Review of Rebellion in Verse: Resistance and Devotion in the Tamil Bhakti Movement by Raghavan Srinivasan

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Rating: 5/5

I picked Rebellion in Verse because I wanted a clear story of how devotion in Tamil life became something more than private feeling. This book promises a journey back to the sixth century CE and shows how people used simple poems and songs to change who could speak about the sacred.

What the book is about — in my words

Reading it felt like watching a social change happen through tiny, fierce poems. Srinivasan explains that the Tamil Bhakti movement was not only about loving a deity. It was also a way ordinary people — fishermen, hunters, women, merchants — pushed back against rigid ritual, caste and the idea that sacred knowledge belonged only to an elite. The book makes it easy to see devotion as both personal feeling and public protest.

The saints and voices the book made alive for me

I loved how the author brings the poet-saints into the open. The book talks about figures such as Appar, Sambandar, Andal, Tirumangai and Nandanar, and shows them not as remote mystics but as people whose words were written in Tamil so everyone could hear. Their hymns, the book shows, carried everyday images and strong feelings that upset the idea that only learned priests could reach the divine.

Language as a tool of change — what hit me hardest

One simple idea the book keeps returning to is this: choosing Tamil over Sanskrit was itself a kind of rebellion. By writing in the local tongue, these poets invited village life, market places and women’s homes into the sacred conversation. Reading that chapter made me feel how language can open doors people had been kept out of for generations.

How the book is written and structured 

Srinivasan blends history, poetry and social analysis in a way I found readable. The chapters move from the Sangam background to the rise of Bhakti, the voices of devotion, the egalitarian impulse, and then to temples and the long echoes of the movement. The book felt organized so I could follow the story without needing specialist knowledge.

What I carried away from the book

After finishing it I kept thinking about how faith can be humble and bold at the same time. The Tamil Bhakti movement, as shown here, is full of tenderness and also full of courage. The book left me with a clearer sense that religious change often comes from small acts of speaking in a language people understand, and that those acts can reshape society. I would recommend this to anyone who wants a human, readable account of how poetry and devotion became engines of social change.

Review of Every Last Girl: A Journey to Educate India's Forgotten Daughters by Safeena Husain

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Rating: 5/5

I picked up Every Last Girl because I wanted to hear, in plain words, how one person built something that actually reached girls who had been left out of school. The book starts with Safeena Husain’s own story and then takes you straight into the villages and classrooms where the work happened.

What the book is like to read

Reading it felt like sitting with someone who has been in the field for years and is telling you what she saw, day after day. The writing mixes small, sharp moments with clear explanations of how the program worked. There are personal memories, tough moments, and also everyday victories. The tone is hopeful, but it does not sugarcoat the obstacles.

Stories from the field that stayed with me

The chapters that stayed longest in my head were the ones with the girls and families. Safeena writes about meeting parents who had never imagined their daughters going to school, about local volunteers who knocked on doors, and about the small steps that slowly changed minds. Those scenes made the scale of the work feel human and real.

The idea of the last girl — why it matters to me

The central idea is simple and powerful. It is not enough to enroll the easy cases. True change comes when we reach the most forgotten girl in every village. That focus on the very last child made the book feel urgent and moral, not just technical. It made me think about who we leave behind when we celebrate averages.

How Educate Girls grew, in the book’s telling

The book walks you through how a small local effort turned into a national movement. It explains the methods used on the ground: local volunteers, door-to-door outreach, and supporting schools so girls could actually stay and learn. The impact numbers mentioned in the book and accompanying excerpts show the scale the movement reached.

What I took away from it

After finishing the book I felt both uplifted and moved to pay attention. Safeena’s story reminded me that steady, patient work in communities can bring huge change. It also reminded me that listening to people on the ground and trusting local volunteers is not a add-on, it is the point.

Who I think should read this book

If you care about education, about girls, or about how social change actually happens, this book will speak to you. It is for anyone who wants to understand both the hard parts and the small, repeatable things that lead to real impact.