Urmilla Deshpande's Blog, page 7
October 11, 2010
Bob Dylan, Tallahassee Fl.
Bob Dylan is, as always, apocalyptic and epic and announces the end of the world. I feel times are not changing, they are almost gone. He tells me, "it's going to end, and it's going to end badly…" Makes me want to hurry up and write, love, sleep, play, be. I have listened, sometimes unwillingly, to Dylan since I was seven. I was uncomfortable when I was younger and did not understand what he was talking about, I probably had an inkling of what I would understand when I did. Now that I do, I am even more uncomfortable. The moment he says, "how does it feeeel…" I tear up and break down.
I went to the Museum of Sex in New York city. My companion and I discovered that Hedy Lamarr's were the first breasts seen on celluloid, and that eyes
are not the only organs exaggerated to excess in Japanese cartoons. When I was much younger and spent some time in Japan, I remember thinking the Japanese cartoon characters were the only ones that bled. I'm not sure, but they may also be the only ones, or at least the first, to have sex.
There were sculptures and science exhibits (sexuality in animals) and funny stuff and kinky stuff and of course sexy stuff. I got to compare the body parts of the latex covered 'real dolls' to the real thing – from memory – the latex man was cool and a bit sweaty. He did nothing for me and my companion other than make us laugh.
My fourteen year old was not allowed in to the Museum of Sex. State law does not allow anyone under eighteen in. At seventeen you can enlist in the army with parental consent. So state law allows parents to decide if kids can go out to kill or be killed. But their sex ed? the sate decides the appropriate age for that.
And now, it's back to work. I guess it will be inappropriate for my children to read my books. Maybe they will be sold in the Museum of Sex.
September 30, 2010
9/30/2010 ~ Writing this…
Working on another brutal deadline, and I upped the stakes for myself by taking on the editing for "Madhouse: True Stories of the Inmates of Hostel 4". This was a wonderful project, and I am very glad I did it. But boy has that got me in the weeds… Still, I will be on target, and deliver my next book by the end of the year.
Some thoughts on writing it:
Why is it hard to write erotica? For sure, it's hard. A friend asked me, joking, if I am "scared by my own ghost story." The answer is, it takes so much concentration, such focus on the physical-mental-emotional state of the characters in each story that I forget myself. So no, I am not scared by my own ghost story. Or, to be clear, I am not turned on by my own erotic story. For me, writing sex and sexuality is very much a mind exercise, more than any other kind of writing I have done thus far.
It is very hard to stay where I want to. I don't want the focus of any of my stories to be on sex or sexuality in an overt way – it has to be part of the story, of the people in the story. And sometimes the characters don't play along. They do what they want, and sometimes they don't want to be sexual. Maybe I should not have committed to write to such a narrow spec. But I have, and it's interesting, to say the least.
This is the first post about writing, I may do more. It is interesting to pay attention to the process this time, something I haven't done before…
The first thing I did was name the kind of writing I intend for this book. So after I finished my first story, I did just that: I named the book. It helps me to keep this in mind, it keeps me where I want to be.
It will be called
Slither: Carnal Prose by Urmilla Deshpande
Yes, Carnal Prose. My own genre. I am delighted by my own brilliance. I hope it doesn't end with the title.
Writing this…
Working on another brutal deadline, and I upped the stakes for myself by taking on the editing for "Madhouse: True Stories of the Inmates of Hostel 4". This was a wonderful project, and I am very glad I did it. But boy has that got me in the weeds… Still, I will be on target, and deliver my next book by the end of the year.
Some thoughts on writing it:
Why is it hard to write erotica? For sure, it's hard. A friend asked me, joking, if I am "scared by my own ghost story." The answer is, it takes so much concentration, such focus on the physical-mental-emotional state of the characters in each story that I forget myself. So no, I am not scared by my own ghost story. Or, to be clear, I am not turned on by my own erotic story. For me, writing sex and sexuality is very much a mind exercise, more than any other kind of writing I have done thus far.
It is very hard to stay where I want to. I don't want the focus of any of my stories to be on sex or sexuality in an overt way – it has to be part of the story, of the people in the story. And sometimes the characters don't play along. They do what they want, and sometimes they don't want to be sexual. Maybe I should not have committed to write to such a narrow spec. But I have, and it's interesting, to say the least.
This is the first post about writing, I may do more. It is interesting to pay attention to the process this time, something I haven't done before…
The first thing I did was name the kind of writing I intend for this book. So after I finished my first story, I did just that: I named the book. It helps me to keep this in mind, it keeps me where I want to be.
It will be called
Slither: Carnal Prose by Urmilla Deshpande
Yes, Carnal Prose. My own genre. I am delighted by my own brilliance. I hope it doesn't end with the title.
