BANGALORE: K R Meera is no ordinary writer. A stalwart in the Malayalam literature space, she is also an independent journalist and a talented script writer for television and films. She made her mark on journalism when she won the prestigious award instituted by the People's Union of Civil Liberties for an investigative series on the plight of women labourers in Kerala.
She began writing fiction in 2001 and her first collection of short stories Ormayude Njarampu, published in 2002, won her several awards including Ankanam Sahitya Award, Lalithambika Antharjanam Award for young writers, Geeta Hiranyan Endowment Award of Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Thrissur Kerala Varma Katha Award. The translation of her story Moha Manja (translated into English by J Devika ) titled Yellow is the Colour Of Longing, was selected as one of the three stories representing South Asia, by the prestigious feminist journal Feminist Review published from London.
Penguin's latest offering Hangwoman is a translation of Meera's highly acclaimed 2012 Malayalam novel Aarachaar, translated by J Devika. Set in Bengal, the book tells the story of a family of executioners with a long lineage, which can be traced back to the fourth century. The latest in this chain of inheritors is a young woman, Chetana, who is forced to don the mantel of an executioner, because her father is retiring, thus becoming the first woman executioner in India. This sets off an intense media scrutiny and she finds herself trapped in a reality TV show. How she manages to find a place for herself and break free from the shackles of history and lineage, forms the rest of the story.
City Express caught up with the author for a quick chat about the book. "Through Hangwoman I wanted to approach the evolution of women in India, to map their place in the history of India. It wasn't an easy book to write and I knew I was being romantically ambitious. I didn't know how to face this character or what job I should assign to her," she says. "But this was when the 2004 hanging incident occurred and all the media scrutiny that came with it. Soon after I watched a documentary, One day in the Life of a Hangman by Joshy Joseph. And that's when it all came together. The book also wouldn't have happened without the constant encouragement from P K Parakkadavu, editor of the weekly Madhyamam, were the novel was first serialised," she continues.
After writing the first few chapters of the book, Meera showed the same to her husband, Dileep, who is a journalist himself. "He suggested that since the book is set in Calcutta, we should visit the place again. The last time I had visited Calcutta was in 1998 and I did not like the place at all. It wasn't how I had imagined it to be. But when I started visiting the city for the book, I somehow fell in love with it. The sense of nostalgia the place evokes, pulls me back to the place over and over again," she says.
A lot of her stories have strong central women characters. When asked if she would call herself a feminist writer, she says, "I do consider myself a feminist and I believe that all good writers must be humanists and feminists, to really give meaning to their work and writing. Although I am myself a feminist, I don't associate myself with any of the feminist organisations."
Meera is also quite happy with the English translation done by J Devika, who she has collaborated with on previous occasions. "I think her translation has come closest to the original. It is a very difficult job to translate my work because of the way I write. It's quite tricky. For example, if the book was to be translated by a man, it would have been all wrong. Devika knew what to do with my work," she says.
Like all writers, Meera has her own quirks when it comes to her writing process. "I set aside a few days of each month to write, when I'm working on novels. When I'm writing, I like to devote all my time to the writing, and don't like to be interrupted. So I prefer to get away from all my loved ones and friends during the time, and be by myself. I especially need to be away from my family. I get very short tempered and violent when I'm not allowed to write," laughs Meera. "So my family is also quite happy to get rid of me during the time."
Script-writing happened to Meera by accident, rather than design. "There's this production house in Kerala run by two women - Palika Productions. One of the producers, Mallika K Kumar, and I happened to talk. I suggested a story idea to her for a television serial. She was intrigued and asked me to write the script for five episodes and send it to her. The thought was exciting and I took it as a challenge and wrote those five episodes. The director and the rest of the team were extremely happy with the script and that's how my journey with script writing began," she narrates.
Currently Meera is working on a novel that's being serialised in the widely read Malayalam magazine, Vanitha. She is also working on another novel which should be completed by the end of the year.
