Blending fact & fiction - In Conversation with Author Tanushree Podder on her Book 'Ambapali'.
Her story is again a reinforcement of the thought that perhaps the dusty old textbooks of history do hold stories of courage, wisdom, integrity and wit that could be of immense value for today's society. I am delighted to have Tanushri join me in conversation today as we discuss her book and her writing journey. She's a prolific novelist who has written across genres including history, mystery, crime and the paranormal. And Ambapali, I think, is her 17th novel, which comes under the category of historical fiction
Tanushree Podder
@tanushree · 2:22
So here she was a dancer, a court dancer, and a courtesy. And then Anagarwadu, who was wedded to the entire city, a Nagavadu is like the entire city's bride. And then she gives it up all when she's at the epitome of her power, riches, and the world is laid at her feet, she gives it all up for spirituality, and she follows the Buddha's path
Thank you so much for sharing that. Thanoshri despite the Lachari Republic being a very maledominated society, Ambapali grew to be someone known for her independence and wit and for someone who was destined to simply be an object of men's desire. She goes on to break every possible life us feeling that comes her way. So she definitely was someone with more than a pretty face and beautiful hair, sustaining her virtues in the face of tumultuous misogynistic society
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Tanushree Podder
@tanushree · 3:09
And if you read the book, you get to know about her training, how she was trained to capture the men's imagination. Now, these men were all very, very rich and they came from the upper strata of the city and they were very, very powerful, influential. So when they came to her, she actually had to make them give up a lot of things like wealth and gold and all that
For a historical novel to make a real impact, the setting of the book and the time period it evokes has to be extremely believable. When I read Ambapali, I really loved how atmospheric it was, and it felt very much rooted in the time period that it was intended to be set in. What research and techniques did you use to ensure that the conflict setting and the characters in your book stayed true to the time period?
Tanushree Podder
@tanushree · 2:44
So these came very handy when I really began writing the book, because basically I do my research very immensely and with great depth before I PROCEED writing the story. So the first thing that I do is to do the research. And if you see the book at the end, you'll find a bibliography of some of the books that I referred to. I think most of these are now not available, but sometimes you get luck and you find them in archives or someplace
I shall leave you with one final question thanashri in the context of a historical novel, language presents particular joys and challenges to the writer. So while accuracy is very much important to historical dialogue, so is understandably. If a dialogue is historically too accurate, that presentday reader may actually get put off, especially if it is too dense. How do you strike a balance between accuracy and readability and relatability? Do you take creative liberties in terms of making the dialogue more relatable to the reader?
Tanushree Podder
@tanushree · 2:11
Besides, they spoke in Pali or whatever regional languages, wherever the setting was, and one could not translate so effectively in English or Hindi. So it is very important for a writer to strike a balance between the kind of language and the conversation, the grammar, the kind of feelings that were there. And today see, today we are an impatient lot. We use a lot of abbreviations. We want to speak fast, we want to get there fast
Thank you so much for this great conversation around your book and your writing process thanoshri I've really had a wonderful time talking to you and I'm going to be sharing the Amazon link to your book here for our listeners to check out. Thanks again and I hope to have you back on for more conversations around writing and books
