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"Kiran has a clear vision of life"

Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr.

"There is no sentimentality. There is no hypocrisy. She is honest. She sees the complexity of life," saysAnita Desai.

— FILE PHOTO COURTESY RANDOM HOUSE

Anita Desai: "Indian writing in English has come of age, especially after Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy attained celebrity status. The new generation writes with greater confidence, with a greater awareness of the world."

Kiran Desai, who won the Man Booker Prize for 2006 for her second novel, The Inheritance of Loss, on Wednesday, dedicated her victory to Anita Desai, her mother, a sure-footed and delicate novelist, the chronicler of the emotional and social landscape of the India of the 1960s through the 1980s in novels like Voices of the City and Fire on the Mountain. Kiran says The Inheritance of Loss has much in common with Fire on the Mountain.

In a telephonic interview from Dehra Dun on Thursday, Anita Desai spoke about Kiran as a daughter and as a writer, and about her daughter's literary triumph. She was proud of her daughter's success without being boastful. She knew the strengths of her daughter's power of imagination and writing skills as only a fellow-writer would. Unfailingly courteous, she answered the last three questions over the phone from a friend's home in New Delhi on Friday evening. Anita Desai was leaving for New York the same night.

Excerpts from the interview:

You must be proud, justifiably so, of your daughter winning the Booker Prize this year. But did it come as a surprise to you?

I must say that I was not really surprised. When I read The Inheritance of Loss I could see that it was a fine piece of writing, a superior book. But winning is always a surprise. There are other factors like luck that go into winning.

Did you advise her about how to face the media pressure once her novel was shortlisted for the Booker?

I told her not to take the media focus too seriously. She was aware of it herself. She knew that for her writing was more important than winning the prize, and that she would go on with her writing even if she did not win.

Did you too face a similar situation when you were nominated for the Booker Prize? How different was it then?

The Booker was not the big thing then that it is now. It was a quiet affair. I was not affected by it because I was staying in India, and I was isolated from the build-up there. But now, there is intense pressure on all counts. Kiran knew how to take it.

Did you read the book in the draft form?

Yes. I read the novel in the draft form. We had a long discussion. It was a mature work. Though her first novel was good, it was different. There is a lot of thinking and reflection in this book. It was sad that the publishers reduced the length of the book by 300 pages. There was some fine writing in the portion that has been edited out.

Are there echoes of your books in Kiran's writing?

We share the same material. But her writing is her own. She is a different person. She has her own voice.

When you read her book, not as a mother, but as a general reader, what is it that strikes you about Kiran's writing? What is it that stands out about her voice?

Kiran has a clear vision of life. There is no sentimentality. There is no hypocrisy. She is honest. She sees the complexity of life, and writes about it clearly.

Do you think, that like you, Kiran too avoids political questions in her work?

I do not think so. She is not overtly political. But the theme of The Inheritance of Loss is about globalisation, about immigration. They are intensely political questions.

Did your children grow up reading your books?

The books were there on the shelves. They had many other interests. They are all talented. My son is an architect. Among them it was Kiran who developed a flair for writing. And there was this special bond with her because of this.

When did you realise that Kiran had a flair for writing?

It was noticeable from the letters she wrote from school. They were humorous. Her teachers also recognised it. I told her even then that she should put the letters together, and make something out of it.

Was Kiran a reclusive child as she grew up because of her literary talent?

She was not a reclusive girl. She would make everyone laugh with her anecdotes. She was the life of the family party. She was also an independent girl. She studied in England and in America. When I got teaching assignments in these two places, I took her with me. She was 15 then.

Do you think that she must have experienced a sense of loneliness, and had to adjust herself to the new environment?

I am sure she must have faced problems in those years.

Do you think that the course in creative writing that Kiran took at Columbia University was of great help in shaping her as a writer?

Yes, of course. It provided her with rich resources.

Does Kiran go off into phases of silence and withdrawal because of her reflective writing?

Yes. There is that phase as well. She can become very thoughtful and quiet.

What is the difference between the writers of your generation and those writing now?

We were writing in isolation. We were not aware of the world in the way that the present generation of writers is. The young writers know much more about the world than we did. They are more aware than we were.

Do you think that Indian writing in English has come of age from the time you started writing?

Yes. It has come of age, especially after Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy attained celebrity status. The new generation writes with greater confidence, with a greater awareness of the world.

Did you feel that you had to break away from the earlier generation of writers when you started out writing in the 1960s? Did you feel the need to rebel, either consciously or unconsciously, against the writing of R.K. Narayan, Mulk Raj Anand, and Raja Rao, who were the leading writers of the earlier generation?

They were experimental writers and great pioneers, and one respected them a lot for it. But I knew that I did not want to experiment. I knew I was different and I wrote in my own way.

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