Disarming patriarchy, one word at a time

We consider ourselves free spirits but our words remain ‘un’ free. Women are latecomers to writing and unwelcome’. Her angst at the discrimination meted out to women in a lecture delivered at a national conference of women writers in Hyderabad decades ago, was to find expression in her writings, firmly establishing her as an undaunted feminist, who earned a place of distinction among the towering literary personalities of Bengal.

An internationally renowned literary icon, Nabaneeta Dev Sen, known for her unconventional thinking, intense depiction of human emotions and feisty expressions of feminism has made her as one of the most prolific, versatile and intellectual women writers of contemporary India.

Beginning with her first anthology ‘Pratham Pratyay’ Sen, she enriched all forms and genres of creativity. She published more than 80 books in Bengali that include poetry, novels, short stories, plays, literary criticism, personal essays, travelogues, humour writing and translations.

Her foray into children’s literature began after she became a mother and started thinking of interesting tales, adventure stories and those relating to pets at home; it was about holding her child’s interest. In Hyderabad, a city that she visited many times in the past and recently, to receive the ‘Tripuraneni Gopichand’ literary award, Nabaneeta is dismayed by the haphazard growth and changes in the name of development. “Where are all those beautiful old houses and tree lined pathways of Hyderabad?” she laments.

An academician, who retired as Professor of Comparative literature from Jadhavpur University, she has been a jury member of several important literary awards of the country. At 79, she is as busy as ever with her books, columns and literary gatherings- a world in which she literally grew up. Born to the poet couple, her house was filled with writers and conversations about books.

“There was such a literary fervour around the place that I was not aware of any other choices. I grew up thinking that writing was the only career for me,” she says. Her mother Radharani Devi, a child widow, married fellow poet Narendra Dev and Rabindranath Tagore, who had blessed the couple, had asked her to change her name to “Nabaneetha” signifying a new life or beginning.

Her mother declined to do so, but Tagore persisted that this name be passed on to her when she was born and she was christened ‘Nabaneeta’. After her separation from the famous economist Amartya Sen in 1976, she raised her daughters Antara Dev Sen (writer) and Nandana Sen (actress) to become independent and empowered women who grew up in her parental home ‘Balo Bhasha’ (love-nest).

However, contrary to gloomy images portended in such situations, hers was a happy home with four powerful women (including her mother) and it resounded with laughter despite being devoid of a male member. A number of stories dealing with fun-loaded experiences of family members were written during this period.

“Good writing comes from an emotional as well as rational response to events around us,” says Nabaneeta. “When someone suffers in Africa or Turkey or another part of the world far removed from where I live, I empathise with their suffering as my own,” she adds. Anybody who is a humanist is bound to be a feminist according to her.

‘Ami Anupam’ (dealing with Naxal movement and the role of intellectuals) ‘Sita Theke Shuru’ (It all starts with Sita) ‘Nati Nabaneeta’ and several of her books written on political, psychological and social issues in society have won her a legion of loyal fans.

“There was a time when we were bilingual and read books both in the mother tongue and in English. Unfortunately, the present generation does not or cannot read many great works in vernacular languages and are becoming alienated from our rich heritage,” she says speaking about her novel where the main protagonist discovers the ‘politics of language’ when she goes abroad and decides to return to her country.

Nabaneeta’s work on epic poetry by rural women in India provides great insights. Her research into Ramayana songs in Bengali, Marathi, Maithili and Telugu revealed how they used the Sita myth to express their problems and critique patriarchy.

“Whether it was Molla from the Telugu land or Chandrabati from Bengal, they were all sisters in sorrow and their choice of words, feelings, perceptions and responses were similar and echoed each other,” says Nabaneeta. As President of Soi (full form Sokhi, (friend), I endure) she provided a forum for women writers from all over the world to exchange ideas, gather strength and celebrate victories.

It is an untiring effort to get women’s writing viewed as a part of the larger body of literature rather than from the gender lens. Through Soi she has condemned the killing of people like Kalburgi and the curbing of creative freedom but disagrees with the returning of awards as a form of protest that the country witnessed.

Recipient of several prestigious awards like the Celli award from the Rockfeller foundation, the Sahitya Akademi award, the Bharatiya Basha Parishad award and the Padmasri, Nabaneeta Dev Sen is not one to rest on her laurels.

She had five book releases last year, some of which are being translated into English and she regularly writes columns on issues that compel a response. “My books spread positivity. I firmly believe that there are solutions to every problem. When one door closes, another one opens,” she says with a disarming smile and you realise that just talking to her makes you feel empowered.