Ram-Sita survived the long distance relationship

Ever wondered how Rama and Sita endured their long distance relationship while Sita was held captive by Ravana? Arshia Sattar does the wondering for you in her forthcoming book. Drop by at NCPA Today to listen to the author reading excerpts from her work

Ever wondered how Rama and Sita endured their long distance relationship while Sita was held captive by Ravana? Arshia Sattar does the wondering for you in her forthcoming book. Drop by at NCPA Today to listen to the author reading excerpts from her work

Author Arshia Sattar explores the tragic love story angle of Ramayana in her forthcoming book. Pic/Ashish Rane

For 25 years, Valmiki's Ramayana has been part of author Arshia Sattar's life, "in larger and smaller doses". She has previously translated The Valmiki Ramayana and now she delves into the tragic love story of Rama and Sita in her forthcoming book of essays, tentatively titled Lost Loves: Exploring Rama's Anguish in The Valmiki Ramayana. The author will read excerpts from her book at an event organised by Chauraha this evening.

The book is based on a rather radical interpretation of Ramayanau00a0- a very personal period of separation. What prompted you to explore this aspect of the text?
I don't think this is a radical interpretation at allu00a0- it's simply another layer of interpretation and pleasure that the text offers us. It's a layer about being human (rather than only being divine) and I find the human aspect of the story very compelling. What could be sadder than being separated from the one that you love the most?

How did you get so involved with Rama and Sita and their tragic love story?
I am deeply involved with the text. It' been a part of life in larger and smaller doses for 25 years u2014 I have to be involved with it and care about it and have opinions about it and want to share it. If you spend that long with any story, it's going to reveal more and more about itself as time goes by. Finding a tragic love story hidden in there was only a matter of time. As for getting involved in the story, who can resist tragic love? More than their separation, their viraha, it is the loss of love itself that is truly tragic.

You've had a 'tormented' relation with the Ramayana over the years. Yet you are going back to the text to explore another nuance. Why?
Anything you truly love will torment you at some timeu00a0- because you want more from it, you want to know it better and it remains mysterious, because you want to love it more and it seems to resist you.

Finally, you state that Rama's anguish should be understood anew for "our sake, not his". What can the contemporary reader take away from the re-reading?
The story of Rama and Sita has persisted in our literary and artistic traditions for 25 centuries, each generation, each teller, each dancer, each painter makes it his or her own. There's no need for us to be alienated from the Ramayana because of what has been done to it in recent times. I think one of the many things that the Ramayana talks about is the pain of being human, the difficulty of being good. Rama's anguish is something that we can all relate tou00a0- it is the anguish of the human heart and that anguish is eternal. This is not a story that is contained by the moment of its composition, like many other contemporary texts. Rama's anguish is a way for us to re-enter the Ramayana as 21st century individuals and make it ours - whoever we are.

On: Today, 6.30 pm at Audio Visual Room, NCPA, Nariman Point. Admission on a first-come-first-served basis.