Snehal Amembal‘s love of South Asian fiction became ingrained after years of being exposed to great Western authors, including Agatha Christie and Jane Austen. This love affair led her to take the plunge and launch a blog devoted to celebrating the genre. Amembal reveals how public libraries in the UK fostered her understanding of the genre and why she is determined to preserve the writing of South Asian authors for future generations.
I have been an avid reader from a very young age. I fondly remember my school days in Mumbai, India, when I used to look forward to the ‘library’ period, a full hour and a half of absolute bliss, when I could browse through a plethora of books and read to my heart’s content.
I was thrown into a world of fictional characters and stories which came to life in my imagination. Initially, writers like Agatha Christie, Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott garnered my interest. It was only while at university that I became aware of Indian authors and the books they published.
I realised a lot of their stories were inspired by everyday characters living everyday lives. This notion appealed to me the most, so I sought out book after book, author after author, to satiate this ever growing passion for Indian fiction.
Life’s journey then brought me to London, and it was the council-run libraries where I was introduced to the work of South Asian fiction writers. I remember the feeling of euphoria, feeling like I had hit a goldmine of engaging prose.
There were times when I shared this new found joy with my friends and family, and I was saddened to learn they had neither heard of these books, nor the authors. The same applied to my work colleagues.
This feeling of anti-climax, however, didn’t deter me. I continued to pursue my love for South Asian fiction. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Indian fiction formed just a smidgen of the work being churned out by South Asian fiction writers.
I sincerely wanted to create something to facilitate a greater awareness of South Asian fiction writers and their work (apart from speaking about them at social gatherings). To this end, Desi Lekh was born in November 2015.
South Asian fiction is heavily influenced by cultural norms prevalent in the region, be it familial relationships, patriarchy, third word problems, the impact of societal strata, generational gaps and the basic human desire to better oneself and one’s situation.
My observation is that writers of this genre are often inspired by their own experience(s) and the knowledge of their motherland, which is reflected not only in the stories they tell, but also in their style of narrative. There are often references to colloquial terms to make the experience more ‘authentic’ for the reader.
A significant part of this genre also emerges from authors who left South Asia to settle in the West, as well as those who weren’t necessarily born and bred in South Asia, but are of South Asian origin (immigrants and second generation respectively).
I would say the work of these writers is generally classified as immigrant literature as it essentially speaks of the immigrant experience. The themes which are poignantly addressed in most of these books include cultural conflict, a search for identity, assimilation (or the lack of) into one’s adopted country as well as the complexities of life away from ‘home’.
My all time favourite South Asian authors are Rohinton Mistry, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and Nafisa Haji. My top five favourite books (in no particular order), include Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry, The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni The Writing On My Forehead by Nafisa Haji, Bougainvillea House by Kalpana Swaminathan and The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.
By sharing these authors, books and experiences, I hope to give you greater insight into the diverse themes being explored by South Asian writers today.
My blog Desi Lekh is in its nascent stages, and my vision is to translate it into a platform where lovers of South Asian fiction will have instant access to book reviews, and for it to be a place for them to share their own thoughts – and impressions – about these novels.
Being South Asian myself, I can relate immensely to the work emanating from this genre, and I hope through Desi Lekh, to give readers a glimpse into this world of literature.
Ultimately, I would like the blog to be a reliable mechanism where South Asian authors know that the sanctity of their work is being preserved while being made popular for future generations.
You can find out more about Desi Lekh at www.indianfictionforyou.blogspot.co.uk, follow on Twitter: @DesiLekh or like on Facebook: Desi Lekh