Meeting Phenomenal Women

The author, CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI, is interviewed here by TARA KHANDELWAL and MICHELLE D'COSTA about her books on mythology, like The Palace of Illusions, which is a retelling of the Mahabharata from Draupadi's point of view, and The Forest of Enchantments, which is a retelling of the Ramayana, from the eyes of Sita. And there's The Last Queen, which is about Rani Jindan's life.

- TARA KHANDELWAL and MICHELLE D'COSTA

She has authored historical fiction, migrant fiction, and stories about women's lives. And her latest book is called Independence, which follows the lives of three sisters during the partition of India and Bengal, a topic that we don't often see.

Q: So Chitra, what was one memory from your childhood in Bengal that made you want to be a writer?

The memory of my grandfather telling me stories. Every summer my mother would pack me off to my grandfather's. I think I must have been a naughty child and she was probably glad to get rid of me for the summer holidays. I just loved being with my grandfather because he was the best storyteller.

He lived in a little village about three hours from Kolkata, and the village of Ranipur in my latest book, Independence, is built around memories of my grandfather's village.

There was no electricity in the village, so every evening he would light the lantern and call all of us cousins, and we would sit near him. The lantern would throw shadows on the wall and he would tell us stories, and I remember those evenings so beautifully.

That's when I learned the stories of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, and I fell in love with those stories. You can see how that influenced my life, made me into a writer.

Q: You're such a prolific writer, Chitra. How do you get such varied ideas and how do you even decide which ones to explore? I believe you got the inspiration for The Last Queen at the Kolkata Literary Festival. The author, William Dalrymple, shared a picture of Rani Jindan on the screen, and you decided to write about her life. So, what was your process?

Thank you for that great question.

You are right, that inspiration came to me out of the blue; it was so surprising. I feel so grateful, because I never know where the idea for a book is coming from. It's not like I make a conscious choice.