Flawed, human, courageous: Independence by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is a story of three sisters
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s latest novel is set in the backdrop of events leading to India’s independence with many twists and turns.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s new book Independence (HarperCollins) is an outing one hopes will never end. While it may be a story of three sisters in the backdrop of India’s independence, it takes the reader through many twists and turns, keeping the characters as humane as possible.
Priya, Jamini, and Deepa are three sisters who are very different from one another but bound by a fierce sense of loyalty and love. The story follows their lives as they revel in small joys, carry aspiring ambitions, and remain united in all the challenges they face.
The men in the novel are great allies too, and offer strong, silent support as the women falter, pick up the pieces, and move forward with courage and fortitude.
Chitra is an Indian-born American author whose book Arranged Marriage won an American Book Award. Two of her novels, The Mistress of Spices and Sister of my Heart were adapted into films. Her notable books include The Forest of Enchantments, Arranged Marriage: Stories, The Last Queen, The Palace of Illusions and more.
In a conversation with HerStory, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni speaks dives deeper into writing Independence, her heroines, and what’s next.
HerStory (HS): Your last novel was one of love, betrayal, passion, and loyalty—focusing on a lesser-known queen… this one is set almost a century later. What led you to write Independence, the novel?
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (CBD): When I wrote The Last Queen, it was overall a very sad experience for me. The heroine of the novel, Maharani Jindan Kaur, fought most valiantly against the British, but finally, because of treachery in her kingdom, she could not win against them.
This was a tragic moment in our history. I could not bear the thought of ending the story of India there, so in my new novel, I depict the time when the British are thrown out of India, and my motherland gains her freedom. This positive outcome was very important for me. So, Independence is a follow-up to the Last Queen.
HS: How did you flesh out the characters of Priya, Jamini, and Deepa, bringing out the uniqueness of each one?
CBD: It was a challenging task to imagine each of these three sisters, and to give them very different characteristics while keeping each of them authentic to 1940s’ Bengal. I had to think carefully, taking time to fashion each sister with her own passion and goal, and her own desire for autonomy.
I knew their lives had to take different dramatic turns and yet be realistic. An added challenge was to make them all complex and sympathetic in different ways. I hope I succeeded in that—although I must confess, I have a favourite among the three sisters. But I’m not going to divulge which one I like the best! I want readers to form their own opinion.
HS: Which sister was most difficult to write about?
CBD: I don’t want to influence reader responses in terms of which character they like the best. But I will say this much: the character of Jamini was the one I found most challenging to write.
Jamini has a lot of problems, both physical, and also in terms of her attitude. But I really wanted readers to understand where she’s coming from, and why she is the way she is.
Ultimately, also, I wanted them to sympathise with her and believe in the changes that she undergoes.
HS: You have also beautifully brought out the flaws in each sister, making them as human as possible. Did you also want to portray that characters need not be overtly larger than life, and it’s always their humane side that wins readers over? You have done this so brilliantly in all your other books too.
CBD: Thank you for the kind words. It is always my intention to depict my characters, especially women, in all their complexity—always human and always flawed, just like we all are.
I really tried to show this with each sister. I do hope that they have come across as courageous and surprising also.
HS: While you have told the story in the backdrop of events leading to India’s independence, interwoven with historic events, where did you draw inspiration for the characters from?
CBD: My main characters are from my imagination; the three sisters, their parents, and their love interests have all been created by me. However, I was deeply influenced while writing this novel by the stories my mother and maternal grandfather told me, while I was growing up, about the 1940s.
I am pretty sure that on some level, perhaps subconsciously, the stories I heard—and the people in those stories—have found their way into my novel. Certainly, some of the harrowing incidents that happen to the three sisters in Independence happened to many people in the 1940s.
I was also inspired by the character of Anandibai Joshi, a doctor trained in the US in the 1800s. She plays an important and unusual role in this novel and inspires one of my main characters to follow her dream.
HS: The three sisters exhibit their own sense of freedom and independence as they face diverse challenges and situations. Is it also a metaphor for the struggles the country was facing on the road to freedom?
CBD: You are right. On one level, the sisters‘ challenges reflect, and also symbolise, the struggle for freedom that Mother India was undergoing at the time. They also reflect the challenges of real-life female freedom fighters and depict the inspiration such women provided to the rest of the country.
On another level, however, the sisters’ struggles are their own, and sometimes arise out of their character flaws, and their deep longing for things that are not necessarily good for them.
HS: You have also beautifully captured the male characters in the book, whether it’s her father Nabakumar, with a quiet, strong resolve, Amit who is shown to be singularly focused on love in the beginning, and then pain and confusion take over, or the consistent pillar of support, Somnath babu. In different ways, they are all allies of the sisters. What did you think when you carved out these characters?
CBD: I am glad that the male characters in the book spoke to you. I spent a lot of time and trouble imagining them, and thinking about the roles they would play in the novel. I am very fond of the older men in the novel, Nabakumar and Somnath. In certain ways, they are influenced by my own grandfather, who was a village doctor, and also involved in the freedom struggle.
Amit, particularly, was a character I wrote and re-wrote in my desire to get him just right—at once a support to the women, but also someone who complicates their lives in many ways. He is one of the major love interests in the novel, so I hope he comes across as attractive and romantic as well!
HS: The book is also about the sisters coming into their own. For instance, Deepa whose voice rises above fear and insecurity leading to her artistic and spiritual growth… Did you build the characters to be strong enough to brave the ending?
CBD: Much of what you mention happened serendipitously as the novel progressed and I learned more about the characters and understood them and their motives better.
I don’t always know what will happen in a novel when I begin it, so I am often pleasantly surprised by the ways in which the characters change, grow, and transform each other. This was certainly true of Independence!
HS: What is next in terms of books for you?
CBD: My next book will be a foray into a new adventure: nonfiction. I am exploring a couple of lives that I hope will be both informative and inspirational for my readers.
My publisher will announce who these people are quite soon. Until then, you will have to remain curious!
Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta