Tell us about yourself.:
I love language and literature, especially English. Since my girlhood, I have been attracted to libraries which enabled me to know the world literature. Dickens, Thackeray, Maupassant, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Emile Bronte, Jane Austen filled up my bookshelf and soul. I belonged to the '80s generation when we were not exposed to cell phones and the Internet in India.
My diary was my best friend, and I loved nature like Maria of "Sound of Music."I ran away from school to spend my blissful time in the woods and among the hills. I belonged to a green city in India where industry and greenery co-existed side by side. I did not mind when I often got caught for playing the truant and received punishment. The reward of freedom is priceless:)
I felt my existence as a caged bird, and I wanted to sing. I was brought up in a very conservative society which I observed closely. I joined the debate and elocution club, where I could express myself freely. My teachers egged me on to write for the school and college magazines. Later, I wrote for Ezine Articles. Thereafter, I wanted to publish my book when the Pandemic suffocation left me with no other option in my isolation. "Even Caged Birds Sing" was created. Now, while the 2nd wave of Covid stalks our cities and towns in India, and life has turned even more miserable, I am writing my second novel about the triumph of love and humanity over greed for power and money.
I always had a penchant for writing
Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?:
I grew up in a hilly Industrial belt. Nevertheless, it was green and expansive with rolling hills that changed colors. The ambiance of flora and fauna nurtured a creative instinct in me.
The colorful festivals and the cosmopolitan upbringing stirred up my imagination. Besides, the sisters in my school, especially my English Teacher encouraged me to write. Besides, the rebellious streak to my nature that always craved freedom and liberal views led me to reach out my voice on the issue of gender apartheid and social evils to the local English papers and small magazines. I do make use of irony and humor in a natural way to entertain my readers. I also wrote romantic lyrics and short stories which won me, readers, both male and female.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes, I would love to write about international issues in war-ravaged Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel. I read war novels and enjoy watching Hollywood war movies. I loved watching Forest Gump & Life is Beautiful. I wrote a few thrilling real-life stories against the background of Kashmir Valley, yet unpublished.
I enjoy writing at night because India is a noisy country with a teeming population. So I wake up like the nocturnal animals when everyone else is resting. I find it very peaceful to focus and probe within the characters' minds. The inner journey becomes easier. Embrace the darkness around to light up my soul.
What authors have influenced you?
I grew up in a hilly Industrial belt. Nevertheless, it was green and expansive with rolling hills that changed colors. The ambiance of flora and fauna nurtured a creative instinct in me.
The colorful festivals and the cosmopolitan upbringing stirred up my imagination. Besides, the sisters in my school, especially my English Teacher encouraged me to write. Besides, the rebellious streak to my nature that always craved freedom and liberal views led me to reach out my voice on the issue of gender apartheid and social evils to the local English papers and small magazines. I do make use of irony and humor in a natural way to entertain my readers. I also wrote romantic lyrics and short stories which won me, readers, both male and female.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
I have just published my first book, which got genuine reviews. I am yet to publish my second book in June'21. So I am a beginner at a fledgling state.
Yet, I might remind them that we are at a strange crossroads when biological weapons created by some greedy country can change and devastate the entire world so brutally.
So let us write about love and humanity; let us understand our value as the human race. We must write more about healing the world, living peacefully, and the need for Empathy and Global Understanding. So, write from the heart, write from intuition, write the truth that comes from the innards. Be genuine and original in perception. Develop your own signature style.
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
My father was my best teacher initially, who always told me to read books to learn about human life and society. My mom was a corporate lady. Yet, I remember her taste for language. She told me that practice makes a man perfect.
Practice definitely improved my language skill, yet I feel I would learn until I breathe my last. I also loved Hemingway's advice for writers to be genuine. Writing must come from the guts. Even Paolo Coelho inspires us to remember every scar and pain, transmute it into pure gold. His Alchemy is a spiritual journey. What is writing if not bleeding on the white screen?
What are you reading now?
I am reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Husseini"; Three Sisters by Bi Feyu, The Life of the Geisha & "Educated" by Tara Westover. There are others on the list like Spilt Milk and "The Palace of Illusions" by Divakaruni.
What’s your biggest weakness?
It is my inability to be satisfied even after editing and reediting a book thrice. I never feel satisfied with my final draft.
