Featured Interview With Rachna Singh
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am Rachna Singh, author & Editor of The Wise Owl, an international literary & art e-magazine. I have authored 5 books in different genres, the latest being Phoenix in Flames, a collection of short stories about ordinary women who become extraordinary because of the resilience, fortitude and grit.
My father was in the Indian army and was posted to a different place every few years. My sister and I loved exploring new places and meeting new people. Our childhood was one big adventure. Dad was often posted to remote army stations, but I enjoyed the solitude because my dad had inculcated in me a love for books and I spent all my spare time reading anything and everything I could lay my hands on.
I now live in Chandigarh (India), which is a beautiful town at the foot of the Shivalik hills.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My father, before he joined the Army, had been a professor of English literature. He loved books and passed on his passion to me. As a child I would spend hours pouring over books and magazines, completely lost to the world around me.
I was probably twelve when I started writing. To begin with my writing was more in the nature of musings and scribblings about any subject that interested me. As I grew up, I began writing for the school magazine. In college I joined an Honours course in English literature and eventually enrolled in a masters program in english literature. I then began to write literary pieces for national dailies in India.
Then a whimsical fate beckoned and I joined the Indian Revenue Service. After several years as a Taxwoman, I decided to pursue my passion, quit the IRS and became a full-time writer.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love to read a well-crafted book, be it poetry or fiction or creative non-fiction. My favourite writers are Shakespeare (King Lear), TS Eliot (The Wasteland) and Jane Austen. Among the contemporary writers I love reading Paul Lynch (Prophet Song) and Audrey Magee (The Colony).
Life offers inspiration to write.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
‘Phoenix In Flames’ is a book dedicated to all ordinary women, who with their defiant resilience and fortitude become heroic and extraordinary. Sana, Sahar, Malini, Mrityunjai, Utkarsha and other female protagonists grapple with their personal demons and tragedies. Some arise rejuvenated and reborn like the Phoenix, others perish, consumed by their own torment. Although from different echelons of society, these women are soul sisters as they are united in their grief and their ability to face the adversities of life with a smile. The book also dwells on social evils like gender bias, under-age marriage and domes8c violence.
Will the irreparable loss of her son push Malini to the brink of a numbing emptiness, or will she be reborn as the nurturer of all? Will Sana break through the dark clouds of an impending tragedy or will she perish in the flames of her anguish, never to rise again? Will Sahar be able to fight the desire for self- annihilation triggered by an incestuous relationship? Will the scars left by Farhan on Kudrat’s psyche heal? The readers will find the answers to these questions as they traverse the dark landscape of emotional tales of tormented souls.
In weaving together the stories of these women, I also dwell upon the treatment of women in our society today (both in India and outside). Sahar is disregarded by her father as she is a girl and is forced into marriage with a man old enough to be her father. Safeena is given up by her parents for adoption as she is a girl. Kudrat becomes the vic8m of domes8c and psychological violence in an apparently progressive urban household.
My stories find an echo in the lives of all women. The stories at times elicit a smile as ordinary women scale extraordinary heights. At other times they leave you misty-eyed at the tragic turn of events.
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