The author draws attention to the personal histories of these women, which informed their views on education, womanhood, marriage, female autonomy, family, and politics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Reading these from a feminist, postcolonial perspective, the volume highlights how these women from different castes, class and ages confront the changing realities of their lives in colonial India in the backdrop of the independence movement and the second world war. These writings challenge stereotypes of the 'circumscribed native woman’ and explore the complex personal and socio-political histories of women in colonial India. Hasna J Moudud 2 in a book review of Anthology of Bengali Proverbs and Bachans by Muhammad Zamir Published by Bangla Academy, April, writes The author has classified into broad categories the present collection of proverbs. The book brings together a selection of travelogues from various Bengali women and their journeys to the West, the Aryavarta, and Japan.
It documents the transgressive histories of these women who stepped out to create emancipatory identities for themselves. This book chronicles travel writings of Bengali women in colonial India and explores the intersections of power, indigeneity, and the representations of the ‘self’ and the ‘other’ in these writings.