Also, I am weak in marketing myself. I do not consider first what would sell most on Amazon. I write what I feel most seriously and deeply about. I do not think about profit and loss. Catharsis drives me to write.
What is your favorite book of all time?
I could not get over the feelings of reading" Agony & Ecstasy" by Irving Stone. I must mention " To kill a Mocking Bird by Harper lee stoked up my fire during my adolescence. I still love teaching them to my students in the University.
When you’re not writing, how do you like to spend your time?
I listen to music, go for a walk for oxygen, like deep communication with two of my special friends. I love watching movies on my laptop. I watch youtube videos on varied issues. But I love traveling most which I miss, like many people, nowadays. I prefer to be a traveler than a tourist. I miss my friends all over the world. I hope to meet the world soon. Cheers:)
Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
The first story I read was David Copperfield and I remember my heart broke for the poor chap's miserable life, and the sudden death of his lighthearted wife, Dora. Even the 2nd story I read "The Prince and the Pauper" made my heart heavy.
What has inspired you and your writing style?
My imagination was my asset since childhood. I changed the stories of demons and princesses told by my grandmother, which suited my sense of justice:) I created my princesses, fighting the witches and demons in my own head.
Yet, my initiation into the literature in my vernacular language( I am a Bengali who knew Hindi and Urdu reasonably well. Later, I learned our classical language Sanskrit and the English translation of Greek Drama.
This enabled me to perceive the difference between the two cultures: the East and the West.
Though I found both the cultures rich in their own way and felt the beauty, it was the flexibility, the unconventionally, and the modern psychological plays of Euripides Aeschylus, Sophocles that attracted my modern sensibility.
The more I read the modern poetry of Eliot, the war poets Robert Frost and Eugene O'Neill, and the novels of HG Wells, Rudyard Kipling, Em Foster, DH Lawrence had a tremendous impact on developing my literary sense and the urgency to develop my own style of writing.
Later on, the famous Indian writers in English, like Jhumpa Lahiri( the Pulitzer award winner, Salman Rushdie, and Kiran Desai, realized that the English language is liberal enough to accept my lyrical prose and nuanced Indian style of writing if I am authentic. I introduce irony and humor that had entertained my classroom and sure to entertain my readers—cheers to my Optimism.
What are you working on now?
I am writing a Contemporary Romance in the Indian context. I have fictionalized a real-life story that shocked my sensibility. It is a passionate love story between two souls who has to survive in a vicious and evil world of caste and class difference; and gender apartheid. So, basically, it is the vast empathetic, beautiful community who grew up amidst exotic natural surroundings struggling against the big power-hungry world of politicians.
What is your favorite method for promoting your work?
I want to reach out to readers who can resonate with the Universal human issues I write about. I want genuine readers who can remember me by the moments and scenes I created in my book. I speak on behalf of humanity. People should feel more today than they think. I need to create such readers, if possible, in this age of instantaneous pleasure.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to write some psychological stories too, like "Interpreters of Maladies."
I have planned to write my curiosity because I have had an unusual upbringing that I must convey to the world in a humorous tone. My memoir will be hilarious though painful, and oppressive in many ways. I do not look back in anger:)
How well do you work under pressure?
In fact, I always write under pressure. My life has never been straight. It has always been very complicated where at every step, society has always reminded me to conform.
Now Pandemic explosion is an additional pressure when India and the world have been torn asunder by a few greedy power mongers. But, I believe pain helps because it is the greatest inspiration to writers:)
How do you decide what tone to use with a particular piece of writing?
My tone automatically becomes sensitive and delicate when I describe pain. The tone becomes intensely passionate when I describe love-making and pangs of separation.
My tone gets ironic and sarcastic when I satirize politicians and powerbrokers who are corrupt.
My tone changes into lyrical descriptions when I describe Nature and its abundance.
I become objective when there is a courtroom debate or dialogue. Yet my style of writing is showing when I reveal characters in their varied shades.
If you could share one thing with your fans, what would that be?
My genuine voice with them. I would like to inspire them to believe in life and no matter what, live fearless and happy. I would like to make them feel that happiness is nowhere but "within':) I would tell my readers to teach their children to love.
Mandira Mazumder’s Author Websites and Profiles
Website
Amazon Profile
Goodreads Profile
BookBub Profile
Mandira Mazumder’s Social Media Links
Facebook Page
Twitter
Instagram
LinkedIn
This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.
Leave a Reply