Playwright Mahesh Dattani, writers Swapna Datta and Maya Chandrasekaran, performance poet Arka Mukyopadhyay — what could have brought all these arty folks and a room full of avid readers together at EasyLib.com, the online library? A book reading and interactive session with writer Anita Nair.

The evening started with Anita reading from her bestselling book ‘Ladies Coupe.’ Anita read the paragraphs where protagonist Akhila starts her journey from Bangalore, in a second class railway compartment to travel to Kanyakumari. The story unfolds as Akhila learns of the loves and lives of her four fellow women passengers. Anita then read from her latest novel ‘Mistress’ — a literary treat where Anita has merged beautifully the art of writing with Kathakali. The book is structured like a Kathakali performance and has nine chapters with each chapter named after an emotion from the Navarasas.

When Anita finished reading from ‘Mistress’, the question that played on everybody’s mind was how long did it take her to pen the book? The question was articulated by Mahesh Dattani to which Anita said it took her four and a half years! She even enrolled herself with a Kathakkali tutor and feels that the research was even more satisfying than the writing. Anita declined that she is a feminist writer, though she feels the questions she poses to herself may reflect on her characters. Citing an example of this, she said she often pondered on what artistic satisfaction meant to her as a writer, and she tried to explore this through Koman, the Kathakali performer in Mistress.

Moving on to questions on writing, Vandana Pandit from the audience asked Anita why Indian writers tend to be descriptive. To this Anita felt writing styles are more culturally rooted than we think. Whether it was Kalidasa or Bhasa or even our epics, Indian writing has always been laced with descriptions, and probably continues till date. Anita said while American writers such as Updike are more terse, Spanish writers are as verbose as their Indian counterparts. When asked whether Anita plans to write a book that explore social themes such as crime and punishment, she smile and said, ‘Wait and watch’! Vani Mahesh of EasyLib.com says the evening with Anita Nair is part of the library’s ‘Meet the Author’ initiative. Contact EasyLib on 41102231 or visit www.EasyLib.com to get notified on similar events in the future.

DHNS