Sudha Murty’s House of Cards reflects idealism while mirroring present-day society. She shares details with Iknoor Kaur
A young village woman fell in love with an impoverished doctor and married him. An idealist as she was, the materialism filled in the society irked her. However, she soon realised that her husband, too, was an active part of this transgression. It was time for war. Idealism faced modernism, generosity was opposed with greed and love fought with truth. Sudha Murty encapsulated every bit of this emotional strain in a book that leads you into a world of societal dilemmas and inner conflicts. An English version of her 10-year-old Kannada novel Paridhi, House of Cards was recently launched at the landmark book store. Excerpts of an interview:
What does House of Cards signifyIJ
House of Cards is one of the chapters in the book. The name of the book is usually chosen by the publishers and they felt that this name was perfect. I had originally chosen circumference, but after they suggested this name to me, it made sense. What Mridula (the female protagonist) does is view a house of cards — you touch one and all the cards fall. Corruption is like a whirlpool which takes down everything it touches.
Why did you wait for 10 years for the English version to come outIJ
I wrote the book in Kannada and English. I’m usually never in a hurry to publish any book. So much happened after I published the Kannada version that I felt I needed to write about all of that first instead of wasting time on releasing the English version. I gave priority to books like The Day I Stopped Drinking Milk. Those books were real life experiences while House of Cards is a fiction. However, now my editor asked me to publish the English version of this book because it was relevant to today’s times.
How difficult was it to pack reality in fictionIJ
It is not easy to write it. I have spent 25 years in the system and seen values change, societies develop and generations grow. There is so much change I have personally seen and to look at all of that as someone else is challenging. It is never easy to get into someone’s mind. The storyline had to be more up-to-date and I had to do justice to the character. I took couple of years just to get that right.
As a woman was it easy to put these thoughts downIJ
It is a complicated novel, so I had to think it through. I had to see Mridula’s behavioural patterns and question myself as a woman — how she will react, is she getting hyper, is this immature, what is in her mind while she is doing this…there were more than a thousand things that needed to be looked at.
Somewhere Mridula reminds us of you. Were you an inspiration for the characterIJ
No. It is pure fiction. When a story is related to the private sector, people usually ask me this question because they feel it may be autobiographical. But that is not true. I have seen many women suffering and that helped me come up with this character.
Does this idealism, reflected through Mridula, sell in today’s worldIJ
My book has sold 20,000 copies in three months. This shows that it sells. Mridula is a school teacher. She is in a profession where she can be an idealist. But yes, I agree there are some professions where there is no place for idealism.
Did critical opinion bother youIJ
I write because I like to do so. I have never cared about how people will take it. I write what I want. Children’s books are where I do get worried about what people say because one needs to be sensitive to what children perceive.
How difficult is it for you to manage your work and writing togetherIJ
It is difficult. Right now it is becoming excessively hard because I am writing a long story. It is always on my mind and I have to deal with office work as well. That distracts me from my creative thinking. But I have to live with reality.