Berliner Boersenzeitung - Petals and thorns: India's Booker prize author Banu Mushtaq

EUR -
AED 4.311517
AFN 80.459001
ALL 97.861046
AMD 449.221187
ANG 2.100718
AOA 1076.404609
ARS 1470.290435
AUD 1.791892
AWG 2.112899
AZN 2.000281
BAM 1.955013
BBD 2.36186
BDT 142.592634
BGN 1.956686
BHD 0.442465
BIF 3485.327509
BMD 1.173833
BND 1.49851
BOB 8.082783
BRL 6.553268
BSD 1.170034
BTN 100.194118
BWP 15.628646
BYN 3.828176
BYR 23007.121999
BZD 2.349665
CAD 1.604917
CDF 3387.681116
CHF 0.932257
CLF 0.029042
CLP 1114.483409
CNY 8.428413
CNH 8.427867
COP 4721.155341
CRC 589.9727
CUC 1.173833
CUP 31.106568
CVE 110.221126
CZK 24.648254
DJF 208.307083
DKK 7.461233
DOP 70.142976
DZD 152.223833
EGP 58.176561
ERN 17.607491
ETB 162.306368
FJD 2.634901
FKP 0.864841
GBP 0.86252
GEL 3.181417
GGP 0.864841
GHS 12.209078
GIP 0.864841
GMD 83.926443
GNF 10151.089069
GTQ 8.990421
GYD 244.622628
HKD 9.214546
HNL 30.588215
HRK 7.530838
HTG 153.529541
HUF 399.309142
IDR 19041.328036
ILS 3.884618
IMP 0.864841
INR 100.434424
IQD 1532.376982
IRR 49447.704165
ISK 143.407551
JEP 0.864841
JMD 186.993974
JOD 0.83225
JPY 171.616637
KES 151.365347
KGS 102.651416
KHR 4697.150304
KMF 494.183253
KPW 1056.423672
KRW 1612.059556
KWD 0.35849
KYD 0.974804
KZT 606.623365
LAK 25203.752916
LBP 104810.480117
LKR 351.667023
LRD 234.536643
LSL 20.882514
LTL 3.466023
LVL 0.71004
LYD 6.326482
MAD 10.564498
MDL 19.827108
MGA 5177.894824
MKD 61.530165
MMK 2464.470539
MNT 4212.368283
MOP 9.458295
MRU 46.636324
MUR 53.080621
MVR 18.074825
MWK 2028.375324
MXN 21.8418
MYR 4.989986
MZN 75.078902
NAD 20.850323
NGN 1793.616166
NIO 43.04305
NOK 11.834586
NPR 160.312236
NZD 1.953052
OMR 0.451335
PAB 1.169734
PEN 4.152629
PGK 4.907109
PHP 66.216227
PKR 333.957537
PLN 4.242845
PYG 9066.391117
QAR 4.265302
RON 5.073068
RSD 117.164962
RUB 91.794533
RWF 1683.276171
SAR 4.402767
SBD 9.786155
SCR 17.225646
SDG 704.881407
SEK 11.152469
SGD 1.50142
SHP 0.922448
SLE 26.414414
SLL 24614.690259
SOS 668.528197
SRD 43.725855
STD 24295.968071
SVC 10.234839
SYP 15262.325911
SZL 20.849523
THB 38.253444
TJS 11.317395
TMT 4.120153
TND 3.421238
TOP 2.749233
TRY 46.999799
TTD 7.942771
TWD 34.302327
TZS 3084.286863
UAH 48.893221
UGX 4199.328454
USD 1.173833
UYU 47.321164
UZS 14870.01764
VES 133.35479
VND 30639.969489
VUV 140.042854
WST 3.231986
XAF 655.690416
XAG 0.032209
XAU 0.000353
XCD 3.172342
XDR 0.815468
XOF 655.696
XPF 119.331742
YER 283.891327
ZAR 20.844629
ZMK 10565.899751
ZMW 28.454674
ZWL 377.973668
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Petals and thorns: India's Booker prize author Banu Mushtaq
Petals and thorns: India's Booker prize author Banu Mushtaq / Photo: Aishwarya KUMAR - AFP

Petals and thorns: India's Booker prize author Banu Mushtaq

All writers draw on their experience, whether consciously or not, says Indian author Banu Mushtaq -- including the titular tale of attempted self-immolation in her International Booker Prize-winning short story collection.

