Dash strikes that ever-sought after writer's balance between being true to personal identity and nuanced enough to resonate with a wider audience. Her first novel, ‘Untamed Heart’, tells of a young newlywed, Mohini, who travels the world in order to find herself even as she breaks away from the constraints of her particular marriage, while the author’s latest poetry collection - A Certain Way - was announced at a special poetry reading and awards ceremony – held at the House of Lords recently – wherein the book-loving public attending had the choice to themselves finance the work. “I have been told to make the cultural elements in my stories more exotic, louder, sensational or more community-specific” Dash told us, “but one can only draw from their own experience which is inevitably broad and varied. Who we are isn’t a rigid construct – you can’t predict people on their backgrounds – and I think my writing works because it reflects this: I talk about normal people who are always moving; whether it be through emigration or just travelling, and what they have in common is the journey within themselves.”
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Indeed what fascinates most about Dash’s exploration of ethnicity is that it is both deliberate and incidental. Her short story, ‘To London’, which was also recently published as part of a fitting anthology - ‘Love Across A Broken Map’ - highlights the conflicting pulls of lust and emotional stability as two competing constituents for love through the drama between two men of different backgrounds. We are given a universal truth which is not dependent on, but rather threaded through a fixed sense of identity. In her longer work ‘Untamed Heart’, it is also the deep desire to fight for and actuate ourselves that is most apparent through sensitive protagonist Mohini; not a tired comment on the oppressiveness of South-Asian marriages. As Dash herself stated: “it wasn’t so much about depicting a strong cultural self as depicting a strong person. I talked about embracing the new without compromising your roots. Mohini never loses her Indian self, but she isn’t bound by it either. ” Dash is, in fact, currently on a scholarship-funded PhD in ‘Area Studies’ where she is continuing to investigate this as one of many observed themes with regard to people and their environments. In being sure of herself as a writer then, Dash breaks through even the problem of writing social stereotypes. That she is a product of tradition and modernity, as most of us are in a globalised community, is communicated with an entertaining power.
Tell us more about the Geographic theme in your work?
Yes, the sense of place really influences your emotion. They are always effortlessly intertwined. For example, in my short story ‘To London’, the main character’s experience of love is very specific to the locations in London. You have to ask yourself: ‘would she have felt the same way somewhere else? Would it be the same love?’ In my novel, ‘Untamed Heart’, Mohini wants to escape from her environment so it only made sense to have her travel away from India and chart her realisations from there. She goes to Singapore, Malaysia and France, and finally ends up in London. A story I wrote about Las Vegas used the superficiality of that landmark to provoke questions about the self.
What were you hoping to relay to the reader with your novel?
It is about perception: to be more sensitive to the Mohini characters in your life. I’ve heard from so many women, for example from family and friends in India, who’ve married and just transformed into muted versions of themselves. When you are having to perform many roles, there is a lot of pressure that’s at odds with your expectations to have been happily married in your twenties. Suddenly you have to take other people’s burdens on your shoulders. You might get into a slump. But it’s important to realise you can do more for yourself by remembering who you are. That’s what Mohini does when she tours the globe: makes more of herself.
On this note: let’s talk final lines? How do you edit and have that perfect round-up between the mystery so as to leave enough room for interpretation to the reader, while still providing enough closure about the themes of the story?
It helps to have a good editor as I did with Farhana for the anthology, but my advice would be to get feedback on - and know -your beginnings and ends. Sometimes it’s one line that makes the difference. Also, you can’t possibly take on board everyone’s input. If you feel strongly about an idea stick to it: see where it takes you.
Are you more a plot or a character-orientated writer?
Definitely character.
How did you become a writer?
I started off with poetry. As a child, I would be around my mother, who wrote a lot and organised poetry gatherings with her friends. When I went on to study Engineering at university I still continued to submit to college publications. Then after a long stint in business where I put the creative words on hold altogether, I started writing again seriously in London. I joined some writers groups, went to literary events, workshops, got rejected a lot and so on…
Finally, what would be the number one piece of advice you’d give to writers they might not otherwise have been told?
Read a lot. You have to love books to be able to write them. Practice as much as you can and send your writing out; even in the face of rejection. Understand that it’s what you want to do too. It requires time and you don’t make yourselves too popular being hunched over a laptop; it’s not like baking a cake, where the result is for everyone to enjoy! Be prepared to give it attention.
@dash2mona
