The Exercise Book

Little Uma writes her innocent thoughts and songs in an exercise book that becomes her constant companion, carrying it with her even after she is married off at a young age. She does not know that society disapproves of women who read and write - until the day the book is cruelly taken from her. This is one of 18 hand-picked stories by Rabindranath Tagore, originally written in Bengali and carefully retold in English, moving through love, sadness, happiness and longing while offering glimpses of the social classes, customs and beliefs of an earlier India.