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'Living in the US is a complex experience' San Francisco, 5 May 2001: With two novels, two poem collections and two collections of short stories, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (left) is one of the most visible South Asian writers today. Her most recent work The Unknown Errors of Our Lives: Stories was released in bookstores last month. Divakaruni, who co-founded Maitri, a Bay Area-based women's resource organization, participated on The Rediff Chat on 23 April, 2001. She discussed her new book and those who influenced her writing.
Administrator : Hi folks, Chitra is here and she will be
logging on in a minute! venu : Hello MadamHow do u do? Ms. Divakaruni : great - bring on your questions! ambikagarg : hi ! its a real pleasure to actually talk to you.My favourite book was sister of my heart. Ms. Divakaruni : thank you. it's such a pleasure when readers connect to my work. arpita : hi ms. how are you Ms. Divakaruni : hello to all of you. i am glad to be chatting with you all today. Massey : Please tell us about ur meeting with Mani Ratnam and what will his approach to the film be like? Ms. Divakaruni : We haven't met,just communicated over e-mail. His wife Suhasini is more involved with the film than him. She wrote the screenplay. phani : Hi Chitra. You seem to carry the mantle of writing about immigrant indians from Bharti Mukerjee.Your stories and novels are remarkable.But I wish u make them more humourous like the "wheat complexion and pink cheeks" or the article u wrote in the Atlantic Review about the matrimonial ads in 'Times of India'. Ms. Divakaruni : phani,at this point in my fiction writing I am really interested in exploring the tragic moments of our immigrant experience. but i hope to touch upon humorous issues in a nonfiction book of essays soon. Suresh : is anything cooking here? Ms. Divakaruni : yeah sure. what's your question? Suresh : or am i wasting my time? Ms. Divakaruni : i am waiting for more questions. Suresh : which part of India you from Chitdra? Ms. Divakaruni : i am from calcutta. but i have lived in a number of other cities because my father moved around a lot. Phanir : But to a woman coming from India to the US,by the way of marriage,doesn't the tragic tinge in your writings convey the point that america is not a bed of roses and probably wud be led to believe that its more of a travail to live in the US Ms. Divakaruni : i think the writings convey that living in the U.S. is a complex experience. Certainly there are happy moments in the stories and novels as well. For example, when people fall in love or experience something new and exciting. Suresh : havent read your book, will if it is inspirational. Is it? Ms. Divakaruni : depends on what you find inspirational. what i try to do in my writing is to make you empathize with the joys and sorrows of characters whose lives maybe very different from yours. as a reader i've always found that a growing experience. gyptian : hey !! ... ive read ur books and loved it ... we live in berkeleyand totally loved 'mistress of spices' Ms. Divakaruni : thank you. i am really fond of the Bay Area. That and Bengal are the two parts of the world I know best and I like to base my stories around them. Suresh : Where you at right now Chitra? Ms. Divakaruni : i live in the san francisco area. Suresh : Living is a complex experience PERIOD!!!!! Ms. Divakaruni : that's right! that's why i feel it wouldn't be accurate unless i showed both sides in my books. Phanir : what are the suggestions you would give to the aspiring young writers to write abt immigrant lives ? Ms. Divakaruni : instead of advice, this is just sharing what i found helpful. read a lot, especially other immigrant writers, also from cultures other than south asian. i've found a lot of subjects and inspiration from people like cristina garcia and toni morrison. Suresh : u think she'd be ok at uc berkeley? Ms. Divakaruni : i think your daughter will be fine. berkeley is a great school, very concerned with current issues. she'll get an education both in the classroom and outside because of all the campus activities that really make you aware of what's going on in the world. Phanir : It looks ,to me ,that most of your stories have an autobiographical hue especially 'the silver pavement' because i was led to belive that it has the emotional tone of somebody who has been there. Ms. Divakaruni : many of my stories start with an idea based on an incident that eithern happened to me or to people i know or something i read in the papers, which i feel strongly about. none of them are specifically autobiographical. but i do have to get inside the characters' skin to express