Writing Is a Combination of Hope, Inspiration, Discipline, Spontaneity, Structured and a Bit Unstructured Flow of Creative Juices: Chetna Keer

“Just as a chef faces grouchy and grumpy foodies on the table to toss the sunny side up, bringing about a soft smile to their face, likewise the role of a humourist lies in bringing about the depth of realism in the lightest way possible, to be able to find analogies in the simplest of form, making it easier for the reader to relate to it”, says Chetna Keer.

In an engaging conversation with Keekli Intern Sangeeta Sambhi, we explored the different domains of Keer’s life, her role as a journalist, writer, leader and a travelista. In a two-part series interview, we tried to capture the essence of this role model; one on a personal front and second as an author of three books. (Click to read Part II)   

Chetna Keer has been a woman holding the purest form of determination for writing, having strong ideals, with a celebrated career in the print media, along with being a saree-enthusiast. She has worked as a journalist and has been in the print media industry for over twenty-five years. She has also worked as a lifestyle editor, features writer, for newspapers and publications such as Hindustan Times, The Tribune, Deccan Herald, Simply Punjabi of India Today. Post her innings in the print media, she gave it all up and turned into a travelista. During that phase, she travelled a lot and did radio shows based on her journeys, one of them being Tasveer on FM Gold and the second one being Destination India for AIRSPST. She transitioned from dealing with print media to dealing with broadcast media, and somewhere along flowing with this entire journey, the writer in her asserted, thus traversing into a full-time novelista.

Talking of her literary work, in 2005, her first book was for children – Veggies Go On A Beauty Parade ­that was published by Rupa Publications, which played the role of a debutant in the literary sector. Then in 2018, she worked on a non-fiction satire, Trollitically Incorrect, it was based on the intersection of how the trolling activities have taken a toll on everybody’s mental health these days, along with humans being victims of using social media, while being engulfed by the lucrative features it has to offer. Now in 2022, she is filled with sheer enthusiasm and is set to launch her third book, which belongs to the fiction genre, a pandemic portrait and literary satire titled Giddah On My Gulmohar.

Keekli: As writers have the power of shaping the world with their words, we would like to know about your vision for the nation?

Chetna Keer: We as writers, mirror the expressions of the society around us. What we write, is somewhat inspired by reality. It is a two-way process; life imitating art and art imitating life. The subtext of my pandemic portrait is based on the hope shown by people during the darkest of times. The whole narrative of is throbbing with the human spirit to reinvent and reboot itself. Hope, resurgence and rebooting, remain the prime subtext.

Keekli: You are a reputed columnist and novelist with such a diverse personality and an illustrious career. At what point of time in life you were confident enough of taking up journalism as your career?

Keer: The seeds of becoming a writer were sown around the time I was in college. I was made the editor of my college’s magazine Abha. It made me familiar with the process of working on a magazine, and thereafter I started writing professionally. After graduation, I did not go for anything connected to writing, instead pursued Masters in Economics. Just one year into the course I gave it up, knowing that writing professionally was my calling, and thus decided to study mass communication for additional academic and skill enhancement. It was a stepping stone into becoming a journalist. While doing my Bachelors in Mass Communication from Panjab University, I applied as an intern sub-editor for The Tribune, luckily, I cleared their written exam and thus got my first job. I took my final term examination during my job.

Keekli: What is the best part about being a writer?

Keer: When I explored the fiction genre, I realised that writers hold the ability to draw upon reality. Filtering and distilling reality, they hold the power of painting it into the colours of relevance and giving it the shape of diversity.

Keekli: Women empowerment bandwagon has crossed miles of struggles, both major and minor, how do you see women in the field of literature today, when compared in retrospect?

Keer: Women in literature have always had a mixed horizon of experiences over the past few centuries. There have been women who were able to discover their writerly voice. On the same lapse of happenstance, there also have been women with relevant skills, who remained unsung, even after holding significant creative pursuits. How I see it, it is still a case of haves and have nots. There are always cases where certain set of authors are celebrated. And with that, there are writers from smaller towns, not A-listers, whose journey is tougher than the celebrated ones. But these days, the opportunities have been diversified, for all set of writers. Multiple publishing houses have been introduced, self-publication being the most prominent one.

