It is a combination of excitement and learning when it comes to interviewing writers, more so when a writer unveils colorful shades of Indian Diaspora. Please welcome our guest for this month – Shilpa Agarwal. The Los Angeles based author (of Haunting Bombay fame) specializes in south Asian literature and women’s studies.
Shilpa's first novel, HAUNTING BOMBAY, is a winner of the 2003 First Words Literary Prize for South Asian writers.
Team Okiedoks wishes her success and happiness.
Lets know more about the author..
1. Excluding the writing part, could you introduce yourself please?
My educational background is in Asian and African literatures, Women’s Studies, Post-colonial Literature, 19th and 20th century American literature, and Asian American Studies. I had initially studied pre-medicine as an undergraduate but then decided to immerse myself in literature as a graduate student, researcher, and teaching fellow. I am a founder of ArtWallah, an annual arts festival of South Asian Diasporic Art here in America, and part of a collaborative community of South Asian artists. I am married and have children, and love being a wife and mom. In my free time, I practice yoga and qigong, bike, and garden.
2. How did ‘Haunting Bombay’ happen?
I was studying postcolonial literature and themes of voice and nationhood when the idea to write a book first came to mind. I wanted to bring those themes to play in a novel, to look at moments of alienation and awakening, especially during geographic and metaphoric crossings: east meets west, centers meet the peripheries, the living meet the dead.
Haunting Bombay takes place in a bungalow on Malabar Hill, the old elite colonial enclave. It opens on a day that a granddaughter in the wealthy Mittal family is being bathed by her ayah. The ayah is called away and when she returns, she finds that the child has drowned. They ayah of course is immediately banished from the bungalow but the family’s lives, including the servants, spin out from that unalterable moment in time.
I began to wonder what the child and the ayah would have said about what happened that drowning day. What if we could hear their versions of the truth? In the story, my thirteen year-old protagonist, Pinky Mittal, who has been adopted into the family, must find the courage to seek the truth which has been repressed (as it oftentimes is by those in power). Pinky becomes haunted by the ghost of the dead child who is communicating outside the mode of human language because she has been silenced in the realm of human language. My story is an exploration of how we can hear the voices of the dispossessed - about what sacrifices and risks must be taken in order to actually hear and bridge the divide between the self and the other.
3. Not many authors start with a mixed genre which has a shade of horror, but you have a tint of horror in your storyline. Comments?
There is a Buddhist saying that fear is what you experience the closer you get to Truth. My book in its essence is a journey of discovering truth. And yes, in order to get there, my protagonist has to face her fears; she has to find the strength inside her to know that the truth - in the end - will set her free, and will set her family free from the tragic past that has haunted them for so many years.
4. Does ‘Haunting Bombay’ have any events mirrored from your personal experiences in life?
I think many first books have autobiographical elements. Several of my characters are inspired by my family and others are informed by the personalities of the Indian aunties and uncles I know here in America. I feel passionately about its message of truth, voice, and belonging.
6. What percentage of Pinky Mittal is Shilpa (the pretty lady, not the writer)?
Pinky is inspired by my mother who was an infant during Partition and who was raised by her maternal grandmother in Mumbai.
7. The book has been received well and you have been compared with Indu Sundaresan etc. Were you expecting all this?
Once I wrote the book, I let it go so it could make its own journey into the world. Publishing has been an exhilarating experience, especially meeting other authors, being translated into foreign languages, and receiving emails from readers all over the world. I am thankful for the many thoughtful reviews and comparisons to wonderful writers like Indu Sundaresan, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Monica Ali.
8. Writers are social activists, they are artists, and they are this and that. What is your poison for being a writer?
I hope my writing is a vessel for social justice and that it resonates in my reader's hearts. I am an artist, academic, and activist but when I write, I let the story flow through me and take me in whatever direction it wants. It is a very organic process.
9. It is seen as a trend that whenever NRIs want to connect with India, they either become a part of Bollywood or write a book about India. Any comments?
My book was about my family and their stories; it was a very intimate exploration of my lineage. During the process of writing the book, I spoke with my grandparents about their experiences of Partition which they had kept in a silent, painful place in their hearts. I spoke with relatives about their experience of India in the 60’s. I wanted to honor their stories and struggles in my book, and the stories of my parents’ youth before they immigrated to America.
10. Was it easy to have your book published? Our readers would like to know how you went about it.
I connected with a wonderful literary agent who then sold my manuscript to my publisher. It wasn’t an easy process but certainly an educational one!
11. Who is your favorite Indian author? Your current read?
My writing has been influenced post-colonial writers who trace the impact of colonialism on a culture or nation, and writers who undrape the inner workings of power and gender in a society. I have many favorite authors, including Isabelle Allende, who weaves family stories with magic realism and the mysticism of South America; Toni Morrison, who brings the weight of history and the past into her writing but also incorporates supernatural elements; and Nawal El Saadawi, who writes powerfully about women pushing up against the rigid confines of Egyptian society.
There are many Indian authors who’s work I respect a great deal including Amitav Ghosh and Arundhati Roy. I recently read Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese and enjoyed it immensely.
12. Would you like to tell us about your future projects?
I am currently completing the manuscript of my second book which is the next book in a loosely-knit trilogy I am writing, all dealing with the theme of the other, voicelessness, and crossing boundaries. In this trilogy, Haunting Bombay is my “water” book: the drowning, the monsoons, the flooded bungalow, the haunted bathroom, the bodily fluids that leak and ooze, the seas, the sacred waters and the profane. My second book is my “fire” book and the third will be my “earth” book.
13. Any advice you would like to give to budding writers?
Write everyday. Make it a discipline and meditation. Persevere!
You can get in touch with Shilpa Agarwal via her website http://www.shilpaagarwal.com/