TALES OF STRENGTH

Ahead of the Jaipur Literature Festival 2024, celebrated author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni delves into the women characters in her books, and the stories they inspire her to tell

- SAMREEN TUNGEKAR

GRAZIA: Your last book [Independence] was a story of sisterhood against the backdrop of India's independence. The one before that [The Last Queen] was about a fearless queen from the 19th century. What are the aspects of womanhood that these stories explore?

CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI: I love exploring the courage of ordinary women and how they grow while facing difficulties and danger. When The Last Queen begins, the heroine Jindan is just a girl. When Ranjit Singh falls in love and marries her, she has to face the animosity of the other queens, who try to poison her. After Ranjit Singh dies, she has to keep a cool head and escape far away to save her son, Dalip Singh, from being assassinated. In tracing her growth, I hope to inspire my readers to face their own challenges. In Independence, the three sisters are ordinary young women from a village when the book begins, interested in girlish pursuits - clothes, shopping, movies, sightseeing in Calcutta, etc. But when tragedy devastates their family, they grow up and take over the running of the family, work hard to establish careers, protect their mother, and face life-thre dangers with courage. Again, I show how we all, as women, have a deep reserve of strength within us.