Text size:

Mushtaq, who won the coveted literature prize as the first author writing in Kannada -- an Indian regional language -- said the author's responsibility is to reflect the truth.

"You cannot simply write describing a rose," said the 77-year-old, who is also a lawyer and activist.

"You cannot say it has got such a fragrance, such petals, such colour. You have to write about the thorns also. It is your responsibility, and you have to do it."

Her book "Heart Lamp", a collection of 12 powerful short stories, is also her first book translated into English, with the prize shared with her translator Deepa Bhasthi.

Critics praised the collection for its dry and gentle humour, and its searing commentary on the patriarchy, caste and religion.

Mushtaq has carved an alternative path in life, challenging societal restrictions and perceptions.

As a young girl worried about her future, she said she started writing to improve her "chances of marriage".

Born into a Muslim family in 1948, she studied in Kannada, which is spoken mostly in India's southern Karnataka state by around 43 million people, rather than Urdu, the language of Islamic texts in India and which most Muslim girls learnt.

She attended college, and worked as a journalist and also as a high school teacher.

- 'Confused' -

But after marrying for love, Mushtaq found her life constricted.

"I was not allowed to have any intellectual activities. I was not allowed to write," she said.

"I was in that vacuum. That harmed me."

She recounted how as a young mother aged around 27 with possible postpartum depression, and ground down by domestic life, had doused petrol on herself and on the "spur of a moment" readied to set herself on fire.

Her husband rushed to her with their three-month-old daughter.

"He took the baby and put her on my feet, and he drew my attention to her and he hugged me, and he stopped me," Mushtaq told AFP.

The experience is nearly mirrored in her book -- in its case, the protagonist is stopped by her daughter.

"People get confused that it might be my life," the writer said.

Explaining that while not her exact story, "consciously or subconsciously, something of the author, it reflects in her or his writing".

Books line the walls in Mushtaq's home, in the small southern Indian town of Hassan.

Her many awards and certificates -- including a replica of the Booker prize she won in London in May -- are also on display.

She joked that she was born to write -- at least that is what a Hindu astrological birth chart said about her future.

"I don't know how it was there, but I have seen the birth chart," Mushtaq said with a laugh, speaking in English.

The award has changed her life "in a positive way", she added, while noting the fame has been a little overwhelming.

"I am not against the people, I love people," she said referring to the stream of visitors she gets to her home.

"But with this, a lot of prominence is given to me, and I don't have any time for writing. I feel something odd... Writing gives me a lot of pleasure, a lot of relief."

- 'Patriarchy everywhere' -

Mushtaq's body of work spans six short story collections, an essay collection and poetry.

The stories in "Heart Lamp" were chosen from the six short story collections, dating back to 1990.

The Booker jury hailed her characters -– from spirited grandmothers to bumbling religious clerics –- as "astonishing portraits of survival and resilience".

The stories portray Muslim women going through terrible experiences, including domestic violence, the death of children and extramarital affairs.

Mushtaq said that while the main characters in her books are all Muslim women, the issues are universal.

"They (women) suffer this type of suppression and this type of exploitation, this type of patriarchy everywhere," she said. "A woman is a woman, all over the world."

While accepting that even the people for whom she writes may not like her work, Mushtaq said she remained dedicated to providing wider truths.

"I have to say what is necessary for the society," she said.

"The writer is always pro-people... With the people, and for the people."

(Y.Yildiz--BBZ)