"As long as [women] write like males, everything is good as far as writing about sexuality is concerned." Regarding writing about sex, there is a protocol. You're alright as long as you stick to that procedure. The issue with the allegedly objectionable pages in Chittacobra is that this woman uses her husband like a body and turns him into a commodity. Male egos were seriously bruised by this. Women are always seen as mere objects, but they aren't allowed to treat men?especially their husbands?like that. This, I believe, is what made everyone so irate. ?Mridula Garg in response to the obscenity accusations made against her at the time Chittacobra was initially released. In 1979, Mridula Garg released her third Hindi novel, Chittacobra, the story of an intense love affair between a young Indian woman?disconnected from her home, social milieu, marriage and husband?and a gypsy missionary from Scotland. There was an uproar?the novel was branded obscene and the police came to arrest her. But the controversy also took this remarkably frank and sensitive exploration of love and desire to many thousands of readers. It became, and remains to this day, one of the most celebrated works of contemporary Hindi literature. Mridula Garg?s brilliant new translation brings this extraordinary book?as bold and distinctive in literary style as in its theme?to a new generation of readers.