(Prameela KP with Sarojini Sahoo at International Book Fair,
Calicut , 2008)
(Dr. Prameela K.P,
the Malayalam critics, writer, poet and translator has been awarded with Devi
Shankar Awasthi Samman for her Hindi book ‘Kavita ke Stri Paksha’ on 5. 04.
2010. She is the first person from South India to receive this award meant for
Hindi writing.
Well known for her frankness,
Dr. Sarojini Sahoo is a prime figure and trendsetter of feminism in
contemporary Oriya literature. For her feminism is not a gender problem or any
confrontational attack on male hegemony. She accepts feminism as a total entity
of femalehood, which is completely separate from the man's world. She writes
with a greater consciousness of women bodies, which would create a more honest
and appropriate style of openness, fragmentation and non-linearity. Her
fictions always project a feminine sensibility from puberty to menopause. The
feminine feelings like restrictions in the adolescence, the pregnancy, the fear
factors like being raped or being condemned by society and the concept of a bad
girl etc always have the thematic exposure in her novels and short stories.
More details on her are available in her profile.
Here
Prameela K.P engages Sarojini Sahoo in a
conversation.)
1. As a woman, what is writing for you all
about? Do you look who wrote
the writing while read?
Writing
for me never any day coined with any social responsibility. It is a media for
self
expression .I want to communicate my feelings,ideas,experiences with my
reader.
It is true that I am not a propagandist or socially so committed in my
writings
, rather I stress importance on the artistic aesthetic sense always and
you
can say I am more committed to my writings than to society. Never I think that
my
writings could change the society , but as Camus told once, “I always want to
hang
myself as I am , so that the readers could see their own image in me. But
along
with my stories, I want to portray the society I am communicating with” .As
I
am residing in a semi urban-semi rural surroundings, far away from Big City
Culture,
I have my profit to encounter the very down trodden feminine characters
and
culture , which always are a part of my fiction.
When we pick a book from a show case or we
start reading any article from a
magazine
, we first choose the name of the writer ,because we were acquainted
with
author’s style and ideas and always we
compare how much the author
made
progress in these writings from his/her previous one . But some times
when
we read anonymous writer who are not known to us, that time we look for
the
style, language and skill of that writer
2. Why you write stories? Why you write
prose not, poems?
I
write poems also but I don’t know why it seems that poetry is an incompetent
media
for me to express myself .I feel comfortable with fiction where I can open
myself
freely .I often use my poems within the
fiction and critiques say my prose
are
more poetic.
3. You are known as Simone de beaviour of
India. Where you put yourself
as an Indian women thinker?
I
have never claimed any day myself to as similar as Simone.They are the
critiques
who compare me with the great feminist. But as far the life style of mine,
some
body may find some how similarity and
dissimilarity with Simone.Like her,I
have
an elder sister Sneha and a friend Sanju
in my adolescent days and later
Sanju
made a suicide .You can find these facts resemblance to the role of
Poupette(her
sister) and Zaza (her friend) but dissimilarity is ,I have no such
involvement
with them as Simone had. She had a living together relationship with
an
eminent philosopher and writer Sartre and I married to Jagadish, who is a
prominent
Indian writer and some how our understandings are similar to Sartre
and
Simone where we don’t want to impose any bar in each other’s
freedom..Simone
was an atheist, whereas I am not.Though Simone devotes a
sizeable
section of the The Second Sex to the topic of motherhood but she was
never
a biological mother, when I am a mother of two young kids. But I consider
these
facts have no more importance to find any similarities or dissimilarities.
Probably
the critiques find some how a similarity of Simone’s attempt to dissect
female
heart and brain with my stories. In my writings, I want to only portray the
feelings
of woman from her preschooler days to the post menopausal days. I
think,
there are some feelings, , intricate mental agony and complexity which a
man
couldn’t feel any day and these should be discussed in our fictions. I
portray
the feelings of a pregnant lady (Waiting for Manna), hysteria
(Burkha,and
Deshantari),fear of being miscarriage (Sakal:The Morning) false
pregnancy
(Tarali Jauthiba Durga :The Melting Castle) , agony of and annoyance
of
menopause (Damppatya:The Couple
),Lesbianism (Behind the scene) .I have
also
portray the shaking situation of a sixty years old lady, who is still waiting
for
her
menopause and in every month her
embarrassing situation when she find
herself
in bleeding (Aparanha : Afternoon).Even
in my story Jahllad (Butcher)
I
have told the story of an infant who finds herself being raped by a caretaker
servant.
4. I have gone through some of your columns
in magazines as well as on
net. Even then, please tell me how you look
in to the role of a mother. Is it
supreme to be a mother?
