BENGALURU: A husband and wife united and separated by self-help books, secrets and biases, and a daughter. An uncle swindled, family rebels, local politics, and deeper ideologies that come to the fore that make men and women behave the way they do in certain circumstances—all of this makes Vivek Shanbhag’s new novel, Sakina’s Kiss, an engrossing read about family life in the backdrop of a changing India’s social and political landscape.
Sakina’s Kiss (Penguin) is Shanbhag’s second book, which author Srinath Perur has translated, after Ghachar Ghochar. “Like all good fiction writers, he is often saying a lot without actually saying it. Making sure this comes through in translation is both challenging and fun,” says Perur. “To me, Vivek is brilliant at showing us what goes on inside our heads and how it is related to the larger currents of the outside world. He has a deeply perceptive eye for life around him.”
The novel was originally published in Kannada in 2021 as Sakinala Muttu. Shanbhag and Perur will be discussing Sakina’s Kiss today in Bengaluru.
Excerpts:
There are many strong characters in the book, some in the same house as Venkat, the narrator. Both his wife and daughter seem put off by him. Through Venkat’s observations, what did you want to reveal about him and others?
What the writer wants to convey decides the tone, which in turn, chooses the narrative of a novel. The tone is so important because it decides what to show and more importantly what not to show. Spaces and voids are created in a work so that readers establish relationships with the story by filling these spaces
from their own experiences or imagination. This is how a work becomes personal to the reader.
An unreliable narrator is my ideal. Such narratives create a kind of tentativeness that is essential for a work to resonate in the minds of the readers and encourage them to think of possible alternatives. Venkat, in my view, is perfectly placed to tell this story, and his complex character is revealed through
his responses when certain people in his life disappear.
As a reader not sure when what seems to be a promising start for a young couple, what with that great night of passion and the shared leaning into self-help books, why there is a slide to the relationship.
When a couple is in love or newly married as in this novel, they see each other through a magnifying glass. Unintended gestures can look like eternal promises. Even a small patch of ‘common ground’ is seen as a vast green pasture. However, what is usually ignored are the seeds of a power struggle that are
sown right at the start.
Would you say that your book is full of portents about how middle-class certainties in cities about the self in the workplace, inside the home, in the neighbourhood or with extended families ‘back home’ in the village is changing? Is this especially true in Karnataka?
The middle class has benefited the most from globalisation. Along with it came opportunities for women in the job market which has resulted in them finding their own world outside the house. In many ways this has challenged existing norms of authority and hierarchy in families. This is difficult to digest for a society fed on masculinity and patriarchy. Many have resorted to the narrative of protecting “our culture” in order to retain the old order.
Such people refuse to accept the fact that women can have an inner world of their own. And when they do accept it, they demand that this world be fully revealed to them. The crisis is also born out of an arrogance that believes everything can be understood in this age of technological advancement. This is not specific to Karnataka. In fact, the upwardly mobile middle class has no affiliation to any land. One of the characters in the novel refuses to divulge details about her disappearance as a mark of protest and to establish her right over her inner world.
Is the most pressure that middle-class families face today from their own children? The novel almost seems to be a picture of the middle class at war with itself or coming apart.
In the last three decades, the middle class has seen changes and upward mobility like never before. This shift may not be big in absolute terms, but it is huge relatively. The fear of their children not making such progress unnerves the middle class. While they enjoy the benefits of open markets and a global economy, they haven’t shed the protectiveness associated with the old economy. What constituted the safety net is no more there and this causes great anxiety.
As an author, how closely do you guide the translation process?
The process of translation is more of a partnership or collaboration than guiding. It is a process of continuous give and take. Srinath with his sharp literary sensibilities challenges me to unravel the connections underneath the text. It enables me to understand my own craft better. A good translation must carry the unsaid in a work from one language to the other. It must not end up translating just the meaning of sentences.
(The book discussion today is at the Bangalore International Centre, Domlur, at 6:30 PM)