AajTak Literature 2024: Today is the third day of the biggest gathering of literary stars ‘Sahitya Aajtak 2024’. Even today, artists and art appreciators brought joy to the program of Sahitya Aaj Tak.
On the third day, writers Usha Priyamvada and Namita Gokhale shared the stage in the session ’75 years of independence: female characters that change over time’. Usha Priyamvada, author of ‘Pachpan Khambe Lal Deewaran’ and ‘Arkadipta’, is an American professor emeritus of South Asian studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Namita Gokhale is the author of ‘Paro: Dreams of Passion and Things to Leave Behind’ and is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award.
About the heroine of ‘Pachpan Khambe Lal Deewaren’ and ‘Arkadipta’
Usha Priyamvada said, “When I wrote this book, I was an ignorant and innocent woman, I don’t know how this idea came about.” But I felt that women have to stand up. That was the post-independence tour. People wanted to do something for the country. You will often see in my heroines that they live their lives independently, but the woman recognizes her femininity only when love comes into her life. There is no pessimism in any of my books, because each book is a story of struggle in which women want to recognize themselves. When I wrote Pachpan Khambe, I was teaching English at Lady Shri Ram College. At that time there were no buses or taxis passing by. The auto driver used to drop us at Moolchand and from there we would walk.
About ‘Paros’
Namita Gokhale said that when she was writing the book ‘Paro: Dreams of Passion and Things to Leave Behind’, my father read a few lines. But when the book arrived, my father became interested. At that time I was 26 years old and I was expelled from the university where I was studying. I was thinking about writing a book for a long time, then I started writing it and finished it in 6 months. When the book arrived, I told many things, even the teachers told my children how your mother writes books. However, after 40 years it received more attention abroad.
He said that the women in my writings are inspired by the Kumaoni women (because Namita Gokhale grew up in Nainital). He said Kumaoni women are harder workers than men. The heroines of my story are inspired by the women I knew since childhood.
How were you inspired to write ‘Aandhari’?
‘Aandhari’ expands the scope of the Covid pandemic. Most of Namita Gokhale’s writings are born out of joint families, efforts to maintain cooperation in relationships and the pain of dispassionately looking at fragmented dreams. Regarding this book written during Covid on the platform of Sahitya Aaj Tak, he said that suddenly I thought that I have to write a book titled ‘Blind Matreya’ in which there is an old woman, her eyesight is weak and she lives on the third floor. floor. During Covid, I used to write a chapter every day and send it to my editor. I spoke to Translation about what name this book should have, and one day he called and said why not call it ‘Aandhari’. In this too echoes of Gandhari appeared.
