER - AN INVINCIBLE KING THAT CAN’T BE CONTROLLED BY ANYONE. Because how can you defeat or control a man whose heart and soul died together with the woman he loved?

Mitake Summer after rain by cata_angel999

Some more recommendations 💯

Indian academia

Recently I have seen a lot of excellent posts in the dark academia tags which call out the euro-centrism of this subculture and also give great recommendations for non-white cultural academia. So I decided to put together works of Indian authors that I read growing up in India as a literature student. Please note this list leans heavily towards works centred on Bengal due to my own heritage, and is by no means comprehensive or meant to represent the entire, varied diaspora of India.

Historical/political fiction:

the lives of others by neel mukherjee: chronicling the rise and fall of a bengali family against historical events like the partition, the 1943 famines, the bengal emergency etc. diverse cast of characters retelling history through multiple povs, lyrical prose, incredible research providing an insight into naxalite bengal. talks about how it feels to be a leftist when you are born and brought up in bourgeois privilege.

the lowland by jhumpa lahiri: everything!! written by jhumpa lahiri!! should be savoured!! but this gorgeous book in particular made me UGLY CRY. to summarise without spoilers, it's a story about two brothers, separated by inches and then by miles, a story about student revolutionaries, bengal burning and boston beaches, and it's a story about a beautiful, brilliant, tormented woman who loves and loathes in equal measure.

the shadow lines by amitav ghosh:** intergenerational trauma, dhaka riots and the entwined histories of two families- one in london and the other in calcutta. sharp, bittersweet and sometimes rather scandalous. if you enjoy ggm's works try this.

a flight of pigeons by ruskin bond**: after her father is killed in the 1857 sepoy mutiny, an anglo-indian girl, her mother, and female relatives are given shelter by the muslim family of one of the chief rebels. set in north india near UP, ruskin bond's writing is powerful and explores found families and the price of imperialism and war. chef's kiss.

train to pakistan by khuswant singh: the horrors of post independence sectarian violence as recounted by a fictional village on the indo-pak border with a population largely comprising muslims and sikhs. a harrowing read but evocative and honest.

shalimar the clown by salman rushdie: allegorical story about the kashmir valley unrest, told through the insane, shakespearean revenge tragedy spun out by kashmiri tightrope walker shalimar who falls in love with boonyi, a beautiful pandit girl, a love that dooms him.

a fine balance by rohinton mistry**: four strangers' lives spill into each other as india crumbles under the 1975 emergency. this one has everything political commentary, social satire, depiction of economic hardships and a whole range of characters from diverse backgrounds. side note: it's a pretty heavy and tragic read, please be careful.

Societal stories

the guide by rk narayan: raju, an impoverished, street smart boy in a fictional south indian town takes to conning people as a tour guide but things spiral out of control when he has an affair with a married classical dancer. allegorical writing, funny and eccentric, and there's a LOT of satire about desi stereotypes: fraud religious leaders, scandalous village affairs, neocolonial mindsets and well, dancing. had a great read of this one. don't watch the film, it's inaacurate and the author himself didn't like it :(

malgudi days by rk narayan: set in the same town as the guide, a collection of short stories about the colourful lives of small town dwellers, from astrologers to doctors to postmen. it's funny and poignant in equal measure. there's not a single mediocre story in here, they're all just......charming.

interpreter of maladies by jhumpa lahiri: stories set in boston and bengal about ordinary indian people and ordinary indian lives which are just so, so MASTERFULLY written and in such crystal bright detail it feels all too real. I recommend a temporary matter, when mr pirzada came to dine, sexy, mrs sen and this blessed house.

em and the big hoom by jerry pinto**: a goan family in late 20th century mumbai + their experience when the mother is diagnosed with bpd. I haven't read this book but it was highly recommended by my friends + authors who are greatly esteemed by me

any and every work by ruskin bond because my man literally GREW up around ayahs and tonga drivers and lonely gardeners and sad kite-makers and friends in small places. I recommend road to the bazaar: a collection of short stories about north indian children involving tigers in train tunnels, beetle races, rooftop gardens and the feeling of being home again.

