You ask for my name, the real one, and I cannot tell you.” — this is how the protagonist of author Sujata Massey’s recently released book The City Of Palaces begins her story. From Pom to an orphaned servant Sarah, to a job-seeking clerk in Calcutta, the protagonist finally settles for Kamala Mukherjee, who spends the rest of her life as an elite Bengali companion to a Britisher, secretly favouring the Indian struggle for freedom. Pom’s rechristening across the novel seems to be speaking for women with no identity — who, for the author, are women with power and freedom.
The protagonist’s life takes a dramatic turn when her family is wiped out in a devastating flood. Apart from her remarkable zeal to survive and a pretty face, her quality of making friends in the unlikeliest of places help her in her struggle for survival.
The author started her professional life as a features reporter for the Baltimore Evening Sun before writing her first novel, The Salaryman’s Wife — the first of many in her popular Rei Shimura mystery series.
Stepping out of the mystery world, Sujata went a step ahead and walked the historical fiction route this time. She says, “I did build a mystery career, but I read voraciously across the genres. I’d read about the freedom struggle and some really good historical novels about Indian women, but the idea of writing about the freedom movement from a poor woman’s point of view excited me. I was also quite inspired by the city of Kolkata, with such magnificent old buildings where big events have happened for centuries.”
The inspiration for the book came from the historical era of 1930-1947, when Britishers were struggling to consolidate themselves and Indians were facing a massive dilemma about how to push for freedom. “What was especially intriguing was how involved women were in the struggle, something that is clearly detailed in some freedom fighters’ memoirs but a theme not commonly shown in fiction. I also wanted to commemorate Calcutta, the one-time ‘City of Palaces’ which was the centre of glamour and power in India,” adds Sujata.
The author is a great admirer of Rabindranath Tagore’s writing. She says, “I have included some of his most memorable quotes as epigraphs for my chapters, setting the right mood for the reader.”
Living outside India was one of the major challenges that Sujata faced while penning her book. She shares, “Thankfully, I was able to browse through a giant collection of books and records at the University of Minnesota’s Ames Library of South Asia, which offered some very special, out-of-print vintage memoirs by Indian and British colonial people. I also travelled to London to look at old Indian documents in the British Library. Once my first draft was chalked out, I felt the need to visit Kolkata to get a clearer picture. I visited places such as the Netaji Bhavan, Coffee House and historic bungalows and schools. Fortunately, Bengal is my father’s childhood home, so I was blessed with friends and relatives to give me a behind-the-scenes look at Calcutta, Midnapur and Kharagpur.”
Being a Californian born to a Indian father and American mother, the two cultures have a strong influence on her writing. She says, “I was intrigued by the relationship between Indian freedom fighters and Germany and Japan. It made me think how different all our lives might have been had the Indian National Army and Japan seized India from Britain and won the war in Asia. Also, coming from a bicultural upbringing made me ponder over questions of love across castes and countries.”
When Sujata is not occupied with writing, she is busy playing a housewife and supervising her kids’ homework. “The best part of being a mom is reading books with children and cooking meals for family and friends. I cook a lot of Indian, Asian, Mediterranean and European dishes,” says the author, who also takes a keen interest in architectural history. She says, “My husband and I are currently restoring a multi-storey, 1897 Victorian cedar shingle summer cottage in Maryland (in the US). The home has four porches and two separate balconies. Maryland has very hot summers and people used to sleep outdoors on unbearable nights. Today, these porches are wonderful places to write, read, and chat,” she says.
Sujata is working on a historical fiction set in India and also a mystery for die-hard fans of Rei Shimura mystery series. She reveals, “This fall, I plan to release The Kizuna Coast, a mystery set in post-tsunami Japan. I’m also working on another novel set in early 20th century India that will include a strong young woman, a dose of artistic culture and real historic events — the things that continue to excite me.”