I
think being a mother is one of the most important jobs in the world .It is a
process
of creation .Not only for the child in fetus but also later in making a child
life
.Have you heard the mythical story of Madalasa .It is referred from
Markandeya
Purana .Madalasa was a daughter of Vishwaketu . and was married
to
king Ritudhwaj She bore three children
Vikranth, Subahuand Shatrumardan
.These
are the royal name and are named by the king .Madalasa taught them
about
the ‘maya’ and taught them that how
meaningless are their names for
them
.Ultimately both of these three did not pay interest in royal duty and they
left
the kingdom for ‘sanyas’ to achieve ‘moksha’ .The king got disappointed and
asked
Madalasa to name their fourth son according to Madalasa’s wish
.Madalasa
named her fourth child as “Alark” means ‘the mad dog’.She taught the
actual
meaning of his name and the boy later became the successor of the king .I
hope
, it is sufficient to answer whether to
be a mother is supreme or not .
5. What will you say, motherhood as a choice
by women, or a social
responsibility?
Motherhood
brings some feminine sensuality which a woman can’t rule out from
her
life. Desire for children is a feminine sensibility and while considering all
aspects
,we should not overlook the emotional suffering of infertility, pregnancy
loss,
or stillbirth bear sorrows of a female but it is a sad saga that in south Asia
,
the
feminine sensibility regarding motherhood has always been denied and it
is
always
mingled with a religious and social goal of patriarchal society and is not
subjected
to a woman’s wish but of man’s. Here motherhood
does not mean all
.To
say correctly mother of a son is regarded highly and mother of a daughter
does
not . In Hinduism a ‘son’ is the must requirement for a man to achieve his
personal
‘moksha’ after his death. So the Manu Smruti stresses upon “putrarthe
kriyate
bharya”, which means a wife is required to bear sons .This is the most
insulting
status of a woman in Hinduism and for that an infertile woman losses
her
status in her family as well as in society. A mother without a son is also
considered
as an infertile woman and these woman
are treated like widow and
are barred from any social rituals and many orthodox
Hindus in rural areas still
believe
that encountering an infertile woman at morning is a bad sign for the
whole
day. So, while discussing about mother hood in South Asian perspective,
we
should not forget this status quo. I am telling you a very ugly story of mine
which
I have painted in my story CHHI (Hatred) ,I was the second daughter of my
parents
and after my birth my mother had to bear very insulting and harassing
moments
,So when my mother found herself as pregnant for third time, she
swallowed
a thread worm from my excreta to get a male child ,as the rituals
admitted..
So , we can admit that being a mother is one of the most important
jobs
in the world , but we should also confirm that motherhood is not only the
“choice”
available to women. It should be confined to the ability of woman to say
"yes",
as well as "no", to having children..
6.
Patriarchal family system is a curse for Indian women. But we wanted to
maintain family. Is it fare to maintain it
in the cost of girls only?
In
one of my essay I wrote:” Patriarchal role in society is a devilish tradition
implied
by the masculine world and our attempts should not be to create another
social
milieu of exploitation and injustice .Feminism does not aim to destroy the
family
structure or to attack on the emotional bondage of love and passion .The
motto
of feminism should to create a new world with a new perspective of
equality
and humanist attitude. Feminism must be a road to glorify female role
with
their own sensibilities “ I think , family is a sharing partnership between two
people
and it shouldn’t be fair to maintain in
the cost of girls only , so I am
always
for the right of ‘divorce’ for a woman .
7. If women writes, we fetch autobiography,
where as men have no
problem. Why it is so?
Ours
is a patriarchal society , where it is
granted that a man could express his
opinion
and decision on outer world, politics,
social milieu but a woman couldn’t
.It
is considered that a woman’s life is restricted within the four walls .I have
painted
a country liquor shop of a rural village in my novel “Pakhibasa”
repeatedly but no critics in Oriya literature has
pointed out that matter Till now ,
our
reader’s mind is not prepare to accept a woman as a thinker or as a
philosopher
. There were some interesting happenings with my story writings.
Gambhiri
Ghara (The Dark Abode), the most controversial novel of mine was first
written
in a story form and it was written for a special issue of an Oriya
periodicals.
Before the publication of the short story it was rejected and I was
asked
to submit another story in place of The Dark Abode. While inquiring the
reason
of the rejection of my story, I was told that the editor would talk to my
husband.
This comment of the chief editor made me irritated and I asked the
chief
editor whether my husband has an authority over my writer self? As my
novel
was on an extra marital relationship between a Hindu house wife and a
Pakistani
artist , the editor could have suspicions whether this was written on any
personal
affairs of mine .. But if it were written by a male writer, I believe, the
editor
would not ask a question and would publish it .The patriarchy idea of the
chief
editor made me to transform the short story to a novel.
8. What will be the form of an ideal family,
for you?
Where
there will be a feeling of sharing ness, trust and respect remained
between
the family .Where any job is not confined with the gender and division of
labour
is on the basis of requirement of current situations prevailed. Where
children
are reared not only by mother but by parents .
9. We are living in paradoxes. We are
against globalization, but live in it. We
are against liberalization, working in MNCs.
We are feminists, but holding
patriarchal families. Any future change you
expect?
