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One
of the best-known names in the contemporary Indian writing
in English scenario, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, who lives
in US, was recently in Kolkata to introduce her new book 'Queen
of Dreams'. The activist-writer is also the founder of Maitri,
the first South Asian women's hotline on the West coast, a
support service for women in distress. Divakaruni in conversation
with TWF correspondent Ranjita Biswas
For Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, prize-winning
writer, teacher at America's Houston University, the immigrant
experience has predominated her creative urge. In fact, she
says, the trauma and the triumphs of living in an alien land
by people like her, combined with her own roots in Bengal
with rich folk traditions, help her to weave magic realism
into her works, some of which are autobiographical. Her experiences
while volunteering in a local women's shelter in California
also moved her to found Maitri in 1991.
You said you never
thought of becoming a writer. What made you decide on it ?
I started putting down my thoughts on paper out of loneliness
while I was studying for my degree in America. I was very
close to my grandfather and when he died I couldn't visit
home. I started scribbling those thoughts. Later, when I was
volunteering for a shelter home in California, I came across
married women from the sub-continent in lonely and traumatised
situations. I remember an Indian woman who came for help on
an impulse. She refused to talk first but then showed her
back. It was lacerated with beatings by her husband. Her cry
of helplessness haunted me: Who cares for me? I have to go
back to my husband. She did go back, never leaving her name
or phone number, and I never met her again. These experiences
churned within me and books like Arranged Marriage came out
of those experiences.
Being witness to so many abused women,
you are naturally empathetic. But as a writer don't you feel
these experiences can make the characters one-sided and written
from the woman's point of view?
As a writer I have to show complexities of the characters.
Through my writings I hope to bring out people in different
situations and not being one-dimensional. And it's not that
women are not perpetrators. In my book Sister of My Heart,
it's the mother-in-law who creates all sorts of trouble.
Are the women better off today vis-à-vis
making choices, or opting to make a break from violent situations,
unlike the woman you lost track of ?
Definitely. Things are changing. There are many more supporting
organisations. And networking.
How do organisations like yours support
the abused woman to rehabilitate?
There are safe houses which are out of bounds to the perpetrators.
The lawmakers also helps us when we bring these cases to their
notice. We network to move the woman to another location.
For example, we may contact Apne Ghar, another support group
in Chicago. We also give emergency money to her, help her
to get enrolled in a course or school if she wants to, or
find a job. And don't think domestic violence is confined
to Indian or Pakistan origin Asian women only; there are Chinese,
Japanese, in fact, from all regions, asking for help. So now
we have formed the 'Asians against Domestic Violence' organisation
for better coordination and to bring all Asian women in need
under one umbrella.
Do you have male members in the organisation?
Yes, we do have male members. They help us with administrative
work, fund raising efforts, etc. But when it comes to contacting
the women, or counselling etc. only women are in charge.
You are now taking up characters from
Mahabharata, for your next project. Why? Is it going to be
women's story?
I have always been fascinated by the epic, the characters,
the whole gamut of emotions. And yes, it's going to be a woman's
story- a story narrated through Draupadi's eyes, told in the
first person. I also want to examine other women characters,
like Kunti, for example.
Are you apprehensive that your bestseller
Mistress of Spices will lose its flavour in the film adaptation
in Gurinder Chadha's adaptation? Her attempt at Bollywoodising
Pride and Prejudice has largely been panned.
I'm not apprehensive. I realise that a novel and a film are
different mediums. As artistes, we need to respect other artistes.
It also needs a lot of courage to take risks to experiment
and interpret known literary works.
Have you had a say in the script?
Yes, I am a consultant on the screenplay. But as one artiste
to another, I want to give due respect and I don't want to
interfere.
Having lived in the US for more than
two decades or so, do you still feel like an outsider?
It's not as simple as that. America is a country formed by
diverse communities from different countries. Overall the
country is very hospitable and gives opportunities to grow.
Saying that, I'd also say, I'm not a 'white' immigrant; the
South Asian experience is different, than say a European immigrant's.
Which is not necessarily a bad thing. At least as a writer
I can see the differences and draw on the experience to put
into my work.
At the same time there's quite lot of
ghettoisation. Isn't it important to try to assimilate with
the local culture? We admire foreigners who make India their
home and their assimilation but many do the opposite when
outside, clinging to nostalgia, and staying cocooned.
Ghettoisation is dangerous. It's important to be in the mainstream
when one decides to make a foreign country one's own. Otherwise,
justifiably perhaps, they would say, oh, you've only come
to make money, you never accept it as your own country. This
also leads to distrust. Living in another country is such
an opportunity to learn, at least it has been for me, and
one shouldn't overlook that. At the same time, it doesn't
mean you have to forget about your own cultural roots. The
two can co-exist, and we must recognise that. It's not easy,
especially in times of conflict. In my latest work Queen of
Dreams I reflect on the effect of 9/11 on the minority community.
We saw many from the Sikh community being attacked who had
made America their home.
Do you feel the diaspora films
reflect the dilemma of the immigrants in the same way? Sometimes
they seem so cliché.
The human story is the same, isn't it? The same concerns,
the same things that make people happy, or sad. As somebody
said, there are only two things for the writer to write on-
love and death. The artiste's job is to present these same
concerns in individual ways. It's complicated and tough. Being
an artiste I am less critical today because I know how difficult
it is.
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