Off The Beaten Track

Poet and novelist, Anjum Hassan is a contemporary writer with a distinctive flair that speaks for her ‘hybrid’ perspective of life. Born and brought up in Shillong, Anjum is presently working as the communications editor at the India Foundation for the Arts, Bangalore. Her book, Lunatic in My Head was nominated for the Crossword Fiction Award of UK in 2007. Her second book is in its final stage and is expected to hit the stands early next year.

As I made my way to the hotel where she had put up, I found myself thrilled at the prospect of meeting a writer, not much elder to me. The thrill was perhaps due to the faint dream of being a writer myself, and the fact that I was meeting her boosted my morale that maybe some day I’d be like her. As I reached the reception I gave her a call. A slim woman of average height and sharp eyes met me at the lobby. She was in a pair of simple kurta pyjamas and a poetry book that I presumed, she intended to give me. Introductions over, I congratulated her and we settled down for the interview.

For a book to have reached an international audience, and more so, to have been selected among the best of books published worldwide is a brilliant feat. Her response – “It was very thrilling. Lunatic was my first novel and I didn’t even know if people would like it. I feel really privileged that out of the six books that were shortlisted last year, mine was one. The fact that it was shortlisted by such a prestigious jury like that of Crossword was also very gratifying; most of them are very established writers or editors. It also meant that literature from this part of the country was worthwhile as compared to literature from any other part of the country. Crossword being a book store chain, the visibility for my book has been great.”

It is quite understandable that she, being from Shillong would take up a story on the place she grew up in, for her first novel. Yet, curiosity got the better of me as I enquired about the inspiration behind the novel. “Shillong is full of very interesting characters and many of them are excellent storytellers. There’s a lot of frustration in life, but there is also a lot of joy. There’s something very beautiful about Shillong and people take a lot of pleasure in that beauty. I wanted to tell a story that had all of them.” The novel is centered on the geography and psychology of Shillong. How would a person who has nothing to do with Shillong relate to it? “Shillong might be a small town but it’s still quite cosmopolitan. The book is therefore, about a place that is mixed, and this fact applies to all our cities. So, my book should appeal to anyone who is interested in the life of a city. (Pauses) I love the sense of the hybrid that only a city can offer. In the Northeast this hybridity is special, because it is of a different set of people altogether. I know that I would not be able to write the same novel about another city. But at the same time, I would like it to appeal to anybody who’s interested in the life of an Indian city.”

Quite prolific as she seems to be, the author has already completed her second novel that is on the post production stage. About the book – “There is something about Shillong here too. But it’s about a girl who goes to Bangalore and makes her journey back to Shillong. It’s about a search for belonging; the mental conflict and anxiety of not fitting anywhere. This novel has been longlisted for the Man Asia prize.” The name is Neti Neti. “In Sanskrit, it means ‘not this, not this’. It’s slightly nihilistic. You’re searching for something but not really getting what you’re looking for. So you keep saying ‘neti neti’. It’s a process of rejecting everything in search for that ultimate happiness.”

For people who stay away from the place where they have grown up, the outlook would be much different. How does Anjum see the Northeast? “The Northeast is often seen as very isolated and folksy. People don’t realise that the Northeast is similar to the rest of the country. Globalisation has affected us in the same way as it has affected any other Indian city. But while it is all urban and keeping up with new trends, the ethnic preferences of the Northeast remain intact. That paradox is very interesting to me. I want to explore this contrast between being both cosmopolitan and ethnic. This ability to maintain tradition in the face of modernity, is one of the strengths of the Northeast.”

