Interview with Mallika Bhaumik about her latest book ,How not to Remember Interview 6Th

Today, I am happy to host Mallika Bhaumik in Five Questions, where I talk to  writers about their latest books . Mallika is a poet, widely published in India and abroad. Her first book of poems, Echoes had won the Reuel International Award for the best debut poetry collection in 2018. She was recently nominated for the Pushcart prize , 2019. 

How not to remember, is her second book. Let us tune in, as she indulges in some loud thinking, exploring her own layers and the vibrations of life around her.

 

Santosh Q 1: At the very outset, let me congratulate you for your new book, How not to remember, which I really loved.  Tell us something about Mallika Bhaumik – the mother/the woman\the writer.

Mallika: Firstly, let me thank you, Santosh for this interview.
Well, since we are both fortunate to be mothers, apart from being poets /writers and socially aware women, I think we both can say this with conviction that being a mother is the greatest gift for any woman and I am no exception to that.
Though it is a confluence of different personas that go to make all that I am, yet, the mother part is the most prominent, I feel. My sons are my strength and weakness, both and I wish to give them, roots and wings, both.

Santosh: Yes, your book ‘How not to remember', I saw, is dedicated to your sons, Rishab and Ritwik, and they, must be pretty proud of it, I am sure. Well, I agree, in any woman, it is undoubtedly the persona of the mother that is the most prominent. You know, my book, Flights from my Terrace is also dedicated to my daughter, Iha.

Mallika: Yes.  ‘How not to remember’, is dedicated to the boys and it is for them that I get the strength to go on every day and there is a direction and meaning to my life. At the same time, I am aware that the world is not a kind place, especially now, since we are living in such intolerant times, so I often worry about them, may be at times, unnecessarily. But then, whoever has ever heard of a mother's emotion running on a logical line?
As a writer, I tend to walk more within, exploring my own layers and the vibrations of life around me. I am a keen observer of life, in fact sitting by a cafe window and watching life pass by, is my favourite pastime.

Baudelaire had Paris, Eliot had London and here many poets have written about Kolkata (then Calcutta) I am a city bred person and my city has often been my muse. I have thus written about life in my city, its streets and parks and cafes and trams and people and their lives around it.Thus my readers know of places like Maidan, College Street, Hooghly River, river ghat, tram rides and all that is quintessentially Bengali and belongs to Kolkata. I am also drawn to the indifference, the loneliness and melancholy nestling in quiet corners amidst the din and bustle of a busy city.

As a writer I nurture my womanhood and I enjoy the liberty that my pen gives, which life has perhaps denied at times. I write quite unabashedly about a woman's desire, her darker moods and also about women who are considered 'fallen' in our society.

Santosh Q 2:    How do you think your debut book Echoes is different from your recent book? I think the poems in this book are as thought -provoking and intense as in Echoes, and have an everlasting impact.  

Mallika: I feel, How not to remember has a more matured voice than the earlier one, though it is the same voice of empathy and emotions.
'How not to remember' is a book where many poems have been earlier published in well -known e -mags. These poems are on myriad themes ranging from confessional poems like 'Stone' or 'Door' or 'Confession' to poems reflecting the ugly side of our society like 'old neighbours', 'Refugee,' or 'Homecoming'or 'Unborn' to poems of urban nostalgia like ,'Cityscape,' 'Palette', 'Colours' and some deeply moving poems on love, loss and relationship like 'Unaccounted', 'Conversation', 'Water colour' as in my earlier collection, 'Echoes'.

Santosh   Q 3: In Echoes, your poems deal with certain sensitive issues with great poetic finesse and one cannot but feel a certain heartwarming effortlessness in the way they unfold. Some poems like A Dot becomes a heart, have been forever etched in my mind and heart. This book, also has poems on various human emotions, which leave you with a lingering aura of nostalgic remembrance.
 

Mallika: Thank you Santosh, for reading my poem, 'A dot becomes a heart' so passionately. I am so happy that it could strike a chord in you and has stayed with you.
As I mentioned earlier, this collection has a mixed bag of poems reflecting the variegated shades of human emotions.
This book has fifty eight poems that talk about love, life, loss, relationships and also disease and death. 'Trapped' or 'Forgetting' talks about human ailments, 'The Body Saga' sums up and points out the transience and frailty of human lives and how one meets death.

 Santosh Q 4:  Which poem in How not to remember is closest to your heart?

Mallika:  Well, all the poems are my heartbeats but, still if you ask me to zero in on one or may be two (here I take liberty of mentioning two poems) then I would talk about the eponymous poem, How not to remember.

The poem speaks about a desperate way to do away with memories.
Like In the book, 'Kafka on the Shore' Haruki Murakami mentions about memories: 'Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.' I too try to establish a fact in my poem in the structure of a manual, manual is something which is very technical and supposed to be feeling less so this poem is a kind of a manual that tells the readers in a brutal robotic way how to ditch memory and in the process, obliterate oneself.

Another poem is the last poem of the book, aptly titled, 'Epilogue'. It speaks of loss or passing away and the melancholy associated with it.
Here this melancholy speaks to me as twilight, which is my favourite time of the day. During these times, when I can delve deeper to touch the core of my being, touch some raw emotions, a poem or two takes birth and Epilogue is one such.

Santosh:  Yes, I really liked the lines,
‘my grandma’s patient finger passing through
each rosary bead ;……………………………..

‘the smudged kohl line of a broken promise
unnoticed in the mad rush of the city;’

Santosh Q 5: In fact, all the poems in this book, have the potential of being etched in memory – to be remembered eternally. Kudos for such a fine collection.  One last question, before we go, what are the future projects that you are working on? 


Mallika:  I am an easy- going, careless writer and I think I will keep writing poems as and when they come to me. I wish to write stories as well. From my childhood I have heard stories from my grandma and later on read voraciously. I am fascinated by the tales that life tells us and hopefully will be able to pen a few for my readers as well.

Santosh: Mallika, it was indeed wonderful interacting with you, here is wishing you all the best for all your future literary endeavors.