At a personal level, I would say the challenge faced, is not in terms of women lacking the relevant skills, the challenges are rather posed from external factors. Setback lies in how the society visualises women writers in India. Women in literature, when spoken of in Europe, are considered to be reputed. It is a matter of pride for them, they nurture their authors. But here in India, in middle class society we face challenges of bottleneck mindset. I remember while writing my book, where the hills were my workstation, I started my day by writing, when people came up to me, asking if I was working with a company. On answering, I was a writer, the next question thrown at me would be, what else did I do. This showcases that even today, people in India do not consider full time writing occupation, for a woman, as a yielding job.

Secondly, I have observed, that writers often travel to retreats for attaining their creative power, while a reputed male writer is not questioned for his choices, women writers on the same lapse of credibility are questioned to disclose their personal profile. Mindset, is the major obstacle hindering the incremented progress of women’s empowerment. And in most cases, more than men, it is women who try to bring down other women. To conclude, I would state that it is alright for a woman writer to take up strong and long-term projects, to go for retreats, without attaining validation from external sources, and to stay committed to their work, all by themselves. 

Keekli: Your work as a columnist and a novelist has been like a bolt out of blue during the 90s. How smooth or bumpy do you think as a woman, your journey has been?

Keer:  My journey as a writer has just started. I have had a journey with mixed emotions. As I explain about my protagonist, Lollita, in the book Giddah On My Gulmohar, rather than ups and downs, life has been full of oops and downs, for me. While working on this book, I became a student, learning new things every day. The best part is that I have played the role of a student, as much as that of a writer. Even if bumpy moments were there, they were only meant to teach me something for the greater good, and helped me grow as a writer.

Keekli: Being the author of Sunday humour column, Witerati, for Hindustan Times that critiques the warts ‘n’ wackiness of life on the social media through the lens of wit and satire, how important is the role of humour in the lives of people during contemporary times?

Keer: On a serious note, these days people do not consider the relevance of humour to a great extent. It is considered as something frivolous and superficial. The biggest misconception about humour writing, is that it is a common presumption that one does not deal with serious subjects to write about. As a humourist, often times, I give examples of food analogy to illustrate my point. Role of a humourist is like the role of a chef, just like a chef has a grumpy and grouchy foodie, to be catered to, by tossing the sunny side up. Similarly, it is evenly-kneeled challenging for a humourist to light up people’s lives with their words. The pandemic has been the darkest phase of human existence. It led to the ad-hoc of the role of humourists, being re-defined.

It reminds me of a lovable moment, when while attending the Jaipur Literature Fest, just at reading the title of my book, Giddah On My Gulmohar, it brought a smile to an enthusiast’s face, the mood of celebration and cheeriness was welcomed. The question that followed was that does my book relate to the depressive traces of the pandemic, with denial I say, that it only focuses on the positives life has to offer and it also talks of celebrating life in its totality. Lips curling into a smile, is the biggest reward for a humourist, as much of a challenge it is. I feel that, these days people have short attention spans, so the role of a humourists is to not only make their reader smile, but also add a sense of calm and depth for the readers to be able to relate to it.

Keekli: As we know journalism is a multifaceted field, what are your few prime contributions of being a travelista?

Keer: Once you give upon a full-time main stream job, it feels liberating to be able to pursue all the activities, you could not in retrospect. As a journalist working at late night shifts and balancing family life with it, was tiresome on most occasions. The first thrill was that it was uplifting and liberating. My travel journeys were never structured. I travelled to interesting places, off the beaten part. This reminds me of visiting to a beautiful and unique beach, situated in Kerela, named as Kappad. That was the beach from where Vasco da Gama set foot into India. It has a commemorative sign post to showcase the happening.

Somewhere, my journey as a travelista has been synonymous to visiting these unique places. It always feels like being a new student, exploring new aspects of yet another diversified genre. Where in retrospect, I worked for over 25 years as a journalist, now I was into dealing with broadcast media. Interacting with live audience was my new niche. It paved a way for me as a sign to take up professional writing later in life. According to me a writer is someone who soaks in all the sights, sounds and smells and translates them into words for the reader to enjoy.  

Keekli: Another important domain of the journalism field is travel writing, how did you get into it and how much do you enjoy it?

Keer: Taking up travel writing was completely unplanned for me; it just fell into place later. After giving upon my main stream job, I realised that as I was travelling why not also start writing. Hence, to keep a foot forward I sent my travel blogs to publications, like Deccan Herald, and my blogs were warmly welcomed. They loved my piece on the hills of Himachal. That was one foray I made. Then I was also travelling a lot to Goa in those days and it became a second home to me. It also struck me that I should start writing for local magazines, and luckily, I got good responses and got published in multiple sources. This initiated in me the determination to write and travel more. I went with the flow, thereafter.

