Kamla Kapur

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Interview by Dr. Nilanshu Kumar Agarwal

As an awakened Indian writer living in the States, what do you think are the major tangling problems faced by Indian Diaspora in USA?

I don't know how "awakened" I am! Certainly, it continues to be my endeavor and my passion. I can only speak for myself, though many books have come out in the subject that I haven't read. The characters in my current novel are not "Diaspora" characters as such, though they are characters with some of its concerns, especially the concerns of first-generation Indians in America: missing India, missing family, missing the "rawnuk," finding it difficult to cope with a culture that puts so much emphasis on individuality, when people in India are more used to communal lives. The subject is immense and would take more time to explicate than I have here.

What are the major cultural differences between America and India?

Now this is a huge question that I cannot even begin to address in an interview like this. It would take tomes! If I had to isolate just one of the differences (quite arbitrarily), and deal with it very superficially in a paragraph, I would say it has to do with the way family continues to be of prime importance in India while the West, still going through the growing pains of individuality, is moving more and more in the direction of individuation, a journey that Indians haven't even embarked upon yet. But global capitalization is a unifying force, and we are already seeing its effects on family life in India. It is inevitable, though not quite imminent. And with this difference comes a whole host of different ways of living and being.

As a woman writer, did you feel any problems in your literary career? How will you describe the two cultural groups — Eastern and Western — in their approach towards a female author?

The difficulties in my writing career have had nothing to do with my gender. If anything, this is a very fertile period for women's voices to be heard. We have female writers whose voices have reached the global stage. My difficulties were entirely my own. I think both cultures are open to female voices, and about time, too.

In your long career, you have been a teacher, journalist and a creative writer. Out of these, which one is closest to your heart? Or, do you find some inner relationship among these various roles?

I have given up the first two roles to focus on the last. As I get older I have limited energy and time. I had to prioritize. I gave up journalism first, because I did not want to be writing edible, fleeting print. Teaching was far more congenial in that I taught subjects I myself have learned immensely from. But it was time-consuming, and now I am happily focusing on writing alone. I am also moving towards more yoga, meditation, and exercise, and reading a lot.

What will you say about your two novels — The Autobiography of Saint Padma the Whore and Malini in Whirlwood?

The Autobiography of Saint Padma the Whore is the fictional story of a woman's quest for love and freedom. Spanning three decades, from the '60s to the '90s, it moves between India, the USA, and Saudi Arabia. It is loosely structured on the myth of Ulysses and Penelope, less as a parallel than as a contrast. An abyss of time separates Padma and Penelope, yet they share some important connections. While waiting for their mates, both weave tapestries, the former with yarn, and the latter with words; both long for a kind of partner that is truly an equal. Their stories serve as portraits of artists as women.

Malini in Whirlwood is the first volume of a trilogy. Malini, a young girl disenchanted and bored with the normal world, succeeds in becoming a character in a fantastic story book whose author is a magician. She finds herself aboard a magic Red Boat in a place called Whirlwood, where the laws of physics do not apply, and time and space are warped. She meets the members of her crew, who are strange beings called Fractidians. She doesn't quite know if they are her allies or her enemies, but each of them, whether negative or positive, teaches her a great deal. Nono teaches her to endure, Thimble the ethic and value of work, Fluff the necessity for fun, Ender hope and courage, and Tozy trust in the sometimes tortuous, meandering paths of her adventures. In the end Malini, transformed by her experiences, returns to the ordinary world, ready to participate in it while maintaining a close connection with the fecund world of fantasy and myth.

Tell something about Ganesha Goes To Lunch and Radha Sings.

Like myths around the world, Ganesha Goes to Lunch: Classics from Mystic India are traditional Indian stories which offer both a window into a fascinating culture that has endured for thousands of years, and a code for living that can be applied to the modern world.

[A reviewer writes] Kamla K. Kapur's Ganesha Goes to Lunch: Classics from Mystic India (Mandala Publishing, $14.95 trade paperback, April 27, 2007), is an offering of 24 insightful tales. "They are reminders from spaceless eternity of the fabric of which we are made. They awaken us, and help us live with, and within, the mystery that is the matrix of our being."

Six one-page introductions to the sections give easy backgrounds to the major gods in Indian mythology. The myths themselves, recreated and embellished, reveal timeless insights into the human condition. Shiva and Parvati's wedding shows a love that includes, but transcends the battle of the sexes. Vishnu's incarnation as a boar demonstrates the strength of the bonds of attachment that even gods can't escape. Brahma's entrapment in the web of Maya leads him to free himself with his mind. Krishna's compassion for a little bird ensures that creation continues even within the destruction of war. Markandeya's fall out of Vishnu's mouth into the ocean of chaos, humbles him in the face of the mystery of life. These are a few of the fascinating, immensely readable and instructive tales included in the collection.

Radha Sings are contemporary, semi-erotic poems written from the point of view of a modern Radha to her Krishnas.

What are your future writing projects?

I am currently in the beginning stages of writing two novels.