Imprints of intense times

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Urvashi Butalia had worked with Oxford University Press and Zed Books in Delhi before quitting to start Kali for Women in 1984, arguably the first Indian publishing house dedicated to publishing on and for women.  She set up the firm with Ritu Menon to publish ground breaking publications like Shareer ki Jankari (‘About the Body’). Shareer ki  Jankari was written by 75 village women and sold by the women themselves at a special price in the villages. The Other Side of Silence, an account of women survivors of Partition, has been one of the most influential books in South Asian studies of the past decade. In 2003, Butalia set up Zuban Books in partnership with Penguin. She was in Thiruvananthapuram recently for the Hay Festival Kerala. Excerpts from an interview with Aswathy Karnaver.What was the context that prompted the setting up of Kali for Women?There was a very strong Women’s movement in the late 1970s. It spread into all fields – movements for equality, violence against women and such. But none of it was reflected in the literature or media or other publications of the period. There was no dialogue about the origins of these movements – why did they take shape, what did they aim at – nothing was talked about. During that time, I was working with a publishing company. But I could not convince my bosses about the significance of giving space to women’s movements. That was when I thought, why not start a publishing house for the cause. So, do you think the early part of this social movement has been lost to documentation?Whatever books we had were mostly written by Western scholars. Is there an inadequacy about those books? There has to be. Many of the books are written by very scholarly persons. But often, there isn’t a grounded understanding of issues. The locals will always be better placed to speak authentically about an issue than an outsider. You simply cannot equate the two. Besides, we have always had competent women writers here who could document the movement in fiction and other forms of writing. Only, there were no publishers ready to give them space. Kali for Women gave a platform for the writings. Why Kali?Kali stands for black and has always been seen in a negative way, as much as she stands for power. In the feminist movement, we use reinterpretation of archetypes to subvert patriarchal constructions. So when we were thinking of a name for the establishment, convinced that it should reflect the spirit and the aim, we chose Kali and decided we will represent her in a new light. How important was ‘Shareer ki Jankari’ in changing the literary scene of the period?I don’t think it changed the literary scene. What it did was, it took publishing beyond the boarders of books shops and upmarket customer base. It was sold and purchased by the village women. It went directly to its target customers and it was very appropriate to their needs. Since the book described what happened to a woman’s body from brith through the process of ageing, the women had strong apprehensions about the display of the content. And that was where the book was it its innovative best. They did not want to a naked body on the pages of the book. So they designed these little flaps which can be lifted to see a picture. It was their own idea and before the final printing was done, they circulated the draft at village level. Do you think feminist writing has outgrown that tag?Well, I think it has, everywhere. But then, it never actually began with the tag in the first place. Because you cannot put fiction in those political straight jackets. Writing of the period could not be but influenced by the issues that were being raised. There was a natural synergy between the women’s movement and the writing of the 70s and 80s. It gas come a long way from there to a time when publishing has become very open. The struggle about not getting published is not relevant anymore. Women writers are addressing a plethora of issues in their writings. How do you see the tradition of women’s writing in India? We have had authors such as Lalithambika Antharjanam and the very radical K Saraswathi Amma voicing feminist concerns quite early on. It is not necessarily correct to say that Malayalam predated any other language in India in the context of women’s writing. There was Mahadevi Varma writing in Hindi, Kritika, Amrita Pritam, Kamini Roy and so many others. In fact, there was a strong tradition of feminist writing in India from centuries ago. Kerala was one of the places where women had a high level of literacy and awareness. The political precursor of feminist movement created an environment for these writings to be better received by society. What was the juncture at which Kali for Women became Zuban books?There came a time a when the two persons who set up Kali for Women thought it is time to move on. They wanted to split and pursue different interests. So in 2003, we winded up and now only the name remains, Kali for Women doesn’t publish anymore.