When would fish drown? “When water, their natural environment, gets too hostile and polluted and they can no longer survive in it,” says writer and academician Swati Chanda, whose debut novel Drowning Fish , explores love, desire, belonging, heartbreak and family ties.
“In a way, drowning fish is an analogy for the people in this novel who can no longer survive in their natural environment. Home, the only place they know, has become hostile and they can neither survive in it nor escape,” she says.
The novel, that is set across a fifty-year period, spanning three countries and three generations of women, explores the concept of home very differently, says Swati. “Home is not the place you go to, but the starting point of your journey. You are forced to leave behind the comfort and security of that and move towards something,” she says.
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This journey, undertaken by her protagonist, Neelanjana Sen, is not an easy one, says Swati. “This book describes a woman’s journey into herself and ends on a note of resilience and self-reliance.”
With a Ph.D in English Literature, Swati has taught in various colleges both in India and abroad, worked for a non-profit organisation in the education domain, has edited various in-house journals and is a regular contributor to several print and online publications.
“I didn’t begin this novel with a particular narrative in mind. I would write bits and pieces using a certain perspective, a certain voice and I suppose it all came together in this novel,” she says.
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Antique furniture, though a somewhat unlikely muse, played a big part in creating this novel, she adds. “I did a standalone piece which was triggered by this thought — when someone is dying, who gets their furniture? This thought fed into the novel as well,” she says.
The book is rife with historical references and it is apparent that copious research has gone into its writing.
On future plans, she says, “Well, I don’t have a character yet, only some perspectives I want to put across. I’m just waiting for the right character to come to me.”