Janaki Srinivasa Murthy, better known by her pen name ‘Vaidehi’ turns 70 on Thursday. One of the eminent contemporary writers in Kannada, her fictional world is full of brave women who fought great odds to find their identity and self-respect. She also brought to Kannada a new idiom, by choosing to write in her own dialect of Kundapura in Udupi district.
Vaidehi, who has won many awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award, and whose works have been widely translated, spoke to The Hindu
Excerpts:
Q. What shaped your sensibility as a writer?
A. My environment compelled me to write. I just had to tell stories of women all around me who went through the worst hardships, but miraculously never let their life spirits die. They were strong and carried themselves with pride, while not losing their compassion.
Who were your big influences among women writers?
Triveni and Anupama Niranjana taught me that it is possible to write about really complex issues in a very simple language. They set a benchmark in this skill.
Most of your characters are from Kundapura and they speak its dialect.
I have said so much about Kundapura, but I feel there is still so much more to say. It is the cultural, physical and linguistic land on which I stand. It is from here that I reach out to the rest of the world. My rootedness does not make my world small.
What is the biggest change in women’s writing today?
Women today write with so much more openness, which is a heartening thing.
How do you view the increase in violence against women?
It just goes to show that just when we think that some doors are opening, some others are shutting down. There is something fundamentally flawed in the way we look at women.
We have had reams describing eyes and eyelashes of women down the ages, but how often have you had a women being appreciated for her intellect?
Published - February 12, 2015 12:00 am IST
