Wednesday, July 07, 2021

While Miz Kittling Knits: Delhi Crime

 

 
Some of you may be wondering if I'm still an afghan-making machine. The answer is yes. I'm just about to finish another one now, so there's at least one more post coming in the future. Since I've been listening to audiobooks for an hour or so in the late afternoons, this is giving me another opportunity to knit, but my audiobook time is for non-afghan projects. Who knows what I'll get up to in the coming months?

Saying that makes me think of something. I used to feel twinges of inadequacy. After all, the things I knit aren't very complicated, they're mostly afghans and scarves. Not much skill involved in that. However, when I read Knitting Yarns, 99% of those feelings of inadequacy went away. The major reason why I knit is for comfort; making things for others that are decorative and useful is secondary. Knitting and watching television or listening to an audiobook keeps my mind from dwelling on things I don't want it to dwell on. It helps me chill. And if that means making things that aren't exactly earth-shattering in their complexity, so be it.

Once again, I turned to my tattered copy of Leisure Arts' Big Book of Quick Knit Afghans. I don't like sewing panels together, and all of the afghans in this book are made on big circular needles (usually US sizes 15-17) in one big piece. I've made enough afghans from the patterns in this book to make a few adjustments here and there-- like using thicker yarn instead of two strands of thinner yarn.
 
The pattern I used for the afghan in this post is called "Serene" and was done using size 17 circular needles and a double strand of Lion Brand Homespun acrylic yarn in a color called Ambrosia. In fact, the last time I shared a "While Miz Kittling Knits" post, I was showing you the exact same pattern in a completely different color. It may sound rather silly to use the same pattern. Variety is supposed to be the spice of life, isn't it? But you'd be surprised at how different the same pattern can look when different colors are used. I've given you the link to the Serene pattern in the first color, and now it's time to take a look at it done in "Ambrosia."
 

 

For some reason, this yarn color doesn't want to show off its vibrancy. Magenta, purple, gold, blue... all these colors and more can be found in this afghan. Combine its colors with the joyous yellow afghan and the orange, teal, and purple in the quilt on the chair, and I'm sitting here in a kaleidoscope of color.

And if there's one specific thing that bright, glorious colors makes me think of, it's India, which leads me to the seven-episode series I watched on Netflix after reading a review of it on Book Chase.
 


 
Delhi Crime is the international Emmy-winning series that is based on the 2012 Nirbhaya case: "As Delhi reels in the aftermath of a gang rape, DCP Vartika Chaturvedi leads a painstaking search for the culprits." You can read more about the background of this series in articles from Cosmopolitan and The Guardian.

Thankfully, the brutal beating of Awindra Pratap Pandey and the horrific gang rape of Jyoti Singh Pandey are never shown, but the stomach-churning details of the young woman's injuries are revealed in interrogations and testimony. The emphasis in the series is the aftermath and the people who deal with the crime-- in particular that of female police officer Vartika Chaturvedi. When she learns the details of what's happened, you can see her demeanor change, the expression on her face harden. This isn't the first time she's dealt with something like this, and she's had enough. She will not rest until all the rapists are arrested and brought to justice. Chaturvedi is the main reason why I watched Delhi Crime. I wanted to see all the roadblocks thrown in her path. I wanted to see how she dealt with them. I wanted to see justice done. Because when I saw her demeanor change at the very beginning, I knew she was the right person for the job. She would achieve her goal.

Mystery series such as those by Tarquin Hall, Vaseem Khan, and Sujata Massey have taught me so much about India and its culture. Delhi Crime took me right onto the mean streets of India's capital. Before the pandemic landed on the world with both filthy feet, a second season of Delhi Crime was promised. I look forward to it with a great deal of anticipation.

13 comments:

  1. Oh, I liked Delhi Crime a lot, too, Cathy! It's not always easy to watch because of the subject matter, but I thought it was well-written and solidly portrayed. I hope there is another season to it. And your afghans are gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful afghans! I love those colors. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. It is amazing how different the two afghans look just because they are different colors. My mom crochets and she does so for the same reasons you mention. She was just wondering to me what she should do with all the dish cloths, placemats, scarves, etc. she has made. She also crochets afghans, but likes to take a break from those and work on something else sometimes. Thanks for sharing glimpses of your work with us!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. After all, there are only so many gifts you can make, right? :-) Fortunately, I happen to have friends and acquaintances who are afghan-loving fools.

      Delete
  4. Beautiful afghans, love the ambrosia. I'll blow it up to see the various colors blended into it.

    And, yes, watching Delhi Crime does seem apt with the vibrancy of colors around you.

    I thought of another mystery series by Indian-British writer, Kishwar Desai, featuring a woman social worker as protagonist.

    Witness the Night is about a mass murder and focuses in on misogyny and femicide. It is a tough book to read, but worth it. This book won several prizes.

    Desai's second book, Origins of Love, is about the surrogacy industry in India. It's kind of loopy with five or sex plot points, but I learned a lot. Foreign surrogacy was banned a few years ago.

    And then there's A Sea of Innocence, which I think is about the same gang rape you refer to above. I do mean to read that, but I was so upset at the news at the time that I didn't want to read about this horrific crime. Maybe by now I can read it.

    One good development is that lawyers, human rights organizations, women's groups and their allies have fought for justice for this poor woman and other women and girls who are so abused.

    I'm now sputtering to myself as I remember news of similar attacks on girls, too.

    But where did you find Delhi Crime?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the recommendation of Kishwar Desai.

      Delete
  5. I just looked again and saw Netflix carries this series. No way I can't cave in and get Netflix streaming. However, glad to read that the graphic violence isn't shown.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought I'd mentioned Netflix and then Netflix was shown on the promo graphic. I've been out of it, so I was hoping I hadn't left that out.

      Delete
  6. Glad to hear that you enjoyed Delhi Crime, Cathy. As you say, this one is not nearly as graphically violent as it could have been. I'm happy they handled it the way they did, too, because I don't think I could have gotten through a scene depicting the level of violence done to that poor woman.

    I'd love to see a second series, but we bailed out on Netflix a few weeks ago in favor of adding two or three other apps in its place for the same price. That gave us more choices and worked out to less money, to boot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anyone who could've gotten through a scene depicting what was done to that poor woman would either have to be in a profession where dealing with horrendous trauma is normal... or someone who is excited by it. I don't think I have to say what I think of the latter group.

      Delete
  7. Maxine Clark, who hated horrific violence against women in crime fiction, used to wonder who the people were who sat on the bus near her, and if any of them liked such books.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to make a comment. I really appreciate it!