September 28, 2010
September 20, 2010
9/20/2010 ~ Curious Book Fans interview
http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/creative/4271/urmilla-deshpande-talks-to-curious-book-fans
CBF: How did you suddenly decide on Kashmir as the main setting for this novel? Was it because of the current political crisis?
UD: I didn't suddenly decide on "Kashmir" as the setting. This book was written in 2003-2004, not recently. I was interested in individuals who decide to stand against a power much greater than themselves, such as a government. I didn't know much about it. The other thing I would like to say is that no matter how closely fiction is based on, or resembles reality or the real world, it is fiction. The Kashmir in my book is no more real, I think, than is the Alexandria in Durrell's quartet or the London that Sherlock Holmes lives in.
CBF: The theme of wealth for protection is unusual. How did you happen to decide on that?
UD: Wealth, power, and distribution of resources is how the world works. Most rebellion takes place where there is an unequal or inequitable of resources. Anywhere in the world, the group with the most wealth has the most protection. I don't know if it is an unusual theme for a novel – I don't think it is – but it is certainly not an unusual theme in the scheme of things!
CBF: As most writers are asked, are any of the characters in Kashmir Blues based on people you know?
UD: Every character is based on people I know, or have read about, or have encountered in life, movies, even heard about. Most are composites of all these, and myself too. Leon is the one I identify with most. Naia, slightly aloof, impenetrable, a catalyst more than a doer, came out just right for me. Many readers complained that she was a "cold, unlikable protagonist" – but that's how she is, cold and unlikable. And I don't think the book has a single protagonist. But she represents many people I have known, and found hard to reach, or just plain disliked.
CBF: What inspires you most when you start to write? Is it a person, a newsflash? What?
UD: Hard to answer this question. I think all through life we watch and absorb and think and react – and all of that comes into a book as it gets written. Usually I start a book because of a feeling I have. I've written just two, and the starting points for both were quite different. The first – Kashmir Blues – I just wanted to tell a story. The second, A Pack of Lies, had a lot of my own experiences as a starting point. The nextbook I'm working on is almost a challenge from my editor – she wanted me to edit an anthology of erotic short stories – and I said, after hearing what editing meant, "seems easier to write it myself" – and she said I should! I have just finished editing a book of anecdotes from the students of IIT Bombay about their life there in the '80s – and am starting on the short stories. It's not easy… but I am enjoying the work. And, I have to deliver the manuscript by the 30th of November.
CBF: Who are your favourite authors?
UD: The list is long, I'll make it short – Jane Austen, Kurt Vonnegut, Borges, Marquez, Jane Austen, Steinbeck, Asimov, Lawrence Durrell, and – did I mention – Jane Austen!
Curious Book Fans interview
http://www.curiousbookfans.co.uk/2010/creative/4271/urmilla-deshpande-talks-to-curious-book-fans
CBF: How did you suddenly decide on Kashmir as the main setting for this novel? Was it because of the current political crisis?
UD: I didn't suddenly decide on "Kashmir" as the setting. This book was written in 2003-2004, not recently. I was interested in individuals who decide to stand against a power much greater than themselves, such as a government. I didn't know much about it. The other...
September 19, 2010
'Kashmir Blues' reviewed on a new site for book lovers (the reviewer didn't like it much!)
"Everyone knows a Kashmiri shawl wala or carpet seller – they arrive with the coming of autumn carrying treasures of colour in their autumn leaf brown bundles. And then they disappear with spring for months on end and you occasionally, reading about disturbances in the Valley, you wonder whether they will reappear. At the heart of Urmila Deshpande's novel is Samaad, a carpet seller who speaks the Queen's English because he happened to have been educated in England. He is a...
August 21, 2010
8/21/2010 Deccan Herald Interview/Review
Cinematic imagery
Monideepa Sahu
Urmilla Deshpande's 'Kashmir Blues' is a story written with deep compassion and even the darkest characters are humane, says Monideepa Sahu
Kashmir Blues takes in its expansive narrative sweep the characters' lives from southern California to the seedy streets of Mumbai, to the charmed circles of India's rich and powerful, and to Kashmir, strife-torn vale of guns and flowers. Insurgency, socio-political unrest, smuggling, drugs, espionage and conflict cast their shadows. Yet this is a story told with deep compassion. Even the most potentially evil characters can startle by revealing positive human and humane facets. As the author says, "I don't think either sapphires in my book or diamonds in West Africa are the basis of strife. Nor is religious fundamentalism. It is the inequitable distribution of resources, structural poverty, that sends people into conflict and civil war. Institutionalised injustice."Author Urmilla Deshpande began writing relatively later in life, though she always wrote and told stories. "Living in America without a work permit, between doing laundry, cooking, dishes, driving kids around, my mind wandered into strange territories. Writing may have been an escape from the intense grief of my mother's death, and slow acceptance of her non-existence. Kashmir Blues is an escape, totally unrelated to my own life. It distracted me, yet gave me purpose."
