When history meets fiction

Rebels

are a part of every generation. The only difference is that, with every passing

generation, people do not realise they were rebellious, unless confronted by another

rebel. Their kids, for example.Exploring

this emotion and capturing the same in a historical fiction titled Valiyachalai

Times, is city-based 32-year-old debutant author, Deepa Balasubramaniam.What

is Valiyachalai Times about? Set in the early 1940s, when India

was yet to attain freedom, Valiyachalai Times is the story of six siblings

raised in a middle class Iyer family, who were ordinary people with

extraordinary dreams.“The

Iyer community is one such group where education is everything and people have

to find a job to put food on the table, without relying on assets. The year is

1944, when resources are not many and avenues too less, and thus following

dreams always remained a task impossible,” explains Deepa. She then adds, “It’s

a simple story effectively conveyed, with a little bit of everything.I wanted

to write something totally Indian, which is not very sassy or urbane, but with

history.”Valiyachalai

Times, showcases the culture and lifestyle of families and their mindsets

in the South India. Highly inspired from Indian families

and their protagonists fighting for their own causes, Deepa weaves a story about

how the six siblings break every cliché to realise their dreams and their struggle

to win over cynicism and prejudice.“I

wanted to explore the space of the generation gap and how mindsets change from

every generation. Like how my dad and I would disagree on quite some issues, he

would have also thought how his dad was reacting differently on different

thingsMy

six protagonists want something extraordinary from life. They do want to be normal,”

she elabortaes.The

story has glimpses, satires, humour, stereotypes, people and their behaviour in

a typical

South Indian middl e class setting.Exploring

the generati on gap “I am very attached to lives of the Indian middle class

section. My father used to tell me stories about them. When I was writing, I

would keep thinking how rebellious I was as a daughter, yet expect my son to be

very cooperative, which he is,” she says and further adds, “The whole concept

of generation gap and clashes is something known, yet there is more to be

discovered. Questioning every generation, the difference in their mindset is

something that always amused me.” But,

does this historical fiction as she calls it, have all that is required to make

it relatable to people of today? Deepa replies, “I feel History is enchanting.History

is the truth that really existed and still continues to exist across

generations through culture, tradition and upbringing. It sets a benchmark to

the human civilization. And when such a great subject is mixed with fiction, it

creates magic.”Explaining

more on the title of the book, she says, “Valiaychalai is a street in Chennai

that exists even now. It is part of the agraharam (a locality) that King

Marthanda Varma of Travancore, who was more Brahmin in his thoughts than a

Kshatriya, gave to the Brahmins there and hence the street was named as

Valiaychalai.”Though

being born and brought up in Hyderabad,

Deepa says she could relate to the history in Chennai.“We

have a family house in Chennai and most of our summers were spent there. Everytime

we went there, we heard new stories and learnt new things about the history,”

she shares. The journey so far Writing came to Deepa since she was a child,

starting with small essays and short stories. After a holding a job with a

multi-national bank for over eight years, she quit and took up writing full-time.“It

was a dormant passion and I did not know how to pursue it. I was a 22 and

restless. But, eventually when I moved to the US

after marriage, things fell in place and here I am,” Deepa expresses.She

then goes on, “I took me about a year to write Valiyachalai Times and my

first manuscript was ready by June 2011. I read it to my father and my husband.

Both enjoyed it, which was when I believed that there was scope for it to be

published. My father told me he could relate to his father and the accentric

behaviour.”But,

the tough part started when she had to hunt for a publisher.“It

was not easy to market this kind of script as it was too South Indian and I did

not know how it would sink in with other audience. They all want something edgy. But, in February 2012, a Kolkata-based publishing house

Sampark agreed to publish it.”What

lies ahead Talking about her future plans, Deepa informs that she is currently

working on her next plot, a fictional story set in 1951 Goa.She

has also been approached be a few directors to adapt her debut novel into a

movie, but she further adds that nothing has been materialised yet.“Apart

from that I am also writing two scripts for Tollywood movies, but I cannot

reveal anything yet,” she signs off.Valiyachalai

Times is being launched today at Lamakaan, at 7

pm.