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From the fictional fantasy palace that retells the Mahabharata from Draupadi’s point of view, the magical forest of the Ramayana with Sita as the protagonist, to the final queen with Maharani Jindan Kaur as the heroine, author Chitra Banerjee Divakarni focuses on telling stories to women It is known for. Fiction as a medium. So when she delved into non-fiction for the first time and released An Uncommon Love: The Early Life of Sudha and Narayana Murthy, it was like an “actor trying to break out of her image” experience for her. . On the sidelines of the five-day Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), Indian-American writer Shubhangi Shah talks about writing her first non-fiction book and the mythological and historical fiction she continues to rethink. I talked about what it is.
A series of works before “An Uncommon Love: The Early Life”
It was my first time, so I was quite confused at first. But my boyfriend Chiki Sarkar from Juggernaut encouraged me to consider it. As I researched this subject, I was excited to find that little-known stories about the Mercy family’s childhood will inspire, encourage, and move readers.
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This book reads more like a biography about their relationship than about the characters. Is it difficult to express your emotions in the non-fiction genre? Did your work in fiction help you here?
It was difficult to understand the underlying emotion of a particular incident and express it in a dramatic way. Yes, in my previous novel writing work, I worked on the scenes I was writing in the same way I would when writing books like The Palace of Illusions (with Draupadi) or The Enchanted Forest (with Sita). It was helpful because I was able to do so. It tries to interpret the scenes already given through Mahabharata and Ramayana and express the emotions of the heroine.
Speaking of fiction, you have a wide range of works that delve into mythological and historical fiction that center on strong, flawed women. Why do you think about this topic again and again?
We felt it was important to showcase strong, complex and flawed women, and not succumb to society’s pressure to whitewash our heroines and act as if only perfect women should be admired and emulated. I am. That is why such characters appear again and again in my works.
Yes, I completely immersed myself in the characters and felt their emotions. For example, when Sudha had to leave her first baby, Akshata, with her parents due to her work pressure and lack of reliable child care, I felt her sadness, guilt, and I felt heartbroken and wrote it all down on paper.
While writing about mythological characters, highlight the character’s flaws and strengths. The same can be glorified a lot. How do you think this topic should be written about as it can be emotionally charged?
It is important for literature to present us with complex, human heroes and admirable characters. In doing so, we can engage with them and learn from them. I think it’s a sad misuse of that potential when we use mythological figures for propaganda.
We are witnessing the rise of religious majoritarianism. Do you think books are also becoming a medium to promote this?
Books have been exploited in a variety of ways since ancient times. It has been used sometimes to create propaganda and sometimes to gather hatred. So it’s not new for this to happen now. My hope is that both writers and readers will recognize the immense power of words and use it for the best of purposes: to reflect on our times and to preserve our common humanity. Readers can have a huge impact on this simply by purchasing such books.
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