Keekli: It is said, that words have the power to either make or break someone; to what extent would you believe in this statement?

Keer: It is a truism. According to me, words have enormous power. How they are used to describe experiences, talks for itself, as we see in the case of words being placed to describe the condition of the pandemic. I believe in using words in positive sense, I do not use demeaning words. Even if I use a satirical landscape to explain a situation, it is always without being pungent and surgent. Words do convey the irony of life around you, but they should not be used to hit at someone’s ideals. I just like to bring out the paradox in every situation. The best quality that I can recall of, which was taught by my father to me was the ability to be able to laugh at your own self. Humour would be taken in a subtle way, as far as we can enjoy the airiness of laughter on the joes cracked on us.

Keekli: Tips and tricks of being good at creative writing?

Keer: It is both easy and tough to give out tips and tricks. I don’t always believe in giving out tips and tricks, the reason being that writing is a form of craft, which is developed naturally through practice and also by travelling through the journey of life. It cannot be learnt through classrooms and webinars.

Keekli: As a TEDx circles, what according to you is the definition of confidence?

Keer: People from all around the world were invited to be a part of the TEDx circles. It was like a round table conversation. The conversation was held on topics relevant to the situation upheld during the times of the pandemic.

Specifically hinting towards your question, I would say that some people are born orators, but I was never one of them. I have always been someone who enjoyed the process of expressing herself through words. As you go along the journey of writing, the confidence of speaking fluently is inherited, and one becomes a raconteur. Thereafter, the ability of narrating your stories to the world seems to be a much obvious objective.

Keekli: After working as a senior journalist for twenty-five years with publishing houses as Hindustan Times, TT, Deccan Herald, what force makes you return to your work every single day?

Keer: There is a huge idealistical transition, when one switches job from a professional full time one to a freelancing one. But being a freelancer, full time writer is just synonymous to holding a professional designation. To be more specific, there are two types of school of thoughts to be followed. One set of writers believe that to lock in a number of hours and writing under structured parameters is the key, the other ones do not. I am not one of them. On some days even if I do not write much, I at least read, as it contributes to the project I might be working upon. There are times when there is ideation going on in my mind while being in a conversation. In case all my days are not productive in terms of writing, as it is said, madness has its ways, I start the ideation of new characters, it is a combination of hope, discipline, spontaneity, structured and a bit of unstructured way, waiting for inspiration to flow the creative juices, rather than sitting on the table and writing ‘n’ number of sentences. Other than that, the environment plays a very important role. In my case, I would state that you put me into nature’s landscape and I can keep writing for hours altogether.

Keekli: What are the few steps of being good at effective writing?

Keer: Summing up the essence of the key factors of being a good effective writer is to read, read and read…. Incorporating reading in your daily routine is the stepping stone to become efficient. Without reading one cannot become a writer. No matter where I am or what am I doing, I always try to read as much as I can, it can be a line, a paragraph or a chapter. It is not always important to read the classics, going in for lesser-known authors is also one way to diversify your panorama of thoughts.

I too turn pages of authors, whose names I am not aware of, the moment I realise that their writing style has struck my emotional chord. So, the second factor would be to discover the books of authors who do not necessarily belong to the realm of celebrated writer hood.

The third one would be of having a goal of disciplined writing. One does not have to be harsh on himself or herself, just the idea of writing the minimum number of words, should be your goal. One can also go in for courses and workshops available on different platforms. But to be honest, the only thing that works at the end of the day is to grab a notebook or laptop and just start expressing yourself through words.

Keekli: As a guest faculty at IIMC, what role specifically does the young army of students play in bringing about a difference in the kind of world we live in?

Keer: When I interact with the budding journalism enthusiasts, it is invigorating to see that as much of a teacher you are, so much you are taught. It is always a two-way process. It makes one’s space more stimulating. It also keeps cynicism out of one’s mind space, as one is able to see the positives of life through the rose-tinted lens of bubbly young faces.

Keekli: Name some of your liked contemporaries from the same field?

Keer: When it comes to talking about the contemporaries, I would say that India has an abundant army of stand-up comedians but somewhere, India lacks behind in having humourists in abundance. The contemporaries that I like, however, do not belong to the humour satire of writing, but I feel that their writing has that spark of making people smile. Anurag Mathur would be one of my favourite contemporaries.