I can’t see Shobhaa De’s eyes. We’re indoors, but she keeps her large sunglasses on throughout the interview. Even without the benefit of eye contact, Shobaa manages to give the impression of both sincerity and complete candour.
The Indian author turned 62 in January, but clothed in a low cut dress with a peacock feather print, she looks like a forty-something and embraces the joie de vivre of a twenty-year-old. Still, you know it has to have taken every one of those six decades to perfect her seemingly impenetrable confidence...it’s something lesser mortals can only imitate.
As is her incredible energy – since she was last in Sri Lanka two years ago, Shobhaa has launched her own imprint in partnership with Penguin, and has published one book and will release two more. Her twitter account boasts nearly 30,000 followers and her blog has more than its fair share of the faithful. All this, while maintaining a career as a prolific columnist and a successful mother of six.
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| In Colombo this week: The glamorous soon-to-be grandmother. |
Critics love to loathe Shobhaa and her books are admittedly awful. However, her newest offering, the tween novella ‘Sandhya’s Secret’ might be the tamest yet. Lamenting the lack of relevant reading material for young urban Asians, Shobhaa says the book is intended to step in and offer “a road map” for parents and children inundated with magic and mayhem. “We need something that reflects our own contemporary realities...”
Her other project, ‘Shobhaa at 60’ will take the author much further into self-help territory. Her re-invention of herself as a guru for aging women is built around a determinedly can-do attitude. Much of the book is focused on very practical concerns – the author touches on subjects as varied as financial security, hormonal changes and a woman’s place in her family after she loses her spouse.
Describing it as a “gung ho” book, she says “it’s supposed to be a book that tries to free women from the cage of age. Ours is a very ageist society...and I wanted to address the very real fears women my age feel.” Discussing a sense of being “devalued by society,” Shobhaa is encouraging women to choose a life that satisfies them deeply, one in which they prioritise their own well being. “If you’re not healthy in mind, body and spirit, how can you nurture your family?” she asks, adding that at 60, “it’s a privilege you’ve earned.”
Her collaboration with Penguin books has the author reading manuscripts from all across India. Her picks will be published by Penguin in 2011 and she hopes to launch some stunning new talent. “I am getting manuscripts coming out of the woodwork, even my elevator man is writing one,” says Shobhaa adding that she’s reading them all...or at least the first five pages, which give her a good idea of what to expect. “It’s not just fiction, there are a lot of non-fiction memoirs, business and political books, which I’m very interested in.”
But it’s as a columnist and commentator that Shobhaa is at her most effective. She pens four national columns (including one called ‘Politically Incorrect’ for The Times of India) and contributes to several other noteworthy newspapers and magazines. Many of these columns are surprisingly political (a recent one discussed the passage of a bill reserving places for female politicians in parliament) for someone who made her name as the founder of the notoriously gossipy Stardust and Celebrity magazines.
Today, Shobhaa bristles at the idea of Stardust being dismissed as gossip, but she’ll be the first to admit her interest in Bollywood hasn’t stood the test of time. “We changed the rules of the game, and I’m proud of that. Wit, candour and scandal, there was a heady mix of so many things...but it [the celebrity world] never interested me even then, the idea of doing a radically different movie magazine was what appealed to me.”
She’s transferred all that interest and a similar stylistic approach to writing about the circus that is Indian politics. Emphasising that it’s all showbiz, she says - “It’s how you perform in front of a camera rather than how you perform in parliament that matters most today.” She’s as merciless with the politicos as she was with the starlets. In one column, Shobhaa mocked parliamentarian Shahshi Tharoor’s lack of discretion on twitter and his dyed sideburns, even as she appreciated his adding sex appeal to the Indian parliament. Unlike “tweety pie” Tharoor, Shobhaa says she uses her twitter account “very sparingly.” “It’s not about letting the world know you’ve just burped...that’s self indulgent and tiresome...It is always a comment on something that interests me, it is never ever about my state of mind.”
Blogging however is another matter. She updates her site regularly and declares herself hooked. “With the blog I’m pretty compulsive. I love it because it such a democratic space,” says the author, explaining that she doesn’t censor any of the comments regardless of how abusive they might be. Leaving her laptop behind to speak at an event in Colombo for the Galle Literary Festival, Shobhaa says she’s already getting itchy fingers and is missing her blog. She’s also missing sleep.
Having stayed up till 3 a.m, she intends to have another late night watching Spain vs. Germany. A love of football is something she shares with her husband of 26 years, shipping magnet Dilip De (they’re rooting for Spain in the finals). Of her marriage, she says, “he’s an alpha male, married to an alpha female – so there’s a lot of turbulence. It’s never predictable, it’s never boring.” The couple will become grandparents soon, but Shobhaa has no plans of letting up. “The essential Shobhaa De hasn’t changed at all, thank god.” Comparing every day to a feast, she says, “I’m not blasé at all...I hope that stays with me for all my life.” |
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