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On a fantasy trail
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Priya Sarukkai Chabria on her latest book
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photo: V. V. Krishnan
clone culture Priya Sarukkai Chabria
Hardly a week passes by without a book launch these days. But it does not necessarily mean availability of a good range. And herein, author-poet Priya Sarukkai Chabria’s new book, “Generation 14” becomes important. Pune-based Priya&
#8217;s “Generation 14” is science fiction bordering on political satire.
Her protagonist is a 14th generation clone tagged 14/54/G living in the 24th Century. Unlike her counterparts, she has a memory chip by default. Published jointly by Penguin and Zubaan, Priya says the book took almost eight years to complete. “I have been fascinated by cloning. Also, with our fast-paced life now, and the information overload, certain questions came up. Like, how does the information overload affect us? Do we have time to think?” elaborates Priya. Though Priya has already penned two novels and many poems, this is the first time she has tried science fiction.
Though no names come to her mind when talking about writers that might have influenced her, she says, “It is mostly films based on that genre”.
Priya calls her narrative, “a book of speculative possibilities”.
Being a poet, her lines are evocative, her style lyrical.
Fascinated by our fables where all living beings talk, Priya, has given voice to a fish in Varanasi in the 11th Century, a parrot in the 1850s, a figure of a little boy in the Ajanta caves, etc.
“This is to talk about our forgotten voices, how they lived, what they thought.”
SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY
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