Amrita Narayanan and Madhuri
Banerjee attended the day 2 of Sahitya AajTak and spoke about what is writing
erotica in India like. They also spoke about the basic differences between
erotica and porn as well about their books during the session, 'Writing Erotica
in India,' being held in New Delhi. Madhuri Banerjee, who is also known as the
Carrie Bradshaw of India has written the acclaimed book, Losing my Virginity
and other dumb ideas. She also screen wrote Hate Story 2.
Amrita Narayanan who is a
clinical psychologist has written Parrots of desire and A Pleasant Kind of
Heavy. She has also researched the history of erotica in India.
Other eroticas that deserve kamasutra fame
While speaking about other
literature material that deserves to be as famous as Kamasutra, Narayanan
mentioned Tamil Sangam. She said, "These books convey the feelings of the
people involved. Kamasutra doesn't involve any emotions. It is all about the
steps. But these other books talk about the feelings and the emotions of the
people involved."
Why erotica?
Madhuri Banerjee explained why
she writes erotica. "I talk about relationships, my first book was about a
woman who was a virgin and decided that the only way to be accepted by the
society was to lose her virginity. She said that people don't talk about
sexuality in India. My book came out in 2010, and all I wanted to do with the
book was to create a dialogue about sexuality, but no one spoke about it. It is
never about sexuality or writing erotica, for me, it has always been about
relationship."
Amrita, said, "The modern
Indian readers need companionship on their erotic journey. Desires are
something that we are very alone in. Conservatism is something that makes us
feel things are against us, but books make you feel like there is something for
you. Books can open you up to your own feeling. That is why I started writing."
Misconceptions about erotica and porn
Amrita said, "The main
thing is that erotica and pornography are put in the same category, erotica is
subjective, you care about people, about their feelings. Pornography is only
about the person watching it. It keeps you in your shell, erotica is a long
lens which gives a greater perspective." She further explained that in
erotica, the word eros is a combination of lust and affection. "If you are
driven more towards lust, what you come out with is, Pornography but if you are
driven more towards the affection, you get erotica."
Has erotica liberated indians?
Madhuri said, "I think over
time the internet has opened so much stuff for us, OTT is an uncensored
platform, you have all the information out there. But, if you are choosing to
be conservative, you will always be. If you have labels and boxes for yourself
you will always be like that. There is information that is out there that will
help you evolve and grow but, that is only if you are willing to do that."
Amrita added saying, "Books
don't liberate people, people liberate themselves. But books can surely
help." She spoke about an incident as well, "There are certain
periods in Indian history, where Indians tried to promote the nation as the
land of yoga, but not as the land of Kamasutra. People have actually come up to
me and told me that I have spoilt the Indian culture after reading my book, A
Pleasant Kind of Heavy. There was an Island of resistance to that."
How does news affect your writing?
Amrita said, she stopped
watching the news while she was writing, A Pleasant Kind of Heavy, which was
during the Nirbhaya rape case. This step was taken so that the news does not
contaminate her mind and hints of it show in the book. "Growing up in the
80s in India, rape and harassment was the only thing that I grew up reading. A
magazine even published an article on ways to save yourself while travelling.
The news made me feel like my body was under attack and at that moment no human
can be sexual. Shedding out the news was a way of protecting myself. That is
when I could start to imagine and start to fantasize."
For Madhuri things are
different. She said, "It is up to you how much you take in or not take in
from the news. During the Mumbai attacks, I was in deep grief so I could not
write for a long time. It can also be inspiring at times. But I don't shut
myself out in any way while I am writing."
Why has erotica lagged since independence?
Amrita said, "India wanted
to promote itself as a hardworking country after Independence. And hard work
and sexuality don't go together. We abandoned this part of the cultural
heritage after Independence. When the English came to India first, they thought
of us as primitive native beings and we maintained that. We needed to maintain
the middle-class work ethic of the people of India because we needed that image
to promote the country."
Conclusion
Madhuri ended by saying that
erotica writing should be a part of our education system. "We are teaching
biology but we are not teaching sexuality. They should teach how to be ok with
your body. We should be talking about this in our schools. Everything in India
is about abstinence. Kids are going to find about it on the internet, parents
and teachers should be talking to kids in school. Children should be able to
write erotica and express their feeling about sexuality."