successfully what they are feeling. gyptian : Are you involved in any kind of activism ? Do you stay away from political situations ? I cant help asking ... Ms. Divakaruni : yes i am very involved with maitri, a south asian helpline for women in abusive situations. i co-founded the service in 1991. we help women fight domestic violence as well as give them grants to go back to school, get job training and start over. Phanir : Were you influenced by writings of RK Narayan and Marques south american writer? Ms. Divakaruni : yes i was influenced by both although more than narayan, i was inspired by anita desai and rohinton mistry. dipsjoi : hi, read your first book arranged marriage, reminded me of my days back in india especially in calcutta Ms. Divakaruni : thank you. i am glad the book was able to recreate that atmosphere for you. Phanir : I sincerely wish you had a reading in the hub of the universe and the seat of american intellect,Boston Ms. Divakaruni : for this tour, i am not going to boston but hopefully for the paperback tour i will. i've been to boston for readings before and enjoyed the audience very much. by the way, i thought the hub of the universe and intellect was san francisco! Kumar : Hello Ms Divakaruni.kamon achen? I mean how are u? I love alll ur books.U have written books basically telling the plights of Indian or asina women in india or south asian woman based in U.S but how about writing something about indian kids or indian men or indian families or all of them? Any thoughts if u might do so? Ms. Divakaruni : my new book "unknown errors of our lives" deals with the experiences of families, particularly the older generation like the grandparents and the second generation, kids who have grown up here. i find that their experience is very interesting, especially how they feel about being indian. sandeep : Hello Madam, Greetings from an avid reader and fan Ms. Divakaruni : hello sandeep. would you like to ask a question Phanir : Were your books translated to any Indian languages especially Hindi? Ms. Divakaruni : stories have been translated into gujarati, hindi, marathi, bengali. i would love for people to translate more into other languages because i really want to reach indians who don't read english. kauai : Hi Ms. Divakaruni, it is a pleasure to be chatting with you. I find the title of your new book pretty intriguing "unknown errors ... " ... will you explain the thought behind it? Ms. Divakaruni : the idea behind the book is that we're making choices all the time without really knowing whether we are doing the right thing. characters in these stories often discover years later the real and sometimes unexpected impact of their choices. dipsjoi : hello, where do you get your ideas from are they real life experience or your piece of imagination Ms. Divakaruni : imagination is the most important ingredient. otherwise even a great plot wouldn't come alive. i often find that my characters surprise me and do things i didn't expect. Rhea : I have read most of your book, I love your work. Will there be a sequel to 'Sister of my Heart'? Ms. Divakaruni : thank you. do you want a sequel? Vinay : Ms Divakaruni: I'd like to ask you what in the Indian psyche makes India the ideal whipping boy for the rest of the world (from US to Pakistan & even Bangladesh !!!) Ms. Divakaruni : why do you think that? i think that indian culture and history has so much that is valuable, that i love and admire. i certainly want to pass many of my indian values to my children. many of my non-indian friends agree with me. kalyan : Hi! Can u let me in a very few sentences know what the book is about? Ms. Divakaruni : apart from the theme of errors it is about the journey westward toward america and the corresponding journey east back to india. the book explores whether such a return is possible, and to what degree. rajkumar : what do you think about Indian writers in English are they able to make it big in the western world?I mean I read in newspapers that only a handful of them make it big .is it because indian themes dont catch the western imagination or our writers simply lack the punch to entice and captivate the western reader? Ms. Divakaruni : i think there are increasingly larger numbers of indian writers that are really successful, not just in america but also places like israel and japan. i think this trend will continue to grow. there's a lot of talent out there and the world is very positively inclined towards that right now. mylav : divakaruni??? is that a south indian surname ?? Ms. Divakaruni : my husband is telugu although i am bengali. rajkumar : did u attempt to write in Bengali? Ms. Divakaruni : i only write letters to my mother, and she tells me it's