From Budapest to Bengaluru: Diplomat-turned-author unveils her debut novel

Former ambassador Lakshmi Puri’s debut novel is partly biographical, capturing unexplored facets of Maharashtrian history and culture

Lakshmi Puri says that the characters in her debut novel, Swallowing the Sun, were inspired by real-life people, especially the heroine Malati who originated from Malati Desai, her mother.

The former assistant secretary-general of the United Nations, at the Bengaluru launch of her novel recently, was in conversation with city-based author Anita Nair. The event was organised by Kolkata-based NGO Prabha Khaitan Foundation.

Though raised in Delhi, Lakshmi Puri says her Maharashtrian roots have deeply influenced her debut novel. By incorporating abhangas and spiritual hymns from Maharashtrian saints and poets, she attempts to create a rich and culturally resonant narrative in her novel that she describes as a tribute to her parents; it was very inspired by their extraordinary lives and the era that they lived in, she adds.

Genesis of work

She began working on the novel in 2000 while serving as the ambassador of Budapest. However, she could not consistently work on it due to her pressing work commitments. It was only during COVID that she found the time to do so, she says of the novel, which she calls a “partial biography.”

The novel is about Malati, a courageous Indian woman who defies societal norms throughout her journey, which is filled with love, loss, and difficult choices. Lakshmi reveals that the book is divided into three parts, dealing with India’s freedom movement, cultural flowering, and civilizational awakening, respectively. “I don’t know how to write in Marathi, which is why my book is written in English. But the love for one of the richest cultures from a sub-civilised part of India got to me because of my father, Balakrishna Murdeshwar, who made it a point to expose us to theatrical plays, literature, and music,” says Lakshmi, exhibiting the collection of poems her father gifted to her.

She adds that the book explores Maharashtrian culture, and the characters speak through poems and theatrical plays that influence their political decisions and life choices. “The title of the book Swallowing the Sun was a true inspiration from Muktabai’s abhang, where she talks about achieving the impossible,” she says in response to an audience query.

Women’s empowerment

The book talks about the freedom and struggle for empowerment of women in the pre-independence era with the support of the male characters in the story. “Characters like ‘Baba’ and ‘Guru’ are true-life people such as my grandfather and my father, whom I could not avoid including. They fought for the upbringing of women, their independence, and their educational rights,” Lakshmi goes on to read from a section of the novel that emphasises this idea.

She also talked about how the novel attempted to intertwine the personal with national history in an epic time. “Like the young people of today, even when we have these political infestations and ideologies around reimagining India, at that time, imagining India from a civilizational concept to a nation-state concept, and who can take us to freedom was the best path to go to freedom,” she says.

Towards the end of the talk, she discusses how she chose to incorporate politics, the arts, and literature into her novel to inspire secular thoughts among her readers and offer them insights into a culture not often explored by Indian-English writers. “You can be what you want to be and do anything that you want to do if you have a strong will,” she finishes.

Published - September 30, 2024 09:44 pm IST