An Interview with Dr. Jasmine D’ Costa

 

The Milestone: How was your first entrance into the world of writing? Which one is your first story? Where was it published? Tell us something about your childhood.

 

The Author: I started writing I suppose as a child, though not prolific. I wrote a lot of stuff and it is in my papers somewhere in a forgotten trunk. However, my really serious fiction that got published is Curry Is 'Thicker Than Water'. It was published in Canada and India .

 Growing up in Bombay was like any other very middle class Indian family. Life rotated around the home, family, school and church. Our ambitions were mere indulgences and our careers were designed by money.

 

The Milestone: Your book ‘Curry Is Thicker Than Water’ is based on the settings of India where you were born. How deeply are you connected to your birthplace?

 

The Author: I don’t think we can shed

India in any way. It is not just a birth place but a phenomena. Take for example those that left many generations ago; they still keep their Indian identity. I like to retain all that I admired of my heritage.

 

 

The Milestone: How do you make the settings of your novels so live, and pulsating with joy and sorrow? What’s the secret behind it?

 

The Author: Live it, and others will live it through you.

 

 

The Milestone: How does the impulse of re-creating oneself stir you to write because once you wrote that your emigration to Canada was about re-creating yourself?

 

The Author: I shed my notions of what I need to do the things I want to do and just did it. The rest adjusts itself around your joys.

 

The Milestone: Your journey from India to Canada is challenging. How is it reflected in your characters?

 

The Author: Well right now I have not handled any immigration story but my new series Lolita in Canada is a satirical and comedic immigration experience of my character Lolita.

 

 

 

The Milestone: Does any personal experience inspire you to write a story?

 

The Author: No. I am very rarely autobiographical. But I suppose I will take that on some day.

 

 

The Milestone: Do you believe that translation can expose the inner thought process of a poet or a writer? How many stories of yours have been published in other languages?

 

The Author: A good translation can. My stories have been published in Romanian, Italian and now in Spanish when I attend the Linares International Literary Festival in Mexico in March.

 

 

The Milestone: What is the present trend of fiction writing in Canada ? Tell us about the experiments that writers like you are doing with writing.

 

The Author:I think the trend will be towards small size novels, novellas and short stories. Attention spans are shrinking. I actually suit myself and do what my heart desires.

 

 

The Milestone: How would you identify yourself- a post modern?  If so, please tell us what are the specific features for which a writer should be called post modern?

 

The Author: I have not really identified myself as post modern. Unless it is clearly defined to me I think it would be difficult to answer that question.

 

 

 

 

The Milestone: Who is your favourite novelist? There are many Indian writers who are writing in English. What’s your opinion about them?

 

The Author: I think Indians do not fall as one class of writers. Their skills vary as do the genres and stories they tell. I have no sweeping opinions of a class of people but there are such talented people in India and they struggle with all the competition and lack of opportunity they face. But then that is the fate of most writers.

 

 

The Milestone: After the huge success of Canadian Voices, vol-1, 2, Indian Voices, vol1. What’s your next plan?

 

The Author: I am writing and hope to finish my novel Saving Ali. I have a finished poetry manuscript “Dance with me the Paso Doble.”

 

The Milestone: Finally, will you give any tips to the aspiring writers?

 

The Author: Yes. Keep writing. You need many products to make a living.