good i don't write anything else. Sree : Dear Ms Divakaruni, I am a Malaysian Indiancurrently in Australia, finishing my Law degree.I have been writing ever since I can remember, but I neverseem to be able to finish what I start. Can you please give meany tips on this? I have read Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way". Do you think her "morning pages" are useful? Ms. Divakaruni : yes i like julia cameron's book. whatever works for you is what you should do. each writer approaches his or her work in a whole different way. for example, i always meditate before i start working. abhishek : where can I get the book it it available online somewhere.. Ms. Divakaruni : try amazon. there are some reviews posted there also. Rhea : I am so glad you wrote about social issues like domestic violence, will you be writing a novel along these lines in the future? Ms. Divakaruni : mistress of spices deals with this theme of DV quite extensively. Divia : Ms. Divakaruni, I admire your work. I'm curious as to how you feel about the way in which Indian literature is categorized ... How do you feel about the Commonwealth category, for example, and immigrant-writing? Do you think such divisons affect authors as they write? Ms. Divakaruni : thank you divia. categories are used by people as a means of looking at particular kinds of writings. as long as we don't stereotype what we expect in each category, i think we're okay. also, we need to not lock people into categories. one writer may belong to several categories. for example, she maybe a woman writer, an asian american writer, an immigrant writer, etc. i don't like the commonwealth category. we need to discard the colonial attitudes behind naming such a category. Sree : I also must say that I adored your "ArrangedMarriages" - how close were the characters to real life? Ms. Divakaruni : they were mostly imagined, although my ex-friends sometimes claim they were in those stories! mylav : hey chitra ji, telugu husband??Well, are you following the footsteps of late Ms.sarojini naidu ??? All the best. Hope you bring laurels to the nation. Ms. Divakaruni : thank you! phaniraj : Hi Chitra.A quick question why is that most of the recognised women writers are Bengali or Bengali descent-You,Bharti Mukerjee,Jhumpa Lahiri etc? Ms. Divakaruni : as much as i would like to think that we bengalis especially women have superior cultural genes, i think it's merely coincidence plus think of all the other great writers like anita desai, etc. chitti : hai Msdivakarunihow r u how u got stimulation to write Ms. Divakaruni : i am inspired by a desire to create stories that show the complex nature of our immigrant experience and hopefully break some stereotypes. phaniraj : Being an academic in English,you didnt try for inventiveness in language brought in by the likes of Salman Rusdie of more recently Arundhati Roy . Ms. Divakaruni : each writer writes differently. i felt my characters needed a more realistic language. Sree : I'm actually on campus right now and I haveto leave soon, but I just want to say that readingyour books reignited my long dormant passion forexpressing myself through writing, and for that I wouldlike to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I know what its like to bean Indian not only living abroad but also born and bred aboard, and the dualidentity maintained by all around me. ( and by the way, you share the same nameas my mother - just wanted to tell you that ) Ms. Divakaruni : thank you sree. good luck to you as you follow your dreams of writing. kjjh : what do you think of pico iyers work? does the travel genre interest you at all? Ms. Divakaruni : i like pico's work very much. i like reading travel writing but don't see myself doing that in the near future. Haash : Hello Ms. Divakaruni, are you going to be teaching Creative writing at Foothill or De Anza college any time soon ? Ms. Divakaruni : i am writing full time now. that alongwith taking care my two boys, ages 6 AND 9 and my community workkeeps me very busy. Ms. Divakaruni : these are great questions. i will try to answer as many as i can in the next 10 minutes. if not, i hope some of you can come to my readings in the next four weeks across america. details are on my web site, www.chitradivakaruni.com and the rediff city pages. kjjh : dont you think your work is similar to that of anita rau badami Ms. Divakaruni : i think we have some similar themes but we approach our issues differently. by the way, we'll be on a panel together on april 30 at ucla for the l.a. times book fest. Ms. Divakaruni : Thank you all for your great questions and your supportive comments about my work. Goodbye!!!
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