Yes
we are living with many contradictory situations .But for that can we reject
our
life or leave our job or our refuse our family ?We have to fight with the
system.
Recently a corporate body in air ways service retrenched thousands of
its
employee without showing any cause .It is the nature of liberalization and
capitalism
.But the corporate could not retrench these people because of mass
unrest
among the company .This should be taken as an instance how we could
protect
our rights against globalization .
10. Our sisters dipped in self-projection
and sell themselves for the sake of
money and name. Is it matter to you?
Yes,
any attempt to commercialize women body
should be condemned .The
patriarchal
society always want to make woman’s body as a commodity ,either in
social
form or in historical way .Simone once told the patriarchal system
subjugate
woman’s mind with mythical values of subordination .Our sisters who
are
engaging themselves in self projection to earn money ,I think, are the tools
of
that system..It is a patriarchal value based freedom for women .
11. Our others bringing up their sons almost
in the same ways as earlier
generation did. How can we achieve
difference for a democratic manwoman
relationship?
Patriarchal
system is a centuries long tradition and it is not expected that all
could
be changed in one night .We have to hopeful as we have marked
significant
changes have been marked in our societies. The liberal idea to deny
patriarchal
form of family , even an unsuccessful
start up to make the live in
relationship
legalized by Maharashtra state council of ministers , all make us
sure
that the society slowly open its mind and heart for such liberalism .We have
to
possess optimistic out look .
12. Now-a-days, psychiatrists say that women
may be the second sex, but
weaker sex is men. What you experience? As
feminists, Shall we do
something for men also?
Psychologists
always deal with the virtual realities .Their all assumptions are
contradictory
and opposite to their life .It is interesting that Freud , who was
famous
for his psychoanalysis for human passion was a less passionate in his
life
.However, it is not true that male are always weaker sex and such statements
should
not be generalized with any of gender .Women are not any day weaker
sex
.It is only the patriarchal system which
makes them weaker .so is the male
community
.We shouldn’t judge any community with such
view .We have to
adopt
an idea that man and woman are though different in their biological
features
, they are eligible to enjoy equal human,civil,political and social rights as
human
beings .
13. Concept of celebration of womanhood is
highly misused by women
themselves. Do you agree?
Yes,
it is true that some times this celebration of woman hood is misused .I think
the
idea of love is the only way to make this equality dream to be realized .I am
always
making stress on the role of love. Passion and sexuality in our
relationship
.I have described all the dimensions of such human instincts in my
novel
The Dark Abode
14. Coming back to literature, what will be
the next ten years of women’s
writing in India?
In
India most of the female writers either quit writing or make themselves more
adjustable
to male dominated values, after their marriage. You find a shyness in
their
voice while relating the truth and exposing their innerself.Even their
weaknesses
or love relations are also not expressed
clearly in fear of social
scandal
of their character. A typical womanish shyness prevents them to write
their
actual feelings towards sex and love. But slowly this tendency is diminishing
.After
Kamala Das we have to wait for decades to find another one like her .But
there
are more and more females coming with their frank writings and I think a
tremendous
change in woman writing would have been seen in next ten years.
15. Are you happy with the increasing
women’s participation in life, politics
as well as in literary field at present?
I
think , women’s participation ,though statistically showed a remarkable
increasing
graph , but there is some fallacy in reality .Today you can find more
and
more female writers are coming out with their writings , but on the other hand
,you
might have marked they are still ignored and are treated as inferior writer
than
male . Uma Parmeswaran once wrote an article on Kamala Mrakandeya at
Sawnet
, where she described that Salman Rushdie in his novels Shame and
The
Satanic Verses raised the issues of race riots in Britain .But before 20 years
of
Rushdie , Kamala Markendeya talked not only about the violence of racism but
also
about other diasporic realities - educational degrees that are not given
accreditation,
the resistance of immigrants to the expectations of the »host«
culture,
chasms of communication between generations, cultural values and
needless
cultural baggage. But the male dominated literary criticism placed
Rushdie
as a pioneer of diasporic struggle. In politics also though all political
parties
have assured to reserve 33% of seats in legislation in their menifesto, still
it
has
not been transformed to law as the male dominant political parties are
opposing
the bill. In our local bodies , though some seats are reserved for the
women,
but the real fact is though a woman
enjoys the chair but the powers of
authority are handled by her husband always .In
financial matter, though women
are
allowed to work out side, but their rights on any house hold matters always
have
been denied. A woman has to take charge of the kitchen , even if she is a
earning
member and she has to go out side for
her job .The husband will not
take
charge of kitchen , though he remain un employed , as it is supposed for a
man
to cook for her family is against his
manhood .Legally, though according to
Court,
sons and daughters have equal rights on patriarchal property but still now
as
per practice, ownership changes hands from father to husband to son and the
role
of a daughter or a daughter in law is denied.
So
, still miles to go for feminism in India .
--Prameela K P
