H er words melt into memory and the taste lingers...reading Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is like nibbling at tender sandesh prepared by Sabitri, the feisty sweet-maker, who anchors Chitra’s latest novel about three strong women of a family and the choices that they make. Beyond the artistry, “Before We Visit The Goddess” (Simon&Schuster) holds a compelling narrative on identity and migration, something the prolific US-based author of Bengali origin has mastered all these years.
Edited excerpts:
What was your motivation to write this novel?
I started writing after my mother passed away. I was thinking a lot about motherhood, children and heritage. It is an exploration of things that were important to her through fictional characters. For many years, my mother was a single parent. She brought us up with a lot of difficulty. She was very keen to see me as a successful woman. This book asks what does it mean to be a successful woman. What are the costs that one pays to be successful? Does the answer change with generation and does it depend on geography? I am also concerned about the idea of heritage in an immigrant family. The geography in the novel is very much my geography. It helps as I can make the places feel authentic. Setting is important to me. I grew up on the sweet culture of Bengal through which a woman can still express her artistic endeavours.
The book jacket
Tell us about the choices that Sabitri, Bela and Tara make
Each of these women are pretty strong and break conventions. Even the fact that Sabitri wanted to go to college at that time (pre-Independent India) was a non-traditional choice. She had love marriage and then she becomes the head of the household. Her daughter Bela becomes strong by watching the mother but her way of rebellion is different.
This often happens as the definition of rebel keeps changing with each passing generation
Yes. Also, mothers don’t often share with daughters what they went through. I didn’t know my mother’s story till I grew up. Some mothers never share such details with children for various reasons. To Bela her mother appears very traditional, very straight. Also, I feel you hurt those the most whom you love the most.
So there is a larger narrative here...
I am not saying that every family is like that but often there is a swing of pendulum. We want to be different from our previous generation. If the previous generation was independent in this way, we want to do something else. Sabitri is an independent entrepreneur, Bela wants romance, when that romance breaks down, her life also breaks down. And Tara, having seen her mother and father fighting, doesn’t want to get into a relationship at all. Surprisingly, her grandmother rebelled to get an education; Tara is dropping out of college. So there are ironies, and a larger narrative.
Why have you adopted novel-in-stories form?
I wanted to focus on the emotionally resonant moments of these women’s lives. I didn’t want it to be linear novel. I wanted only the sparks because we don’t remember everything. The novel-in-stories form is making an impact because it has the power and punch of short stories but it also has the words where readers can immerse themselves. It is a good form for these times when we don’t have that much time to spare for full length novels.
It is harder to write because when I am focussing on important moments, I have to decide which are those and then I have figure out links so that it remains seamless. It is not about the cleverness of the writer, it is about figuring what is the best way to tell this particular story.
I started thinking of thematic connections by assuming sayings and proverbs that these women are influenced by. For Sabitri it is good daughters are like fortunate lamps. For Bela it is beggars can’t be choosers. For Tara a picture is more than a thousand words captures it because in old albums she discovers how her mother had cut off her father’s pictures. This is also a book about secrets. Each of these women keep secrets. It is hard for women to say, ‘yes I did it, so what? I am just human.’ Women often don’t do that because they find it risky to their relationships, which ultimately comes back to haunt them.
Food is an important ingredient of the story. One can almost taste the Bengali cuisine!
Food is such a big part of Bengali culture and it is one area of creativity open to women. In fact, Sabitri’s shop becomes the metaphor for price of success. As Sabitri is successful in the shop, it problematises her relationship with her daughter who thinks the shop is taking away her mother. Food is also a means to pass on our culture. It is through food that Bela eventually becomes independent. It takes a different form though. She is writing cook books And in the last chapter, Tara, after all her rebellious streak, is cooking her mother’s recipes. It is like a circular structure.
I love writing about food as it has a particular significance in the immigrant culture. It is one part of culture that you can carry easily with you and you don’t need to compromise on it and pass on to your children.
And one thing that is difficult to pass on...
I think one thing that is difficult to carry is the language. My husband is from the South, I am from Bengal. So we don’t have a common language any more. Our children speak in English. Even in families where parents come from the same part, children understand the language but they don’t speak it and by next generation it would be lost. What happens when a language is lost is that a lot of cultural ideas also get lost along with it. Unless the children decide to come back to India but even for them regaining everything would be very difficult.
We are observing reverse immigration. Has it something to do with financial security and India’s growing stature?
I think this is one of the reasons. The other thing is that the Internet has just opened India to the young. They can really access India for themselves. Earlier it was through parents and nobody wants to listen to parents. Also, the choices we make are partly financial. If they can come back here and get jobs, many immigrants are interested in reconnecting with their heritage. These are interesting times for reverse immigration.
Do you foresee a change in immigrant stories in the Trump-era?
One of the things that is important to me in Trump-era is that immigrant story has taken a new political significance. There is a new political need to tell stories of all these diverse cultures. Otherwise, the political story would be like Oh! these immigrants can’t be trusted. They are not loyal to America....It is dangerous and not true. The truth is much more complex. Though this book focuses on Indian characters, many of my other books talk about other minority cultures as well. Today, it’s Mexicans, tomorrow it could be Muslims and then some other ethnicity. We have to, from the beginning, say that diversity is what makes America strong and special and let’s really look at the lives of immigrants instead of imagining it and making prejudicial conclusions.
Your works have been adapted into films, plays and dance dramas. What’s the latest?
I am always happy. I understand the book is mine and these are interpretations. They could not be the same. I always say just try to keep the spirit of my work intact. Now, ‘The Palace of Illusions’ is being made into a movie by Aparna Sen. I really like her work and would like to see her take. I want her to see that Draupadi is a complex woman and in some ways timeless. The whole idea is that we are complex human beings just as men and let’s celebrate that complex aspect of humanness instead of pushing people into narrow definitions as it leads to repression.
It seems Sita is losing out to Draupadi in this age?
My next project is on Sita. The character of Sita has, over the years, been misinterpreted. If you go back to the original Valmiki Ramayan or the Bengali version by Krittivasi, you will find she was not a submissive woman. Over the years, we have turned her into a submissive wife who puts up with everything. We tend to ignore that she brought up her children as single mother. In fact, she is one of the first single mothers in literature.
This retelling of myths offends a section which considers them as part of history
What the common person should know is that both the Ramayan and the Mahahbharat have thousands of versions and we are at the tail end of them. We have been reinterpreting them respectfully from the beginning. It is not a new thing because in every age the writers felt that let’s make it relevant to our times. Instead of holding the woman up to some impossible ideals, we should show the relevance of these stories to our times. It is my enterprise as well to retell it with respect.
