Future of Hindi literature set to prosper: Booker winner Geetanjali Shree

Geetanjali Shree, the first Hindi litterateur to receive the International Booker Prize, talks in an interview to Sandeep Kumar on many topics including the impact of this award, the future of Hindi literature and her creation process. Excerpts:

You are the first Hindi writer whose work has won the prestigious International Booker Prize. Do you think other Hindi writers too will benefit from this in the future? Will their acceptance increase?

If there indeed is a correlation between a prestigious international prize and the acceptance of, and gains to writers, then the effect of Ret Samadhi getting the Booker Award will not be confined to Hindi alone. This, in fact, is the first Booker for any South Asian language. And this fact provides the right perspective for your question. So whatever happens as a consequence of the Booker to Ret Samadhi, that will happen more or less to all South Asian languages.

For the time being, surely, there is a visible welcome sign – the best gain perhaps – of the Booker for Ret Samadhi. English-educated middle-class Indians, who had been turning progressively away from their mother tongues, are realizing that good literature is written in their native language also. Many of them have read the original Ret Samadhi. But it will be futile to expect lasting gains from the Booker alone.

As for possible gains to writers as a result of this award, even the effect of the highest prize does not last long. The Nobel is the highest award in literature. It is awarded every year and is followed by an all too familiar brouhaha. There is a rush for translation in different languages. There is an unending beeline to fete the winner. How long does it continue solely on the strength of the Nobel? Soon the award-winning work is left on its own, to be read or forgotten.

This question is with reference to your award winning novel Ret Samadhi (Tomb of sand). The story in this work or your other works is not just a description of events happening outside the world. Your characters, especially the females, enjoy a substantial part in their inner journey. How does this inner journey affect Geetanjali Shree?

That inner journey is what inspires Gitanjali Shree to write.

Your novels, Mai, Hamara Shahar Us Baras<, Tirohit, Khali Jagah and Ret Samadhi all raise different but extremely sensitive topics. What changes did the writer within you feel while writing these books that focus on topics ranging from the woes of a middle-class family to communalism and homosexuality?

My being what I am goes into my treatment of those sensitive issues. As for my writing process, it is not directed by me. There never is a preconceived structure. I just set out with a beginning, and some of the stories wandering all around in my imagination find their moment and get manifested. Gradually, brick by brick, the whole edifice emerges.

You have been writing for more than three decades. Can a Hindi writer make a living only by writing? Are writers financially better off today?

My plain answer is ‘No’. I cannot detect any improvement in the financial condition of Hindi writers. The same is more or less true for writers in other Indian languages.

How do you see the future of Hindi as a written language and in general? What will determine its future?

The hegemonic hold of English in this age of globalisation and the market has created a grim scenario and people have started lamenting the imminent end of Hindi. Even as I'm aware of that threat, I also see many new voices emerging from different segments of society about Hindi literature being injected with unprecedented vigour and energy. There is much to rejoice and look forward to. How much Hindiwalas love and care for their language will determine its future.

Talking about the current economic-socio-political scenario, what role can contemporary literary works play?

Given the way things are changing, we can expect good literature to be positively and healthily critical. It is our country, our society. The responsibility of guarding it is ours too.

What are you writing and reading at the moment? Please share with our readers something about some of your favourite works and your upcoming new creations.

Life has changed so much after the Booker, and is likely to continue so for at least some more time, that there is little leisure for reading and writing. A novel, Sah-sa, is all but done. But there is no time to sit back and prepare the press copy in quiet reflection. It is waiting for life to return to normal.