Today, author Saborna Roychowdhury
talks about coming to America from India at the age of 19, learning to fit in
to a different culture, the difference between Bollywood tales and real India,
and her novel, The Distance. Read
more about her novel, which recently won a starred review from Publishers Weekly, at the end of this
interview!
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IB: The Distance deals with
a young Indian woman's "coming of age," immigration to Canada and
return to her native country. How much of the story is based on your own
experience?
Saborna: All the characters in this book are purely fictional. I am not Mini,
and there is nothing autobiographical in this novel. However, like Mini, I am
an immigrant who left Kolkata and moved to North America. I look at the
American society from the outside, as a foreigner. I used some of my own experience
in Mini’s struggles to fit in and carve out her own space in Canadian society.
IB: The characters in the
book all seem to represent different sides of India -- Amitav is the communist
rebel fighting poverty and corruption, Neel is the striving individualist, and
Mini is caught between the two. Do you feel their struggles represent India's
struggle?
Saborna: India is in early phase of development and like
most other states in similar stage of development is fraught with conflicts and
struggles. The struggles come in several
different forms. It includes struggles
between the India of old (this is pre-1990s India which was influenced by the
Soviet central planning system and professed a more socialistic philosophy) and
the India of new (which is increasingly individualistic in behavior and
globally homogeneous in thought). It
also includes the struggle between the process of industrialization and costs
of it: the people who are displaced for exploitation of land and natural
resources. As one group of people
becomes richer from the fruits of such development, another group becomes
poorer as they lose their ancient culture, livelihood and way of living. This is a part of the conflict between the
old and new, between the social and the individual, the rich and the poor. This is India’s dominant struggle as it
continues the development to greater wealth and prosperity: it is the struggle
for socio-economic justice and equality.
An example of such a
struggle can be what happened in my own state of West Bengal. Nandigram is a
rural area about 70 km south-west of Kolkata. The Government of West Bengal, acting on behalf of foreign capitalists, forcefully
tried to acquire 10,000 acres of land from the Nandigram farmers for a Special
Economic Zone (SEZ) .This land was to be developed by the Indonesian-based
Salim Group for industrialization. Farmers of Nandigram were determined not to
give up their land. At first they protested peacefully. But one day, the police
entered the Nandigram area and tried to obtain the land forcefully from the
farmers. What the government did not expect was the massive resistance they faced
in the village. The villagers fought back even though the police force was
heavily armed. In the police shootings at least 14 villagers died and 70 more were
wounded.
IB: Like Mini,
you emigrated to America. Could you tell us about the biggest adjustment you
had to make when you came here?
Saborna: I came to the U.S. when I was only 19 years old. Back home, I was
considered beautiful, funny and popular. I was in my high school drama and
dance team. But as an undergraduate in West Virginia, I felt everything about
me was wrong. In the restroom, I compared myself with the white beauties
putting on make-up in the mirrors, next to me. I felt my hair and skin were the
wrong color. I did not shave my entire leg, straighten my hair with a hot-iron or
put heavy makeup around my eyes.
I remember in my early days
in the U.S.--wearing clothes that were one size bigger than me and shoes that
had a few stiches on them. Other Indians took me aside and whispered to
me---“You can’t wear this here. In this country people wear fitting clothes and
mostly new shoes. Throw away all the old stuff and buy new ones.” That’s was my
first exposure to a hyper-consumerist society. I will soon learn and become a
part of the quick “use and throw culture.”
In the beginning, I had
trouble making friends. I ran around in packs with other Indian students,
staying away from my American classmates. My accent, my experiences, my take on
most issues was very different from that of my classmates. In crossing the
Atlantic, I had somehow lost my eloquence and my sense of humor. I was just the
“weird” Indian girl. Maybe that’s why I can look at the American society from
the “outside,” the same way Mini does.
But later I will come to
find out that despite my initial cultural shock, I have come to a society that
is also the most open and accepting of differences. Some of these women will
become my best friends and a few of these boys will ask me out on dates. I will
come to accept America as the most class-less, least snobbish and most socially
mobile society of all.
IB: How often do you get to
visit India now, and what is it like to go back?
Saborna: I visit India every two years. Kolkata is a city that changes slowly.
Even then I see a conflict between a waning feudal structure and an aggressive
capitalism taking its place. I see the older generation still trying to
maintain family relationships, customs and rituals the old-fashioned way. They think
in terms of extended family and identify themselves as a part of a bigger clan.
They try to visit relatives on a regular basis and keep up with the gossip and
personal details of the greater clan.
The aging older generation expects
the younger generation to take care of them just as they took care of their
parents once. In general, they expect the same kind of obedience and respect
from the younger generation that they had once shown to their elders. The older
generation is also more religious and lean towards fatalism when it comes to
decision making.
The younger generation,
however, has tasted the fruits of capitalism. Many work for multinational
companies where they get salaries their parents can only dream of. Instead of
living with their parents, they are moving out and living in their own
apartment where they pay a monthly mortgage. The extended family structure has
almost collapsed or is collapsing.
The younger generation, which works 50-60 hrs
per week, has little patience for their parents’ slow and sentimental world.
Lack of time limits their ability to visit or keep up with the extended family.
They have also discarded many of the social customs and rituals that their
parents still insist on maintaining. This generation is more into new
technology and lives a fast-paced, high expense, quick reward type of life.
They eat in expensive restaurants, shop in flashy malls and take foreign trips
at least once a year. They also rely more on modern science and research in
their decision making.
