Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, popularly known for her book “The Palace of Illusions” which narrates the Mahabharata from Drupadi’s point of view talks about books, culture and feminism with Modern Diplomacy. Chitra is a celebrated feminist authors who gives voice to women in mythology whose narrative has most often been written and controlled by men. By shifting the focus from men’s stories to women’s narratives, she increases empathy and understanding of lived women’s struggles.
First of all, congratulations on the success of your latest book The Forest of Enchantment. Your work has been loved across different age groups, globally. What inspired you to be a writer?
I was inspired by 3 things: moving to the USA when I was nineteen, the death of my grandfather, and my nonprofit work with domestic violence and trafficking.
When I moved to the US, I began to see more clearly—both the world in India that I had left behind, including many things I valued about my culture. The death of my grandfather made me aware of how fleeting memories are and how soon we forget. My community work with women made me aware of many silent problems that exist in our communities and how important it is to hear these stories and empathize with these lives. All these made me want to write and share my experiences.
Your work seems to have a central theme; Of women and understanding their identity in the backdrop of family, culture and geography. There are few notable writers who are doing good work in this. How important do you think it is, to be able to successfully deliver such stories?
It is very important to showcase the lives, challenges and triumphs of women, and to do so in a way that humanizes them and makes readers identify with them. I believe with such empathy, attitudes change for the better and thus readers’ lives begin to transform. So many people have told me that they were inspired by the life of Draupadi depicted in The Palace of Illusions and Sita in The Forest of Enchantments, even though these are characters from long ago. They told me these books gave them inspiration and allowed them to move forward in their own lives. So I know firsthand the importance of women’s stories. And I, too, continue to be influenced and inspired by such stories.
You were born in Bengal, a place that has given eminent writers whose works have been celebrated worldwide. Your name is a joyful addition to the already illustrations list. What has Bengal and Kolkata given you, taught you and how did it nurture you while you were growing up?
I grew up reading (in Bengali) the works of Rabindranath Tagore and Sharat Chandra, men who empathized deeply with the plight of women. Later I read Mahasweta Devi, BaniBasu and Mallika Sengupta, among others. All these books inspired me to write about women and gave me good role models. So I think the greatest gift Bengal has given me is the works of its writers.
Why do you believe that in this 21st century world, we still live in the shackles of patriarchy, something that should have been broken long back for an equal, liberal and just world?
There are many complicated reasons. I’ll mention two. An important one is the lack of education for girls, which changes our thinking and gives us willpower and confidence. The other is financial independence for women, because without it women are at the mercy of others, including people in their own families. It is very important to work on these. I am happy that in my small way I support organizations like Pratham in India which focus on education as well as vocational training for women.
What is it in a human being that makes her want to express her emotions by penning down her thoughts, what we call poems. Do you believe, like many, that empathy is the most crucial trait to be a poet?
Empathy is important, yes. But observation skills and imagination are equally important. And self-honesty, because many times poems are about our own lives and our understanding of important events and challenges we have faced. Or they can be about nature, where observation and imagination are particularly important.
Your work also includes remarkably portrayed cross cultural references between India and the USA. Did that arrive out of your personal experience? In other words, was that a reflection of your own personal journey of a cultural shift? How was the reaction from the American public on this work?
In some ways, my cross-cultural stories come out of my personal experience, but more so out of my observation. Also listening. I like to listen when people discuss their lives and challenges. The overall reaction from the American public has been very good. I am grateful for all the positive reviews and awards, and some of the books have been on bestseller lists.
Writing stories from Mahabharata and Ramayana from the perspective of the female characters and protagonists. That was bold and made for a tremendous round of applause. How did you come up with the idea?
Thanks for the kind words! I have been impressed and fascinated by the stories of our epics ever since I was a little girl listening to my grandfather telling me these tales. As I grew up, I wondered more and more about the fascinating women characters in the epics, and I became aware of how little space was given to them. We knew their actions but not their thoughts or their hearts. Slowly the desire filled me to write about them, making them the heroines of their world. To really look at who they were and what they had to teach the contemporary women. They were certainly worth learning from, even when they did controversial things! I was worried, though, as to how people would react to this project. Surprisingly, the response has been immensely positive. I am grateful for that.
Your work has been touted as something that reverberates ‘simplicity of the language’ and is ‘rooted in reality’. How important do you think such qualities are for good writing and for getting connected to the readers?
There are many kinds of writers. Each relate to life and to language and to their readers differently. I have always believed that clear, simple language is important. I wish to invite as many readers as possible into my books. I don’t want them to be only for intellectual types. I like to read and write from the heart. When my mother was alive, I often thought, I want to write books that are accessible to her. (She was a wonderful, intelligent woman, but she did not have a formal English education, just what she picked up in the course of her life). I believe art should be inclusive, not exclusive.
Tell us how important it is to keep the cultural sanctity of literature festivals alive and running. What role do they play?
Literature festivals are SO important. They create excitement around books and ideas. They bring readers and writers together. They allow writers to have discourses with one another. I learn so much whenever I attend a litfest. I am so glad that India is having more and more festivals, and that some of these are in relatively remote places or smaller cities where people might not have otherwise had the exposure. I am glad to see, especially in India, that young people are excited about books. When I read from Forest of Enchantments in Jaipur, I was delighted to meet many high school and college students who had read my books. I would never have known about that otherwise.
A message that you would like to convey to the young and aspiring writers…
If writing is important to us, we must make time for it in our lives. This means we must simplify our lives to find time and energy to read and write. As writers, we need to read widely and read everyday. I recommend keeping a writer’s notebook to jot down ideas that come to you while reading. It is also a good place to jot down sentences or techniques you are noticing as you read.
Try to write every day. It is also very helpful to have a few writer friends with whom you can share work. I still work with a writer’s group. We meet on skype every month, share work, and learn from each other.
