Prayaag Akbar’s slim new novel, Mother India (HarperCollins), is a worm’s-eye view of contemporary India. Through the lives of his two protagonists — a right-wing content creator called Mayank and a salesgirl, Nisha — Akbar explores some of the prevailing concerns of our political and social landscape: fake news, misuse of technology, extreme weather events, and the dire consequences of them all. This is a story of fiction written against the backdrop of familiar facts. Akbar’s previous award-winning novel, Leila, was converted into a Netflix series, directed by Deepa Mehta. The Goa-based writer, who is a visiting associate professor at Krea University, talks about the book, the changing aspirations of today’s youth, and his own worries. Edited excerpts:
What triggered this novel, ‘Mother India’? Was it a specific event?
There wasn’t a specific event. I was interested in writing about how two young people would negotiate this new world, this new economy that we live in. How does a young person who wants to make it big today, who has hopes and aspirations, as all young people do across economic backgrounds, negotiate the political, economic, and cultural landscape? I know technology plays a big part in this. Young people today, especially the age group that I write about, 21-22-year-olds, have grown up in the world of technology and social media. That was my starting point.
I also teach. I get to interact with youngsters who are very intelligent, well-educated, and hardworking. They are very well-tuned into the world of technology. But I also see how it has affected their mental health. They are more resilient in some ways and less so in some other ways. I am very impressed by how knowledgeable they are and I see that as a function of growing up in the age of the Internet. If you’re really interested in something, you can go find out more about it. Many of my students have deep pockets of knowledge in something they are really interested in. We didn’t have that in my growing up years.
The characters in ‘Mother India’ are aspirational in varying degrees. They can go to any lengths to taste success. Do you think the idea of aspiration has changed significantly in today’s India?
That’s an interesting question in the light of the public spectacle of the recent Ambani wedding. Would this have been possible about 15 years ago? Doesn’t this signify a massive shift in our cultural values and what we consider acceptable? India is still a desperately poor country. They (Ambanis) spent about ₹80 crore on just bringing singer Justin Bieber here. That is an inconceivable sum of money to anyone else in India, including people who are comfortable. The fact that they are not being publicly vilified for it is a sign that India celebrates this kind of achievement. The aspiration is to be that: get rich or die trying. It is the American capitalist ethos that has got embedded in Indian culture, and perhaps Mayank, Nisha and Siddharth (in the novel) are like that too.
Singer Justin Bieber (centre) with Radhika Merchant and Anant Ambani during the latter’s pre-wedding festivities in Mumbai this month. | Photo Credit: PTI
In ‘Mother India’, there is a right-wing content creator, an activist from JNU, a death due to a bridge collapse. These are clearly inspired by news events.
The story starts with the people. The bridge incident that you mention has to do with Mayank’s father and his death. When I was a journalist, a bridge collapsed and I was reporting on it. My boss asked me to not mention the name of the company that had constructed the bridge. I was perturbed by that. The concern was much more about which contractor had messed up. Sometimes you find things from the past that work well for your story. I was clear that Mayank was born in 2001-2002. I weaved the bridge incident into his story. But you can’t just find news items and string them together. I focus on my characters and see what is happening to them.
Soon after you debut book, ‘Leila’, you had said in an interview that there were some things that really angered you over the years. Are you still angry about things around you?
I think I have matured. I don’t feel as angry about the world as I did then. I have a son and that builds a level of contentment. Now, it’s more worry about the future, about what my son who carries a Muslim name like me will face in the future if right wing-nationalism keeps going on...
Tell us about the importance of mothers in the book and the symbol of Mother India.
In the book, there is Mother India, there is the activist’s mother, Mayank’s mother, even the dog’s mother, which is a different kind of motherhood. There are different kinds of mothers in the world. There are no right and wrong approaches to motherhood. We place tremendous burdens on our mothers. They occupy an outsized role in our imagination: the giver of life, the benefactor, the personal protector of happiness, the provider of sustenance. And they never stop playing these roles. It is an idealisation.
Nargis in the 1957 film ‘Mother India’.
I wanted to compare that with the idealisation of the Mother India symbol. Mother India is a very powerful and positive symbol of our nationalism even if it is sometimes utilised by political people as an agent of division. It is a powerful symbol that dates to our anti-colonial struggle. And even that symbol idealises the mother. She’s always painted as young and pure and untouched, which is what we want our mothers to be — unsullied, untouched, and perfect.
I wanted to look at the role of the mother and actual lived experiences versus the idealised version in our head. Mayank and his mother, for instance, have a complicated relationship.
Do you consider ‘Mother India’ a political novel or a social one?
I would call it a sociopolitical novel. The novel contains a lot of my political concerns. While I am sympathetic to Mayank, we have to be clear that the acts he perpetuates have a huge impact on the people involved. My concerns are about how this is enabled today. I have watched a lot of videos on YouTube where such content creators talk of political theory, use memes, and it’s all horrifying stuff. We are so divided along religious and caste lines that things get ugly really fast. It’s disturbing how vicious it can get and worse, how people find it amusing.
‘Mother India’ is set in Delhi. Was this a conscious decision given that there is both aggression and tenderness running through the book?
This was always going to be a Delhi novel. Delhi is where I grew up. I have seen the transformation described in the book, just as Mayank sees it and is unsettled by it. While Delhi is aggressive, it is also a place of heart. There is a lot of good nature and warmth in that city.
radhika.s@thehindu.co.in
Published - July 19, 2024 11:20 am IST
