It's all write

Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi

Given what unfolded last year, it would be almost impossible to encounter a human being who has not experienced loss and grief. In his book Loss (HarperCollins India) that was released last year, Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi confronts this void, drawing from the loss of his parents and pet. In a session titled The Power of Prose: Writing and Healing in the Time of COVID, hosted on the platform Avid Learning, Shanghvi will delve into writing as catharsis and the finer details of such work of non-fiction.

Edited excerpts from the interview.

We all have different ways of processing grief. But what inspires the act of putting pen to paper?
Being alive means to be vigilant to the transformative possibilities of death. When I began to write about the death of my parents, I began to see them fully and truly, removed from their roles as my parents, independent of our relationship. I was writing about their passing, yes, but I was also taking stock of their existence and how remarkable they were and how profound had been their struggle. The process of writing about their death began with the responsibility of seeing and honouring their life: that was the pier, the commencement point.

How did you engage with memory and the nuances of writing to produce Loss, and how many drafts did it go through?
The lockdown allowed me time to edit the book in solitude in Goa that was both nourishing and terrifying. I was alone, often for days; I had only my words, a shield against time. Loss went through multiple drafts; I was lucky to work with three editors: Udayan Mitra, Mark De Silva and Bron Sibree. At tomorrow's event, I will be talking more about the role of the editor and why writers must find the right editor for their work and then submit to the editorial process.

Do you regard healing as a linear process? Do we ever fully heal?
Gosh, that's a tricky one. I like to think I am less anguished today than I was yesterday although that could change anytime. I guess we can think of healing as when we can live with the wound instead of trying to fix it. People die. Life is unfair. Your reward for suffering is the gift of being alive.

What do you hope attendees gain from the session?
Asad Laljee at Avid Learning graciously allowed me the space to share some of my writing lessons with readers and students of writing. How does one begin to write an essay? What books can help us along our writing journey? How can an editor be your most invaluable ally? These are some questions I am hoping to answer.

What are you working on currently?
I am thinking about what books I must read and here I'll tell you that the novel I found most refulgent and transformative in recent years is Lisa Halliday's Asymmetry. I believe reading is more important than writing - it always has been for me.

On January 28, 6 pm to 7.30 pm
Log on to avidlearning.in
(copies of Loss will be given to those who attend the session)
Free