Truth behind the life

 Chandini Santosh, from Kannur, Kerala, author of two books with a third on its way, poet and successful painter, speaks to The Hans India about her latest book ‘Searching for Durga Sabyasachi’ and what makes her tick.

How did you start writing?
On a sunny day in February 2005, four days after a PC was installed in my husband’s clinic, I fell into writing. I had not written a word for many years, not even a letter. I’ve no idea what compelled me to write. I wrote feverishly. Only after five to six chapters were complete, did I realise that a novel was taking shape.  

What is your book about? How long did it take you to write it?
‘Searching For Durga Sabyasachi’, as the title suggests, is a poignant search for one’s origins. Mohit, a journalist, is out to get at the truth behind his birth, his identity. He has only one clue. He goes after that. His mother had birthed him during the frenzied hours of the Bhopal Gas Holocaust. I took one and a half years to complete the first draft of Durga Sabyasachi. Another six months to edit it before I sent the manuscript to my literary agency.

Do you follow a strict regimen while writing or so you write as inspiration strikes you? 
I follow a regimen, but it’s not strict, no way, but very professional. I sit down to write every morning after breakfast and write for about an hour or two, not more. 
The story and the turn of events are always in my mind. I think about the next scene, jot down a few points and write.

Tell us about your previous writing and published works.
I have so far published three solo collections of poetry and many more poems in anthologies, and in prestigious journals. My first novel, The House of Oracles came out in 2016. In between, I wrote a couple of short stories, one of which, ‘The Day of Sacrifice,’ was selected for the ELLE Random House Fiction Prize in 2013.
 
What are your other interests and hobbies?
I paint in my spare time. Rather, I paint feverishly when I am at it. I have held two painting exhibitions which drew a lot of media attention. I gained an inner strength from those experiences, which I draw upon till now.

I do not want to name reading as a hobby. It’s the driving force as well as the solace, the very essence of my life. Other than that, I enjoy driving, cooking and partying. 

Despite life’s tragedies, you are a happy person and an inspiration to others. How did you manage to cope with grief and the loss of your husband at a young age?
Grief was an early companion. By now, I am used to its cadences. I am a happy, extroverted person on the outside. I hide my tumult inside myself, pouring some of it out in my writings. I enjoy all the good things in life, for I know there is only one life. My husband, a very successful doctor, died of cancer at a young age. I have learnt the value of life from his early death, and many other things too, which   I intend to reveal in tiny, homeopathic doses!

Are there any real life characters from your life in your book ‘Searching for Durga Sabyasachi’?
There are no real life characters in ‘Searching for Durga Sabyasachi.’ There were many in ‘The House of Oracles’, which had some autobiographical elements, which is usual, I’m told in first novels. But nothing in Durga, no one who has any familiarity with life’s characters.

What is the next project that you are working on?
I’m working on my fourth novel, ‘Aisha and the Four Wise Men’, the premise of which is close to my heart. Yes, as the title suggests, it deals with a young and ebullient woman, whose experience with the men in her life reflects the untold story of many other women, women I have known, and women I have imagined. 

I hope to write Aisha in the boldest manner possible without attracting any fatwa. (Laughing)Time and tide is just right for such a novel. That’s my gut feeling!

By: Beyniaz Edulji