“Walking Together, Walking Alone: Timeless Models of Independence” features noted Asian American author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Divakaruni is known for portraying the challenge of balancing the desire for independence with societal obligations facing women—as in the charismatic women of her current novel, “Independence,” and in her retellings of the foundational Indian epics, “Mahabharata” and “Ramayana.”