“Her poetry is ‘a surprise that has opened a door and stepped out.' Its intensity makes me laugh and cry at the same time.” The late Kamala Suraiyya wrote this blurb for a debut poetry collection titled Njanenna Ottavara (Me, the Single Line) by Saheera Thangal in 2007. The introduction to this collection was written by none other than poet K. Satchidanandan. Saheera's Malayalam novel Rabia was also well received for its excellent craft and bold theme – polygamy.
The 36-year-old Dubai-based advertising executive, author and poet celebrates this Ramzan with more. She has bagged the first Emerging Writer Award that will be given away at the third Kovalam Literary Festival in October.
In a phone interview from Palakkad, where she is all set to celebrate Ramzan with her family, Saheera talks about her literary excursions, and influences that have shaped her as a writer. “I am very happy and thankful to God for this unexpected treat during this holy month. Awards give writers an inspiration to emerge into something better than what they already are.”
Company of nature
Born and brought up in a traditional Sayyid (Thangal) family at Pallikkunnu, Palakkad, Saheera talks about how she was “brought up in the company of loneliness.” “My parents were abroad, as my father, Muthukoya Thangal, has a travel agency in Saudi Arabia. I lived with my grandparents, whom I consider my greatest assets; my maternal grandmother brought me up. I have a sister and a brother but mine was a childhood in which solitude, rain, and nature's whispers held my attention. The beauty was so encompassing that I had to express my feelings and emotions in prose and poetry.”
The trust that her father and mother, Ayshya Beevi, invested in her has made her confident as a woman and writer. “My first work was a romantic novel when I was in class five, and my grandfather and school headmaster were the first readers. If my grandfather had criticised me for writing such a novel, I wouldn't have continued writing.” Her paternal grandfather, Sayyid Alavi Koya Thangal, thus paved the way for the writer in Saheera to emerge. The Botany gradaute from Mannarghat MES College also added an MBA from Dubai to her biodata.
Saheera remembers how she was drawn to the poems of Kamala Suraiyya. “After my first poetry publication, my first thought was to see Kamala Suraiyya and get her blessings. She listened to my poems intently without a hint of impatience even though she was very ill at that time.” She admits to being influenced by Kafka as well. “My outlook on frame setting in writing changed when I read Kafka's Metamorphosis .”
Her versatility in verse and fiction alike does not make her lean towards one genre of writing. “Poems are an intimate connection to my mind. Stories materialise mainly from a mix of social and life situations. Usually I don't search or strive for a pattern, it just happens… And I think that's the way it has to be…”
It is a blessed moment these days when one hears of a woman writer who doesn't feel the pressures of religion. “In fact, I get support from everywhere; no one has ever discouraged my interests,” avers the author.
But Saheera does see the change happening round her. “Every writer faces pressures. I don't think it's related to religion. I feel that categorising writers are a way to grab attention.” Saheera asserts that she is a writer, period. She adds: “If a work of literature has to stand the test of time, it has to contain the soul of the writer. And writers can't produce insightful works if they bother too much about the consequences.”
Rabia is shortly going to be translated into Tamil. But “writing is not a job I am committed to. It's a passion and inner drive. Sometimes I feel I can't write anymore in life, and the next moment I wonder how I will breathe without my poems..?”
She believes in the value of family as a support system for a woman writer. “If a woman cannot care for her family and kids, then what is the point in talking about society and feminism? People coming from strong family backgrounds are bolder and more capable in achieving their goals than someone who has conflicts in the family. I feel that ‘The world makes way for the person who knows where he/she is going.'”
Voracious reader
A voracious reader, Saheera's favourites are classics, both in poetry and fiction, but she admires a lot of contemporaries too. “I like Rafeeq Ahammed, Sebastian, K.R Meera, Shihabudhin Poithumkadavu, K.Regha, V.M.Girija, Kanimozhi, Anitha Thambhi, Aarya Gopi and so on…Being a non-resident Indian, I have to mention promising writers such as Benyamin, Sithara, A.M. Muhammed, and P.J.J. Antony. Nowadays I read more of Bengali literature. Their crafts and simplicity of approaching a theme is really splendid. I recently read a translation of Bhudhadev Guha's novel Jaaran which is an excellent literary piece.”
At present, Saheera shuttles between Dubai and her current pursuit, a post graduation in applied psychology from Bharatiyar University. Her husband, Abdul Lathief, works in Dubai and she has two daughters, Jalwa and Kenza.
