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| Author Veena Gokhale |
In Bombay Wali and other stories, recently released by Guernica Editions, Toronto, Veena Gokhale presents engaging characters
negotiating challenging situations in Bombay, and other urban locales in India
and elsewhere. An Indo-Canadian writer presently living in Montreal, Veena
first came to Canada in 1990 and has lived in Toronto and other Canadian cities.
Bombay Wali is
available on amazon.ca and at
Chapters/Indigo
Visit
Veena’s lively website for more info. http://www.veenago.com/story
Come
and hear Veena read with other Guernica authors in Toronto on Sunday, April 21,
4 pm, at Supermarket, 268 Augusta Ave. Free event. Buy an autographed copy!
Q: Where
were you born and raised?
I
was born in Bombay. My mother was finishing her medical residency at a hospital
there; so for the first few months I was a baby pampered by the nurses! Then we
moved to a small town at the very centre of India called Bhilai. It had one of
the five steel plants in independent India, where my father, an engineer, found
a job, while my mother worked at the big hospital there. We moved to Calcutta
(Eastern India) after that and I did my secondary school there. Then we
zigzagged to Baroda, which is in Western India, in Gujarat. Finally we moved
back to Bombay where I completed my Bachelors, did a communications diploma and
worked as a journalist. So it was a bit of a nomadic existence, and since my
father liked travelling we also went to Rajasthan, the Himalayan hill stations
and other places.
Q: How do you think the environment you were in and your surroundings shaped what you do now?
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| Tia's Talk |
My
grandmother was a larger than life figure in my life who listened to the radio
a lot (there was no TV then) held forth on politics with all who came home and
told me stories from Hindu mythology, sitting under a starry night sky. She
taught me to read and write in Marathi before I went to English kindergarten,
and all through my childhood, I read a lot. I was also an only child till age
10. She and my mother always emphasized being honest and fair. The atmosphere
at home was open and outgoing. I also adore nature. My life as a journalist,
writer and someone who has worked with international development and
environment non profits, after coming to Canada, is the result. I was a member
of a children’s club run by a family friend, an “auntie” who stressed strength
and action for women. This general trend continued, even through a turbulent
adolescent and feeling rather lost and lonely when I first moved back to big,
bad Bombay!
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| Author Veena Gokhali with "Bombay Wali" on Marine Drive, which stretches from downtown Mumbai for a few kilometres along the sea. It's a breezy promenade where people take walks even as cars whizz by. It is featured directly in two stories in Bombay Wali - Freire Stopped in Bombay and Middle Age Jazz and Blues. |
Q: What led you to realize that you wanted to be a writer?
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The train station, which used to be called Victoria Terminus,
is now renamed Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.
with influences from Victorian Italianate Gothic
Revival architecture and traditional Mughal buildings,
the station was built in 1887 i.e. during British rule - wikipedia).
It features briefly in 3 other stories in the book - the title story
Bombay Wali and another called Zindagi Itefaq Hai -
Life is Chance and the third called The Room.
|
I wrote my first short
story at age 8 and it was published in my school magazine. I was heavily
influenced by Enid Blyton then, a British children’s writer whose books were
very popular in India then. My parents also subscribed to a children’s mag.
which contained Indian folk tales called Chanda Mama (Uncle Moon). I did well
in English and my teachers also asked me to tell stories to my classmates. I
would tell stories I had read but I also started to make them up, extempore!
Sometimes this worked and sometimes it backfired a bit! I would lose my thread
and the kids would be staring at me and I had to invent wildly! I started
talking about being a writer then, but later I realized being a journalist
might be a bit more practical!
Q: How do you think you are impacting the South Asian community through your writings?
Well,
the book is just out so not much impact yet! Though some friends are helping me
host events. I would love to do readings at South Asian community events, I
would love to connect. I encourage event organizers to visit my website and
e-mail me at veenago@gmail.com My stories are not stereotypical. I have been told
the writing style, the humour, the little surprises, make them a bit different.
