Happy Birthday Anita Nair!

This is a short synopsis of how I found a gem by luck at a bookstore. I know this compendium wouldn't suffice my love and admiration for her but this is the least I could do to express my joy.

About the Author: Anita Nair is an Indian-English Author. Over the last decade and a half, Anita Nair has written consistently and in various genres including non fiction, poetry, short fiction and children's fiction. Her first book was a collection of short stories ‘Satyr of the subway’ that won her a fellowship from the Virginia Center for the creative arts; hence she left her job as the creative director in an advertising firm. Her readership is spread across the globe and isn't condensed to India alone. Her second book was the first book by an Indian author to be published by Picador USA. Her latest novel was ‘Idris:Keeper of the light’ (2014) which is shortlisted for The Hindu Prize 2014.

I walked through landmark in Spencer plaza, through the Indian writers section and suddenly a name caught my attention ‘Anita Nair’. It was the first time I came across this author (I wasn't a voracious reader back then, neither do I claim to be so now). First of all it is exactly my mother’s name including the initial (To my surprise later on I discovered that she shares the same birth-date of my mother). I took the book out of the wrack and saw that it’s title as well as the cover page was interestingly attractive. I read the synopsis and it seemed unique. That book was the first one I read among all her works- ‘Lessons in Forgetting’. Little did I know that this woman is going to influence me like nobody ever had.

I am not a person who gets engulfed by the glitters of stardom and be a die-hard fan. I consider them as human as I am but I do truly admire their talent and appreciate their works. I had read many authors, Indian and foreign but never found anybody so impressive like Anita Nair. People ask me what is so special about her, hmm… probably I should just ask them to read her books and they will find out themselves. Sometimes I feel it is because her writings have more of a south-Indian essence because of which I am able to relate far more than Jeffery Archer or other foreign authors whose stories are just like Hollywood movies which is impossible for me to relate to, yet admired for its efforts. 

It has been four years since I had known this wonderful author. She has got a distinct writing style. She keeps her readers tagged on to her piece of art by using native words which grabs our attention and accelerates our inquisitiveness. Her hold on English language is exemplary. Not that those other authors are bad but she has got a talent of blending reality with her ideas which makes us feel connected to any one of those characters in her book. Or at least we can relate people whom we know to those characters. So basically we don’t feel its fiction. That is what I expect while reading books. I personally prefer real life story above fantasy, like I spoke about my choice of movies in one of my previous post. I love to spend time(rather invest time) on books, only when I have the confidence of deriving any sort of information that keeps me enriched. I must say all her works have always kept me rejuvenated. I remember I searched whole of the internet to see the movie ‘Lessons in Forgetting’ which was released in 2012 and finally got to watch it on 'Doordarshan' channel in 2014. I am so crazily attracted to this author that I like everything about her, her dressing style, hairstyle, way of talking, attitude, views about life and literature etc may be this is what is called 'fandom'. I was not used to being so much of a fan of anyone until I came across this wonder woman (wink). My roommate still cannot believe that I have seen all her interviews and read all her write-ups, blogs, novels, non-fictions, translated works, articles about her in magazines and every single news about her on print or electronic media. I was very excited and happy when I read her recent short-bio on 'The Week' news magazine which spoke about her student life. It was pleasantly surprising that there were even more similarities in our lives.

It is quite hard to pick out my favorites among her works yet on a gunpoint I would pick ‘Mistress’(2005), though the ‘Better Man’(2000) and ‘Ladies Coupe’(2001) have been translated into 21 languages which tells us that these books have wider readership than her other books.

Mistress is one of her epic works. I just fell in love with the book. The way she uses Kathakali as a mode to tell her story, the way she categorized the novel into different chapters which happen to be each of the ‘Navarasams’. I am a fan of Kathakali and this book has enlightened me about the past, origin and the meaning of Kathakali characters. It took five years for her to write this novel. She went to the Kathakali Aashan-maru and had been there with them to absorb the reality and history to reproduce it in her novel. I was moved by her dedication and involvement in her story. I have encouraged many of my acquaintance and friends to go through her works and they all have thanked me for introducing a gem like her. Hoping that the people would understand more about certain traditional art forms like Kathakali, Pulluvenpaatu etc which are almost at the verge of extinction due to lack of audience support, through her books.