Hyderabad: At the launch of her first book, The Americans, Chitra Viraraghavan said that the book has so much drama in it, that it could only be a work of fiction! Published by Fourth Estate, the literary imprint of Harper Collins, Chitra’s book has 11 different stories and one woman, in her mid-30’s travelling to the US, who holds the book together.
And through the book, the author tried to explore what it means to be an Indian, who is settled in the US and is very much a part of hybrid culture that makes up America.
“In a way, the title of my book is ironical because everybody wants to be an American but I try to find out, what it means to live there and not fit in. The book is about Indians who have migrated to the states, who reach out to their own culture only till the point which doesn’t threaten their position in a foreign society,” said the author who also freelances as a text book writer.
Chitra, had spent a considerable part of her childhood in the city, and is an alumnus of the Nasr school and St. George’s Grammar school. And although, none of the characters in her book are from the city, she says that Hyderabad is the city of her childhood and she has very fond memories of the place.
She said, “I grew up in Hyderabad of the 70’s and what I remember most is that the institutions here had fantastic libraries because of which I used to look forward to going to school.”
The author is also the great granddaughter of the second President of India, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, “Coming from a family of administrators and teachers, it was only natural that I would also develop a knack for reading and writing. But I am just one of his 21 great grandchildren, so you should give me only that much attention,” she added, laughing.
Chitra, who got the idea of writing the book after travelling to the US in 2005, years after completing her PhD in the states, feels that although her book is a concoction of genres likes thriller, action adventure, romance and magic realism, she hasn’t really looked up to any of her favourite authors for inspiration.
“Like Harper Lee had once said, you have to write in your closest possible way. So even though I have been a reader all my life, I feel that you only need to look inwards, and let your characters speak for you,” she said.
