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Journalism of Courage
With her sci-fi Escape, Manjula Padmanabhan again skips the oft-beaten track
Authors, as per the rule, escape reality in their creations. Manjula Padmanabhan took a step further when she created a theoretical world for Escape, her first novel for adults. The science-fiction gave her the chance to go beyond reality while exploring the life of Meiji8212;central character of the book and the only girl in a country where all women have been exterminated. 8220;It8217;s freedom. This gave me a lot of scope to speculate,8221; says the writer-artist.
Mumbai was home to the creator-illustrator of comic-strip character 8216;Suki8217; for 15 years, from 1970-85 she now lives in Delhi. So, as expected a number of her writer and artist friends turned up for the event. This also set the tone for an honest and free-flowing interaction. The 55-year-old admits that being an artist she probably lends a visual element to her works. 8220;I visualise and clearly see the events before I start writing about them,8221; says the author, whose a major works include Harvest and Getting There.
Giving shape to Meiji8217;s story took a year. Her uncles Eldest, Middle, Youngest had raised her against all odds. They realise that they can8217;t protect Meiji from the vicious General after she attains puberty. She tries to escape the country with Youngest paving the way for a griping adventure and an oddly poignant romance.
The way the novel wraps up has led to bouts of speculation on whether the 55-year-old will come up with a sequel. She remains evasive in her reply to this. 8220;I would love to write one. It depends on whether I feel the call to do it,8221; she says. Her response to whether she will ever create a graphic novel is almost similar. 8220;If it occurs to me, I will do it,8221; says the illustrator of more than 20 books. She, however, feels that a graphic novel is a huge investment of time. With the same amount of time, she can come up with two novels.
She talks cheerily about Indian publishers, who have become more accommodating of new Indian writing.
8220;The number of Indian readers for English writing too has increased. But the awareness of high literature still remains low. It8217;s still the popular literature that rules,8221; she says.
When she talks about her process of writing, Padmanabhan makes it clear that she is very 8220;secretive8221; about it. She writes steadily and edits it continuously. 8220;My best moment is when the book is complete and nobody has seen it. At that time, it8217;s completely mine,8221; she says.
