Writers can’t be skewed because of fear: Twinkle Khanna

navneet.vyasan@htlive.com

I read across genres, a lot of it as purely research into structure, style and narrative. Alice Munro, Rohinton Mistry are some of my heroes,” says author Twinkle Khanna. And why not, her quirky humour that has made her a bestselling author can be found across genres irrespective of the theme. Mistry, whose novels are laden with realism and Nobel Prize winner Munro, who revolutionised short stories, have inspired generations. Khanna, who has penned Mrs Funnybones, The Legend Of Lakshmi Prasad and most recently, Pyjamas Are Forgiving has slowly but steadily built her a strong fan base.

When did your inclination towards reading begin?

My mother claims I could read by the time I was 3 which seems hard to believe but I use this apocryphal tale around my childhood to tease my sister mercilessly because apparently she was all of 5 when she started reading. Today, I think she reads even more than me, though we prefer different genres. I honestly don’t remember a specific time when I discovered the joy of books so as to speak, but my boarding school friends claim that I would even skip meals because I was reading. Considering I was the roundest girl in my class, I find it unlikely, though I suppose I do have hazy memories of eating with one hand, while holding my book with another and invariably dropping some food on the pages. Yes, I am one of those sinners, who fold down corners, drop things, write in the margins. My relationship with books is probably like my relationship with God, I am grateful to have both in my life but my devotion is strictly devoid of any rituals. After all, Saraswati does not come to visit you if you worship books, she drops in occasionally when you turn the pages.

Who were your favourite authors growing up? And whom do you enjoy reading now?

I have always read a lot of science fiction, Asimov, Philip K Dick, and I used to read a lot of horror as well, all the Stephen Kings and Dean Koontzs I could find. Now I have stopped reading about demons but am sticking to my beloved aliens. I read a lot of contemporary sci-fi authors now , Ken Liu, N K. Jemisin , Paolo Bacigalupi along with the masters like Atwood and Gaiman. Science fiction is my version of the calorie laden dessert, but aside from that, I could go on but have a tendency to sound like a boring fart when it comes to talking about the authors I love so I am going to stop now.

What do you make of the literary scene in the country? Although we’ve have numerous Booker Prize and Pulitzer Prize winners, do you think reading enjoys the same fanfare as it did?

In the history of mankind there has never been a time like this with so many things competing for an individual’s attention. We also now seem to have a sort of cultivated ADD because we don’t allow ourselves to be bored anymore. Taking out the time to read, to be still in a world that is always whirling may be more challenging but I don’t think books are anywhere close to being extinct because there really is no replacement for a medium where you are building worlds completely within your head. Like Douglas Adams once told Gaiman ‘Books are sharks. There were sharks before there were dinosaurs, and the reason sharks are still in the ocean is that nothing is better at being a shark than a shark.’

Congratulations on winning the award, moreover you were felicitated alongside Sudha Murty. You’ve been a vocal admirer of her’s. Can you tell us a bit about when you got to know her?

Mrs Murthy is someone I admire the most for her sheer lack of pretentiousness. I do know her on a personal level but got to know her further when I interviewed her for my website and her books are exactly like her, warm, honest and completely relatable.

And what do you make of your contemporaries like Madhuri Vijay? Have you read her works?

I have been meaning to get my hands on The Far Field as I have heard so much about it but I haven’t had a chance yet. I did read Milk Teeth by Amrita Mahale , Meena Kandasamy’s When I Hit you by Meena Kadamsamy, Eating Wasps by Anita Nair, and they all made it to multiple lists of book recommendations that I jot down regularly for my readers. Contrary to popular belief, I think it’s a wonderful time to be a writer today only because the best work is never created in a stable environment but always in the midst of uncertainty.

What do you make of the fact that every now and then there are people who’ll get offended by an author’s words? Does that make an author turn towards self-censorship? A lot of filmmakers are doing that. But is it a proper solution for writers too?

I have been writing for over eight years now and in the last few years, I feel that you can sense an increasing amount of pressure especially when you write about politics. Each creative person is an individual and has the agency to decide to succumb and even then, temporarily or permanently or even to be subversive or not to adapt at all. I don’t see a demarcation between filmmakers and writers as much as I see it as individual decisions. Personally, I feel that with the platform that I have been given , I do have the responsibility to present a narrative that does not transform or get skewed because of fear.