Bharati Pawaskar
In the ninth edition of the Goa Arts and Literature Festival (GALF) that unfolded at the International Centre, Dona Paula, Goan writer Maria Aurora Couto conversed with Sahitya Academy awardee author Shashi Deshpande on her provocative book, ‘Listen to me’.
In her book, author Shashi Deshpande writes fond memories about her childhood days in Dharwad which was a very special place and a centre for learning in those days. “Dharwad has a great influence on my childhood and though I left Dharwad it never left me. It happens to many authors,” confesses Deshpande, adding, “Every book I write, the mention of Dharwad is inevitable in it.”
A writer with phenomenal memory, Deshpande feels, “Writing about childhood is the easiest thing one can do. We remember the long past much easily than the things that happened in the immediate past. Childhood has great influence upon our psyche and when we think or write about it, a great amount of innocence comes into it naturally.”
“Writing is hard work. One needs discipline to have a steady work,” states Desphande who believes in rewriting until the work is perfect. “Poetry taught me the beauty of the language,” confesses the novelist and short story writer with ten novels, two crime novellas, a number of short story collections, a book of essays and four children’s books to her credit. Three of Deshpande’s novels have received awards including ‘That Long Silence.’
Speaking on Karnataka as a linguistic state, Deshpande said she was not happy about this type of division on the basis of language. The ‘Listen to me’ writer pointed out that her father was a Sanskrit scholar and a teacher who wanted her to learn Sanskrit. But she never felt that she could score in it. Her father was supporting the division of Dharwad on the basis of the language Kannada and she never dared to tell him that she was against linguistic division. Deshpande recalls the time when there was agitation to merge Bombay into Maharashtra on the basis of the language (Marathi).
She recalls, “I was 15 then, studying and living in a hostel. When my friends asked me to wear a black band in protest, I refused to do so. Though I was too young to understand the importance of this revolt, I thought we cannot go on dividing ourselves.” Deshpande feels that language is another division in the country, be it even for administrative purpose and that one language is not superior to other language. “I blame politicians for this divisive attitude. If not for them, we would not have hated languages,” she deliberates.
Talking on the treatment given to writers on the basis of their country, colour, or gender, Deshpande feels that categories are there for the publishers and not the readers or writers. For a writer it does not matter who the readers are or for a reader, it does not matter who the writer is. A reader is a reader and he can pick up any book on the globe. The publishers are not brave enough to take the risk of accepting books by different authors, averred the award-winning writer who admits that she was able to think for herself right from her childhood. “I was not influenced by anyone and this freedom of decision making came from my father,” stated Deshpande.
Mentioning about the murder of the Indian scholar Dr M M Kalburgi, who was the progressive voice in Karnataka, Deshpande said she couldn’t believe that when this member of the Sahitya Academy was shot dead, there was no meeting of condemn and nobody said a word about his unnatural death. “It was so surprising to hear people talk as if he died naturally,” exclaimed Deshpande.
The writer also disclosed that contrary to what believed by the general public, she did not give back her award. Writers joined the movement, but she felt that writers are not listened to in the world now. “Writers were powerful voices in the earlier days but now we are not. Listen to me, is for that!” she said. “It doesn’t matter if anyone calls me ‘urban naxal’. It’s just another name for me.”