While there is no direct connection between the author's life and the book, she chose to write about Kashmir and the divide caused by growing religious fundamentalism. "Maybe it wasn't flashes of inspiration, "she explains," but observation, experience, memory, everything I see and read and hear that is fodder for stories. I have to suppress fear of disapproval and consideration for peoples' feelings and just write. I have been a photographer, but not like Leon, and I have smoked ganja on occasion but didn't have a drug dependency, I was not adopted or stolen nor did I lose my parents, or child. And, I have never been to Kashmir. It's a made-up story. Maybe living in post 9/11 America, or editing a book on civil wars had something to do with it, but these are all fragments of what's around. I guess I just steal from everything."
The unique Kashmir blue sapphires, the legendary tears of Shiva; the beautiful Kashmiri carpet symbolic of the land and its unravelling with growing strife; the ubiquitous brown dog which seems to follow Leon everywhere; the importance of taking, or breaking free from the spell of drugs; myriad enduring images bind Kashmir Blues. Urmilla Deshpande's writing displays a cinematic quality. "While writing I feel as if I follow the action," she says, "in the minds of characters and what happens around them. Like watching a movie and taking notes. I'm not saying it is mystical and 'comes to me'. More, it's free association of memories and experiences coalescing into a narrative. I find it hard to go back and say why something happened a particular way. I had to make the changes and address flaws my lovely editor pointed out, but I go back reluctantly. Because then I start reading it as a reader, and inconsistencies and doubts pop up."
The 'tears of Shiva' is made up from stories Urmilla's mother-in-law told of sapphires bringing bad luck. While the author herself isn't into religion, superstition, or jewels in real life, she found these ideas interesting.
"As for the brown dog, he's always around, isn't he?" Urmilla quips with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.
Naia and her deep bond with Leon, the photographer with the urge to self-destruct; Samaad the well-educated and far-sighted carpet dealer and warlord in the making; Frank the addicted German wanderer; Viren the diplomat; Saroj who mourns the public loss of her daughter and the private loss of sexual fulfilment; the main players in the story are clearly and credibly portrayed. However, there is an odd note in the rather filmi melodramatic way in which Naia is adopted.
"This incident was one of the major changes I made in the editing process" Urmilla says."I would have loved to leave it vague with not much explanation. But that might have led to different questions about inconsistency! It's hard to write for everyone, and I don't do that. I have to be clear myself. I love that you find it filmi—maybe someone will make this into a filmi film—starring Jeremy Piven as Leon (It has to be Jeremy Piven). Writing is a delight and a pleasure in itself. But it's short lived. After that, my fulfilment comes from readers' interpretations. People bring themselves to the books they read—and I am always surprised by what they come up with."
As for the ideas and inspirations behind the characters, Urmilla shares how her mother once said that characters write themselves. "I thought her a bit mad, but find (as we do about our parents) that she was right. Once characters come to life, it's hard to make them act in inconsistent ways without putting them in situations where they would break character, or reveal some unseen part of themselves." Once Urmilla began to write Anne, her depression, her infertility, her fascination with babies and her distress over the street children in Bombay all led up to that moment when she did what she did. One of her favourite people in the book is Saroj.
"I felt her, heard her voice more than any other. Odd, because I have almost nothing in common with her. I am unable to explain where these people come from or why they do what they do. It is a fast process for me, the actual writing of a novel, but I think life and experience should be counted as part of the process. In which case I would have to say, I've been preparing every day of my life to be a writer, and when I was ready, I wrote!"
Urmilla plans to go back to two unfinished novels as soon as she is done with erotic short stories that she took on almost as a challenge from Prita Maitra, her editor. Though she has never written erotic before—not intentionally as a genre anyway – she's found it "fun so far." She has also completed editing a book about IIT Bombay's Hostel four.
Deccan Herald Interview/Review
Cinematic
Monideepa
Urmilla Deshpande's 'Kashmir Blues' is a story written with deep compassion and even the darkest characters are humane, says Monideepa
Kashmir Blues takes in its expansive narrative sweep the characters' lives from southern California to the seedy streets of Mumbai, to the charmed circles of India's rich and powerful, and to Kashmir, strife-torn vale of guns and flowers. Insurgency, socio-political unrest, smuggling, drugs, espionage...
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