the white tiger by aravind adiga**: epistolary novel that deals mostly with the class struggle in india as told by a village boy, who travels to delhi for work and his slow rise to success through monumental obstacles. a good read to look into the lives and the plight of underprivileged workers and the persisting class disparity in globalised india.

city of djinns by william dalrymple: travelogue/memoir/anecdotes of the author's time in delhi as he researches for the detritus of history in the country capital. non fiction but every bit as riveting as a well spun story.

Retellings/Biographies

rajkahini (transl: stories of kings) by abanindranath tagore: stories about the rajput rulers of western india and their glorious, semi-mythological histories of battles and heartbreaks and visions. the author was often termed a lyrical artist because his descriptive prose is so good it feels like a painting put into words.

empress: the astonishing reign of nur jahan by ruby lal: a feminist biography of my favourite figure from history, nur jahan, and her deliciously satisfying ascent as the sole female sovereign in the line of the great mughals. but wow, what a woman.

the palace of illusions by chitra banerjee divakaruni: retelling of the great epic mahabharata but from draupadi's point of view. poetic and magical, and her descriptions of female rage and the unfairness of society even in mythical canon is SUPERB.

Poetry!

sarojini naidu: patriotism, society, feminism, romance

nissim ezekiel: postcolonial, satire

ak ramanujan: society, classical retellings, folktale inspired poetry

agha shahid ali: socio-political, ghazal inspired poetry

tishani doshi: feminist, contemporary

eunice d'souza: contemporary, gender politics

Pure self indulgent recs

hayavadana by girish karnad: a ridiculous, criminally hilarious play-within-a-play about a love triangle and accidental body/torso swaps and a goddess who couldn't care less and a man with a horse head. yeah.

devdas by sarat chandra chattopadhyay: pls stop shoving the movie down my throat it's the cringiest depiction of bengali culture ever but yeah the novel is 💗💗 and it's about childhood sweethearts dev and paro, the cost of obsessions and lusts and an enigmatic courtesan chandramukhi who keeps loving the wrong things.

any and every work by rabindranath tagore should be considered academia but in particular his short stories, like the kabuliwalah and the postmaster.

the byomkesh bakshi series by sharadindu bandyopadhyay: written in the vein of poirot but in colonial bengal, follows one (1) sleuthy boy and his sidekick as they unravel psychological crimes and murder mysteries. some stories are just genuinely scary and all have eclectic casts. sharadindu said homoerotic/feral women/immoral genius people rights!

Like I said this list is not comprehensive!!! But I tried my best!!! I think we should really try to decolonize our reading tastes. And yes I purposely left out Arundhati Roy (because she is literally the only Indian author ever recommended in lists) Vikram Seth (because I do not like him) and Roshani Chokshi (because any one of the above)

I hope you guys get some good picks from this list :)

[** has heavy trigger warnings]

The Clearest Images of Jupiter ever taken

These beautifully real images are some of the closest images of Jupiter. Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth the mass of the Sun. The original image was captured by JunoCam, the camera on NASA's Juno mission in orbit around Jupiter. This image was taken on Juno's 22nd close pass by Jupiter on Sept. 12, 2019 with image processing done by Prateek.

📸: NASA's Juno Space Probe / JunoCam

LOL

Characters of Scarlet Heart Ryeo: A Summary

Lmao😭

cardan: i lost my girlfriend, can you help me?

officer: ok, how does she look?

*cardan crying*: beautiful.

Definitely!!

The most accessible and wisest of counselors. x

Today I learned

harem + scandals – requested by @kinda-real-awkward

Finally, it’s just the two of us, away from the palace.  Just you and I. Me and you. Now I can forget the truth and lies, misunderstandings and jealousy, the precarious fight for the throne and, death. And just devote my time on loving you.