Just Five Questions Kamalini Nats . First Interview .

JUST FIVE QUESTIONS

In this column  , I plan to ask FIVE QUESTIONS to  a writer about  her \ his latest book .
The purpose is twofold.  Get an insight into an author's new book and secondly , help the youngsters to get an idea about the agony and the ecstasy of writing , the challenges ,the highs and lows and learn from the experiences of the writers interviewed .
  

Today , we have  Kamalini Natesan  talk about her latest  book ,
 Naked Beneath the Midnight Sun. I am sure these answers are going to help not just other writers , but the diffident people out there ,  who are hugging a story close to their hearts , and agonising  and burdening their hearts with untold stories . As Kamalini Natesan so righty puts it , 'There is a place for every kind of writer-voice under the sun- so never compare. Find your voice, and hone its timbre, polish its cadence. ' 
As Maya Angelou so eloquently said , 'There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you ." So , get those stories out - the bits and pieces that are lurking in small crevices of the heart and mind and  the chunks which need to come out in a gushing cascade . Persistence pays . Don't let that story suffocate inside you . As Louis L' Amour puts it ,"Start writing , no matter what . The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on." So, turn that creative faucet on , and who knows a masterpiece may gush forth ?

 I have been conducting  creative writing workshops off and on and mentoring youngsters  for a pretty long time . During this interaction, I have come across two types of students . First , the over confident , smug ones , who want to finish writing a novel in a month or two , and don't need any validation , advice or creative outputs from anyone .
  Second the diffident ones , who have the creative spark in them , but prefer to keep it well- hidden.  I feel that these conversations will help some of those bashful ones, and also the over- confident ones .
 Maya Angelou  also said, 'we need to remember that we are all created creative and can invent new scenarios  as frequently as they are needed . " So, those of us who want to do it - THEY DEFINITELY CAN !
Come on, let us get to know Kamalini Natesan better .

Bio-Note

Kamalini Natesan is a teacher of French. She is a trained singer and jams with a group of musicians on a monthly basis. She has been blogging regularly since 2013.

Travelogues, book reviews and poetry are her favorite genres. Her short stories and articles have been published in magazines such as Parenting and New Woman. Recently, an essay about her son, entitled ‘Probing the Dermis,’ was published in a book – Twilight’s Children, Chronicles of Uncommon Lives (Readomania).

A book review and an essay on Odisha, one of India’s rich eastern states (https://cafedissensusblog.com/2018/12/14/odisha-a-pictorial-dedication-to-one-of-indias-most-beautiful-regions/), was published in online magazines-

Café Dissensus, and a short story, The Sister, in ColdNoon, an online literary journal (https://coldnoon.com/magazine/dialogues/fiction/the-sister/)

More recently, two short stories- A Debt, Unpaid, and ‘Flowers in my Broth’  

have been published in The Curious Reader, another online literary magazine.

https://www.thecuriousreader.in/fiction/a-debt-unpaid/

https://www.thecuriousreader.in/?s=Flowers+in+my+Broth

Some of her poems have also been published, one recently called  ‘Allow me’ in https://oddballmagazine.com/poem-by-kamalini-natesan/

Naked Beneath the Midnight Sun (Olympia, UK)  is her debut novel.

She enjoys dancing/singing, and travelling. Cooking for friends and family is her passion.

She resides with her family in Bangkok since early 2019.

So , here we go Kamalini!
Q 1  I happened to read an excerpt from your latest book Naked beneath the Midnight Sun ,

and, I must say , I  was quite intrigued by it . Tell us more.

Ans : I'd be happy to share more, yet I would rather the book emerge with its own unravelling, and everything you need to know about Suchareeta's foray into a foreign land, as far flung as Norway back in the day (1985). All i'd say is that she's an eager beaver, who wishes to refurbish her life, and she does, in her own way, learning and unlearning as she discovers a whole, new world. 

The yearlong maiden voyage of Suchu, meanders along, with a few peaks and lows, but mostly nothing hugely dramatic. I hope i have managed to pace it right.  

Q 2) I have been writing ever since I remember, [may be that is the only thing I am convinced ,  I can do] , what about you ?

 Is writing  for you just a hobby or a passion which drives you everyday?  

Similarly to your writer life, I've been writing since I was 8 years old- journaling is more like it. It was a means of expression that I found irresistible. My journal was my closest confidant and I still have a number of them with me. I laugh when i read them now, because it is replete with inane details- loves won and lost, friendships and entanglements that mean nothing to me today. So writing was natural, as much as reading, sleeping, enjoying good food.  

Becoming a more prolific writer is a spontaneous outcome of those 'scribblings'. I enjoy many activities, but writing (because it connects me to my deeper self) is not something I can live without. It's a high like none other. 

Conversations that I have with my screen- an extension of myself, are my lifeline. My life would be an abject failure without its unfailing companionship.

Q 3. My family is very embarrassed by the way I am perennially  trying to eavesdrop into people's conversations , in order  to give  those realistic touches  to my stories .  Unless the dialogues  are riveting ,readers' interest tends to  slacken , how do you go about generating that interest  ? By   eavesdropping  into people's talks, or by letting your imagination do your bidding ?

A .I don't eavesdrop deliberately,  I suppose; I listen, I watch and I absorb (in this order). So when i sit down to write, stuff comes pouring out on paper. If something moves me- it finds a space within me, one that I can then reach into later. It's something that developed on its own- like a photographer with a keen eye. 

 Q4 How is this latest creative endeavour of yours different from the earlier ones ? Did you suffer any writer's block while writing this book?  

Ans : This has been in the making for 3 years, with many changes in the narrative. It is different in the sense of being longterm and far more laborious a project than i would've wished it to be. For the rest, my short stories and poems, they are faster, and come gushing out of me. 

Q 5  Your advice to newcomers , who are in a haste to get their books published . Is this haste right ? 

Ans : Writing is a  pleasure and let nothing come in the way of that. Getting published is a different game altogether and not the most pleasurable  one. Patience and hard work - both are crucial in order to get published. I was never in a hurry- i just kept writing and kept sending out bits and pieces here and there. I was a very naive person- and it worked in my favor. With very low

 expectations, I would send stuff out and forget about it. When I received a 'we'd like to  publish you!' I'd be elated, because I'd have forgotten about it. 

Believe in your craft but never stop learning- reading and writing are the only two tools that in fact, are far more precious than one gives them credit for. 

There is a place for every kind of writer-voice under the sun- so never compare. Find your voice, and hone its timbre, polish its cadence.


Santosh :  It was a pleasure talking to you, here is wishing you all the best for all your literary ventures .