Beneath the Simolu Tree

In a village in rural Assam, quiet, unassuming Paridhi grows up witnessing domestic violence at close quarters. The conservative society she inhabits, shapes and befuddles her. Her rebellion is silent—she submerges herself in a world of colour. Pebbles turn into objects of art in her hands. She writes and reads extensively to escape her cloistered life. But to what end? Is it really ever possible to escape one’s confines?

The house she’s lived in ever since her childhood, now infested with...