Though she is new to the realm of novels, Anjum has a literary history of being a poet, with a few short stories also, to her credit. What interests her as a writer? “I am very interested in people. It could be because my own background is steeped in hybridity; but I like to write about people who have a midway position, who are both insiders and yet outsiders. Such people tend to be very introspective.” Her recurring obsession of hybridity reminds me of Kiran Desai’s Inheritance of Loss. The latter painted an image where the inability of the hybrid man to locate himself to one place is seen as a profound malady. So, while this position is very unique, there’s also a sense of loss. Her view – “This sense of loss can lead you to feel quite destabilised. You could end up writing something that doesn’t relate to anyone. I’m aware of that danger. But unlike Kiran Desai, I’ve lived most of my life in Shillong. So I’ve had the advantage of looking at one society very closely all my life so far.”

For all the talk about hybridity, what would India – the greatest epitome of hybridity, mean to her? “I don’t want to define it by any sort of absolutes. But there’s something about India which can’t be explained. When I go abroad, I know for a fact that I won’t be able to live there. It doesn’t matter where I am in India but I feel at home. There are lots of things going wrong in our country, but still, you know that you belong here. To me, that is India!”

Writers are generally voracious readers. What about her? “I like to read all forms of writing. I’ve read quite a lot of European, Latin American and Russian poetry. As a student of Philosophy, I’ve read a lot of philosophy as well. I love reading fiction, but I also like non-fiction literature like travel writing and history. There might be a certain form in which you wish to express, but that should not limit you from going into some other kind of writing.” Her favourite writer is Vladimir Nabokov. “His use of language and imagery is incredible. He is a novelist but there’s even a certain amount of poetry in his prose.” Among Indian writers, Amitav Ghosh appeals a lot to her. “With his (Amitav Ghosh’s) range and the kinds of risks he takes, I don’t think there’s any Indian writer who can touch him. He reinvents himself with every book. He is an inspiration who stands for, how far an Indian writer can go if he has enough confidence.”

I’ve always had the notion that travelling enriches the mind’s treasure and makes a good writer. Enthusiastically, I invited her opinion. “I think what’s important for being a good writer is curiosity. And one form that curiosity takes is travel. I do travel a fair bit as my job requires me to do that. That avails my meeting with people of different places for a specific purpose and I can always get a new perspective on a particular place. I’ve also travelled as a travel writer.” And then, the inevitable question. Did she always want to be a writer? “Yeah, I think so. I think that’s the only thing I can do. Ever since I was a child, I had this very romantic idea that a writer is a person who has a lot of fun, and someone who is completely free.”

Women’s writing is a category in itself. The allotment of a section for women’s writing in literature is as much a freedom as it is a confinement. Some people tend to consider it as one-sided and chauvinistic. Is Anjum Hassan a feminist too? “If you think feminists are people who believe that women should be given their due; that women are not inferior to men and should be considered at par with men, I would consider myself a feminist. But I’m not a feminist writer in the sense that I don’t only write about issues that are women-centric. I write about humanity in general. My fiction is not feminist but my outlook definitely is.”
The journey as a writer might have been quite a learning experience. What does she have to say to aspiring writers? “Read widely, read without prejudice, allow yourself to be open to all kinds of literature. Slowly, you’ll find your own voice. Also, be confident. You shouldn’t think that you’re writing from a marginal position and that you’re writing for a very small readership. I would like my book to be read and appreciated in any place in the world.”

What does she have to say for our readers? “Please read my book (laughs). Frankly, that’s what a writer always hopes. It’s the book that matters because that’s where you put all your ideas, your sweat and blood, and your emotions. It’s very exciting that there are more books in English coming out of the Northeast, because it gives greater access for people from other parts of the country and world to read about the region. I consider myself part of that whole trend. I hope that the readership will grow more and people would be more receptive.”

As I left the hotel, I was still brooding over the idea of being ‘hybrid’. Am I hybrid too? Well, maybe. But I knew one thing for sure. This new verve of writers who have brought a change to the literary scene of the region, would definitely be carving a niche in world literature.
Photographs: Zac O Yeah

Words: Agamonee Barbaruah

Latest read – Sunil Gangopadhyay’s First Light, a book based on the early part of the 20th century and the figures who contributed to the Bengal Renaissance.

Related Articles