An eminent scholar and critic Ratnottama Sengupta stirred quite an engaging conversation with Deepti Naval, the writer and not the actress, even though it is difficult to separate the two. This was an exploration into the space where words carry the potency to create many worlds and the world out there shapes the words and meaning while talking about the soon to be release book titled, A Country Called Childhood: A Memoir. A writer’s journey that started about 20 years ago with just four chapters and was forgotten until a long time and then Deepti decided to finish it. The book captures the first 18 years of her life and struggles and outlines her persona and her journey – as a poet, a writer, a painter and as an actor. Her memoir takes us back to the 1956s and 1960s when life was simple and to places that were so dear to her. She even shared that rather than preserving a monument like Jallianwala Bagh for what it was, a historic place, it has been turned into a selfie-point with no remorse or respect for the fallen. She reiterated that while working on her book she avoided visiting her childhood place to see them in current state as that would have only clouded her judgement, she wanted to capture the essence of the place as she has lived them over the years.
During the session Deepti spoke about how she researched for materials for her stories or when preparing for her role and would try and get insight into it through first-hand experience. She shared her tryst with a mental asylum in Ranchi while researching for a role. Even though she was scheduled to stay there for two days, she ended up staying for 23 days and was astounded to see the hardships. Similarly, her experience of visiting a ‘Red Light Area’ and to see the girls being caged was bewildering.
Her poetry narrations from Black Wind were quite touching especially the one that was based on her friendship with Samita Patil. Her experiences while working on The Mad Tibetan: Stories From Then and Now were quite fetching along with a reading from the yet to be released book.
Nurturing Creativity – Keekli Charitable Trust, Shimla