I have characters like Dilip, a dalit students who has come to Bombay on a
government scholarship from his village, and Munni, a little servant girl. I
show the sexual dilemmas of late, adolescent college girls, a woman stuck in
her home while there’s a riot outside, reflecting on violence. There’s Ashok, a Westernized business man who is
forced to confront tradition and heritage. And I have journalist characters in
two stories – male and female. Three of the 12 stories are not set in India and
do not portray Indians, adding more variety. Each story could spark an
interesting discussion, so I also encourage book clubs to get in touch.
Q: How
do you think your writings are influencing the western world and mainstream?
Hey,
this is just my first book and it is just out so I don’t know how influential it
might be. It is very hard for a new fiction writer published by a small (but
reputed) publisher to get her book out there and noticed, leave alone taken
seriously. The publishing industry is tough, competitive, mercurial. Still I am
trying in many different ways to publicize my book including doing community
events and social media (check out Bombay Wali on Pinterest, Good Reads,
Facebook, Youtube). I want to try and
get this book republished in India. I will outreach publishers there later this
year. My publisher on
ly reaches North America and the UK. I have a French-Canadian
partner and my mother-in-law has translated some of the stories. That’s just
great and we will look for a publisher in France and/or Quebec in a few months.
I do feel my book is interesting, different, contemporary, and in these early
days I am getting a very positive response from readers. There will be some
reviews soon and interviews are happening as well.
Q: What
do you think is special about South Asian writers?
They
sure have a lot of stories to tell! South Asia is huge in terms of population,
diversity and landmass, so no wonder that we have so many writers. There is
also such a strong literary and artistic tradition there. There are many different literary voices in South Asia and
the South Asian Diaspora, but there are some common elements I feel. The
stories are often very detailed and descriptive, they can give a lot of context,
socio-political/ historic. And these writers depict relationships and linkages
in depth, often complex ones. South Asia is more community oriented than individualistic,
and the writing reflects that. Though that is changing. The region and the
writing is dynamic and evolving.
Q: What are you currently working on?
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| Mumbai (Bombay) Gateway of India (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Actually
I am promoting Bombay Wali 24/7. It’s endless!
Q: What do you have in mind for the near future?
I hope to do the final draft of a novel I have
written called Simply There to HELP. Set in an imaginary African country, it shows the alliances, conflicts and
contradictions that can come into play in the context of international
development work. The main characters are Anjali, an Indo-Canadian
developmental worker, Grace, the Chair of her Board, a strong character. The two
are in conflict. Then there is Fatimah, a farmer who along with her community
has been uprooted from her fertile land and has not yet been compensated by the
government. She and Anjali form a bond and work to get new land but they run
into problems. There is also Mary, Anjali’s kindly maid. The novel is an
interplay between the lives of these characters.
Q: Career
wise what is the one thing that has been very special to you?
One of my most
rewarding experiences was working with FarmFolk/City Folk, an amazing,
innovative, environmental organization in Vancouver. We explained complex
environmental issues in plain language and also pointed to solutions that are
doable and even enjoyable for the lay person.
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| Cngested central area of the city and is called Dadar. |
Q: Do you have any particular project you have wanted to work on or be a part of?
Professionally
I am very interested in using stories for social change. When working for a
non-profit in Tanzania I wrote the scripts for and coordinated the production
of two illustrated story books for primary school that dealt with important
social issues. I would love to do more such projects. On the more artistic side
I want to collaborate with an amazing artist/designer friend in India, Falguni,
who did the Bombay Wali cover. We want to create an illustrated storybook for
adults (!) tentatively called – The Artichoke, sensuous stories. The book would
be a beautiful, sensuous, evocative object.
Q: Anything else that you want to share with our readers
Sure!
Don’t just live in cyberspace! It’s seductive and has a lot to offer but so do
other things we used to do before we attached ourselves with an invisible
umbilical cord to smart phones and computers. Read, try out new things, enjoy
the outdoors, breath (!) have real conversations with real people.
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