Monday, 9 November 2015 - 12:06pm IST | Agency: dna webdesk
Latha Srinivasan
"Let us go down to the people who need to be told what is going on rather than just embarrass a set of bureaucrats and government appointees. Let us fill handbills, flex boards, newspaper columns; let us write stories, poems and essays that will make people listen and absorb. Let us set our tongue free."
Anita Nair
She's written several books, but one of her best-known is the translation of the Malayalam novel Chemmeen into English. Author Anita Nair has been vocal about the recent trend of intolerance in India. In an exclusive interview with dna, she talks about this and how writers can contribute to social change in the country.
The Malayalam movie Chemeen completed 50 years this year and you've translated the book into English. Why do you think this story is still so popular?
There is something about forbidden love that calls out to the pagan in each one of us. And there is the sea and the ethos of the fisherfolk. These are people who pit their strengths against the mighty ocean every day and their lives are fraught with danger on a daily basis.All of this come together in a seemingly simple story but is so textured that with each reading you discover a new dimension. That is why Chemmeen is an enduring classic
What's your view on the intolerance in our country today?
It is extremely disturbing and worrying. I grew up in a secular India. I was taught that every religion is just a way of reaching a greater power in an organised fashion. No one religion is better than the other. I was taught that my freedom ended at the tip of my nose and thereafter it is another person's space. I have no business encroaching it or interfering there. So to see the country change into a place where religious strife, caste distinctions are further reinforced rather than erased, escalating sexual violence - all of this is frightening.
How can writers today contribute to social change?
We Indians are living in a strange time where writers whose life and breath are words are driven to shrug aside the accolades received for creating what they have with their blood and soul. It is the protest of the conscience keepers of the society against what is a demonic wave of intolerance. These are stalwart writers and their gesture is that of the clenched fist protesting against the establishment. While I do salute and applaud these writers for standing up and returning a national honour, I believe our protest against where our politics is leading us needs to percolate into little villages cut away from the goings-on in intellectual India. It is here that I think writers need to remember that our only ally and weapon are words. So let us write more; let us write about what worries us. Let us write about what is going to turn this country into a hell hole if we don’t prevent it from happening. Let us write in languages people read in and not just English that is truly comprehended by a minuscule segment of us. Let us go down to the people who need to be told what is going on rather than just embarrass a set of bureaucrats and government appointees. Let us fill handbills, flex boards, newspaper columns; let us write stories, poems and essays that will make people listen and absorb. Let us set our tongue free.
Tell us about your upcoming new book.
It is a novel that happened almost on a whim. A story of food, love and the god particle. Lena Abraham knows that love can end only in one way -- disappointment. Her marriage to KK is perfect precisely because she is not in love with him, and their life on a tea plantation in the picturesque Anamalai hills is idyllic. Then, one rainy morning, a man arrives to take up temporary residence in the home-stay they run. Shoola Pani is South Indian cinema's heartthrob, an actor in flight from his own superstardom, and the last thing he is looking for is emotional entanglement. But when Lena and he meet, something flares between them that neither could have anticipated. She becomes his Lee and he her Ship, and the place they inhabit Arcadia. Told partly from the point of view of Komathi, the elderly family cook, and whose own relationship with Lena is fraught with buried truths from the past, it's a tale of unexpected passion and adultery and reaffirms the magical power of love in all our lives.
Latha Srinivasan
"Let us go down to the people who need to be told what is going on rather than just embarrass a set of bureaucrats and government appointees. Let us fill handbills, flex boards, newspaper columns; let us write stories, poems and essays that will make people listen and absorb. Let us set our tongue free."
She's written several books, but one of her best-known is the translation of the Malayalam novel Chemmeen into English. Author Anita Nair has been vocal about the recent trend of intolerance in India. In an exclusive interview with dna, she talks about this and how writers can contribute to social change in the country.
The Malayalam movie Chemeen completed 50 years this year and you've translated the book into English. Why do you think this story is still so popular?
There is something about forbidden love that calls out to the pagan in each one of us. And there is the sea and the ethos of the fisherfolk. These are people who pit their strengths against the mighty ocean every day and their lives are fraught with danger on a daily basis.All of this come together in a seemingly simple story but is so textured that with each reading you discover a new dimension. That is why Chemmeen is an enduring classic
What's your view on the intolerance in our country today?
It is extremely disturbing and worrying. I grew up in a secular India. I was taught that every religion is just a way of reaching a greater power in an organised fashion. No one religion is better than the other. I was taught that my freedom ended at the tip of my nose and thereafter it is another person's space. I have no business encroaching it or interfering there. So to see the country change into a place where religious strife, caste distinctions are further reinforced rather than erased, escalating sexual violence - all of this is frightening.
How can writers today contribute to social change?
We Indians are living in a strange time where writers whose life and breath are words are driven to shrug aside the accolades received for creating what they have with their blood and soul. It is the protest of the conscience keepers of the society against what is a demonic wave of intolerance. These are stalwart writers and their gesture is that of the clenched fist protesting against the establishment. While I do salute and applaud these writers for standing up and returning a national honour, I believe our protest against where our politics is leading us needs to percolate into little villages cut away from the goings-on in intellectual India. It is here that I think writers need to remember that our only ally and weapon are words. So let us write more; let us write about what worries us. Let us write about what is going to turn this country into a hell hole if we don’t prevent it from happening. Let us write in languages people read in and not just English that is truly comprehended by a minuscule segment of us. Let us go down to the people who need to be told what is going on rather than just embarrass a set of bureaucrats and government appointees. Let us fill handbills, flex boards, newspaper columns; let us write stories, poems and essays that will make people listen and absorb. Let us set our tongue free.
Tell us about your upcoming new book.
It is a novel that happened almost on a whim. A story of food, love and the god particle. Lena Abraham knows that love can end only in one way -- disappointment. Her marriage to KK is perfect precisely because she is not in love with him, and their life on a tea plantation in the picturesque Anamalai hills is idyllic. Then, one rainy morning, a man arrives to take up temporary residence in the home-stay they run. Shoola Pani is South Indian cinema's heartthrob, an actor in flight from his own superstardom, and the last thing he is looking for is emotional entanglement. But when Lena and he meet, something flares between them that neither could have anticipated. She becomes his Lee and he her Ship, and the place they inhabit Arcadia. Told partly from the point of view of Komathi, the elderly family cook, and whose own relationship with Lena is fraught with buried truths from the past, it's a tale of unexpected passion and adultery and reaffirms the magical power of love in all our lives.
Source: dnaindia
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