Author of short story collection, Laburnum For My Head, Temsula Ao, on juggling professions and why she picked the laburnum
Author of short story collection, Laburnum For My Head, Temsula Ao, on juggling professions and why she picked the laburnum
Your first story in the collection, Laburnum For My Head, is about a woman who wants a laburnum
bush for her gravestone. Why the laburnum?
(Laughs) I don't know. The story just grew in my head. Probably because I've tried unsuccessfully to plant a laburnum tree in my backyard, just like Lentina did in the story. But that was a long time ago in my hometown in Dimapur. I work in Shillong and am here 10 months a year. 
Which of your identities are you most comfortable with: poet, author or teacher?
Well teaching is my livelihood. I've wanted to be a teacher since I was five. I used to force my neighbours and friends, coax them to play students just so I could wield a scale and be teacher.
You'd once mentioned that growing old was a pleasure earlier when everyone respected the aged and it's no longer the case nowu2026 why?u00a0
I was talking of my grandmother. I meant that the village was the entire world for most people then and that life obviously produced that kind of love and respect. These days, children move out and don't return that often, their roots grow more remote. In a village set-up, the whole village is responsible for everybody that lives in it.
Another story in the collection, Three Women, about a girl who uncovers the secret of her birth. Is that inspired from real life?
In a way, yes. There are several families in my village who have adopted children especially girls from other communities. They grow up and marry one of our boys, they're just like us, only they don't look like us. There's no discrimination.
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How do you find time to write while working?
The ideas just come along and I put them down when I'm free, late in the afternoon. Sometimes I have two stories running in my head. When a story doesn't quite complete itself, I leave it for long periods. But it's a very slow process because I'm a one-finger computer writer. (Laughs) I mull over every paragraph after writing it out.u00a0
Coming back to the first story Laburnum For My Head, Lentina, is expecting her death. How would you like to be remembered?
As a good person, a good mother, a loyal friend. (Smiles) An ordinary woman who tried.
Laburnum For My Head is published by Penguin Books
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