Dr Iti Samanta is a writer of infinite variety. She is an eminent storyteller, a successful editor, a publisher and a producer of significant films and has carved a niche for herself amid the galaxy of litterateurs, novelists, short storywriters and filmmakers. In a world gone frantically politicised and partisan, she remains highly catholic in her approach and temperament and her creations and characters while revealing the psychological similitude remain strictly Chekhovian in their stark realism. Her first collections of short stories Tathaapi was published in 2001 appearing like a vernal breeze before the avid readers. Her creations include Iti Tora lipsa, Niraba Aalaap, Itibruti-1, Itibruti-2, Kathaare Kathaare Upanyaasare Naaricharitra (Patr-I and Kathaare Kathaare Upanyaasare Naaricharitra (Part-2). Besides she edits Charchaare Chandrasekhar and Kadambini, a frontline family magazine, since 2001. Kadambini has a rare getup of a Dulhan or a bride and finds its place in the drawing room of every Odia household. In an interview to The Pioneer, Dr Samant spoke to Sugyan Choudhury from her residence at Patia.
What made you to choose a career in writingIJ
I had to opt for a course in Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering owing to my family pressure. But I had felt the urge for writing ever since my childhood. I had told my mentor Dr Achyuta Samant, founder of Kadambine Media Pvt ltd, that I wanted to fulfil my creative calls and if a publishing house was made available, I could be at home with it for publishing my writings instead of choosing a career in engineering. Accordingly, my mentor and guide and brother Dr A Samanta provided me the Kadambini Publishers Pvt ltd. That later turned into Kadambini Media Pvt ltd. Besides writing, we decided to opt for making films both documentary and features. That is how the Kadambini Media has a wide gamut of fields in its ambit.
Would you please tell something about your publicationIJ
My first publication Tathaapi appearing in the year 2001 created ripples among the intellectual community. It received rave reviews.
What are your primary themes and what do your character convey to the societyIJ
The principal protagonists in my short stories and novels are women. My women characters never admit defeats in their life. Take for example the message in my book Sakuntalara Jhia, wherein the chief protagonist after having been raped, after having been mother of a daughter faces many trials and tribulations but never admits defeat. When in school, as the mother of the child, she doesn’t hesitate to reveal that she herself is both the mother and the father of the child. The Supreme Court in its valuable judgement has also pronounced that in case of an unwed mother, she can act as the duo. That historic judgement came after two years of my publication. In Niraba Aalaapa, the principal character Adya being a blind girl takes refuge every time before the Mahanadi and shares the sufferings, the agonies of her tormented soul with the archetypal mother nature as manifested in the persona of the Mahanadi. She shares her sufferings silently and that is why the title of the book is so. The message conveyed through my women characters is that a woman may be destroyed, but she can’t be defeated.
What are your films in the offingIJ
We have produced many feature films and innumerable documentary films. But the recent film Kranitdhara, which is an earlier version of my short stories Jhada Parara Surya, has received wide appreciation from intellectuals and elite circles. This film has also entered many national and international festivals and received much aplomb and accolades. The challenges faced by a woman sarpanch in a highly-politicised society has also been delineated, and nothing can defeat the iron will of the chief lady protagonist.
What special messages are conveyed through your women charactersIJ
My women characters are lifelike and drawn for our familiar day-to-day life. But I do also want to analyse through my writings the mythological characters like Kunti, Draupadi, Gandhari and Sita and try to find out what essential traits they had in their proud possessions which we the modern women are lacking. In the same vein, I have also shown what are the qualities which a modern woman is endowed with which was conspicuous in its absence in those hallowed women characters.
What are the other social services you are renderingIJ
I think the publication and other activities of the Kadambini Media are a great social service in which I am completely engrossed. I have been editing Kuni Katha, a premier monthly magazine for children which has gained unparalleled acceptance among young readers. Besides, we organise Patrikaa Haata, an annual unique event for showcasing and on-the-spot marketing of magazines and other publications from all over Odisha. Eminent personalities like Amol Palekar, Indian actor and director Dr Tariq Mohammad Sham, Group Editor, The Jung, Pakistan, Dr Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari, Hindi poet, writer and critic, Ruskin Bond, Indian author of British descent and Urbasi Butalia, Indian feminist, publisher and historian have attended this annual event. The poets, short storywriters, novelists and editors join this occasion and exchange thoughts and ideas among themselves thereby turning the event into a unique cultural fest.