IB: Americans are probably
most familiar with India through literature such as The Raj Quartet or A
Passage to India, or through Bollywood films. The former captures some of the
country's past, the latter its current gestalt. What is missing from these
portraits of India that you'd like Americans to know about?
Saborna: India is a land of many hues and colors. There is the ancient India of
emperors and kings, there is the India of the raj and there is the India of
present times. My focus is on the India
of today, as compared to The Raj Quartet or A Passage to India which depicts
the India of the raj. Compared to these books, my books reflect a much more
democratic and pluralistic India, in which the female character is well
educated and conscious of the implications of her choices and is divided by
them. Quite a few Bollywood movies are
also driven by the choices of the male “hero,” with the female “heroine,”
playing a noticeably passive role. On
the other hand, the women of India are strong.
India had one of the early female heads of state (the Prime Minister in
India). Female students are some of the
top performers in Indian exams. My protagonist, Mini, is educated and socially
conscious. She is analytical and a keen observer of changes around her. So I
want the Americans to know….they will find a protagonist in my book who is very
different from the Indian women they see in Bollywood movies.
IB: Could you tell us a
little about your writing journey -- how you decided to become a writer, what
motivates you, what you hope to accomplish with your writing?
Saborna: I had just moved to Boston and I was looking for a job. I thought
taking a fiction writing class would be fun. I took my first fiction class at
Grub Street, Boston. There I met Jeffrey Kellogg, who was a very supportive and
inspiring teacher. In a writing exercise, he asked us to close our eyes and
think of an image and then bring it to life with our words.
“Write about what you see
and feel. Who is in the picture? What is he/she like?”
The image that I saw that
night was that of a fifteen-year-old maid who once worked for my aunt back home
in Calcutta. Her father used to come every month to collect her wages.
The girl often complained
to my aunt how her father never thinks of her wedding or her happiness--just
uses her as a supplier of paper notes. My aunt was worried about her and tried
to mediate between the father and daughter, but the father was not ready to
listen.
One day, my aunt found this teenage girl
hanging from the ceiling fan in her little terrace room. Her body was still
warm and her breathing shallow. My aunt did CPR on her. By the time the doctor
came, the girl passed away in my aunt’s lap.
The father and political
party supporting him ignored the suicide note and demanded a large sum of money
from my aunt. I knew that night that I
had to write the girl’s story. When it came to sharing the story with my class,
I was worried. I was a chemistry teacher --this was my first attempt at writing
a short story. But my teacher, Jeff, gave me great feedback, and other people
in my class seemed to like the story a lot.
“Send it off to a journal
for publication,” Jeff urged me. “See what happens.”
So it was because of his
encouragement, I mailed the story to three journals. Within a month New York
Stories called and said they want to go ahead and publish my piece. I did not know anything about Pushcart prize
or nomination then. I was happy the story was published. At the end of 2004, I
received a letter from New York Stories.
“Each year New York Stories receives 3,000
manuscripts for consideration. We publish approximately 25. We nominate six,
the best of the best, for the Pushcart prize, and yours, we are happy to say,
was among them…” (Danny Lynch, Editor)
When I showed the letter to Jeff, he said, “Getting a Pushcart
nomination for a first short story is highly unusual. It’s time for you to
write your first novel.”
IB: What's next -- are you
working on anything in particular right now?
Saborna: I am working on my new novel, Parul’s
Wish. It is an intimate story of love, betrayal and redemption in the context of over-arching
political and social themes. Parul and Munni, grow up in the same Hindu
household in Calcutta, but Parul is Muslim, and works as the maid, and Munni is
her employer’s daughter. While Munni’s life is cushioned and blanketed from all
sides with a proper education, bank balance, big house and middle class status;
Parul battles with poverty and an uncertain future. This growing distance
between them will one day result in a terrible betrayal that will alter their
lives forever.
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The
Distance by Saborna
Roychowdhury is available in print and digitally.
“Roychowdury’s
debut is a story about India’s growing pains told through the microcosm of a young
woman struggling to find love and purpose...Through Roychowdhury’s rich detail
and illuminating dialogue emerges a protagonist who is caught in a love triangle
and the conflict between rigid traditions and western freedoms. The book also
smoothly incorporates the countless facets of modern India, with an abundance of
cultural references neatly packed in.” Publishers Weekly, starred review.
“…a love letter to
India itself….” South Asian Review
Torn
between the tradition-bound India of her grandmother and the new, striving
country of her peers, young college student Mini searches for love and meaning
in gritty Calcutta. Attracted at first to Amitav, an idealistic rebel whose
risky attempts to help his countrymen fill her with admiration, Mini is
ultimately repulsed by his naivete and unwillingness to see beyond his own
personal passions. When her parents begin the process of arranging a marriage,
she doesn’t resist. With her new
husband, Neel, she moves to Vancouver, discovering all the wonders of life in a
developed country. But material comfort only makes her yearn with ever-growing
intensity for the things she’s left behind, and when she returns to her native
land five years later, she becomes acutely aware of the distance between dreams
and reality, longing and fulfillment, love and sacrifice.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Saborna Roychowdhury was born and
raised in Calcutta, and moved to the U.S. for her undergraduate work in
chemistry. She now lives in Houston and teaches at Lone Star College. Saborna
has been writing short stories since 2001. In 2004, her short story,
"Bengal Monsoon" appeared in "New York Stories" magazine
and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Since then she has contributed to
Quality Women's Fiction, Chillibreeze, Hilltown Families, The Four Quarters
Magazine, and TheWeekendLeader.com. Her article "Having a baby changes everything"
was listed in the "Top Stories from Around the Web" by SF Chronicle.
