Her novels span themes that range from arranged marriages and unspoken secrets to bonds of sisterhood and mystical spice routes. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s narrative elegance intensifies once again, the impact of her new book, Queen of Dreams, where she depicts her characters in interesting situations of conflict.

California-based, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s first collection of short stories, Arranged Marriage, won the American Book Award. Followed the best-selling mystical The Mistress of Spices, being currently adapted for celluloid with Aishwarya Rai in the lead. Sister of My Heart was made into a Tamil television serial by Mani Ratnam, and in The Unknown Errors of Our Lives, she addressed inter-generational issues, collecting more plaudits.

Her latest novel, Queen of Dreams, succeeds in taking the reader through the past, present and future, through thoughts, experiences and journals, in much the same way one would imagine the dream teller’s mind would weave back and forth in time. The central protagonist, Rakhi Gupta, is a divorced, single mom caught between a dream teller mother and an alcoholic father. Struggling to find her Indian roots in a foreign environment and brought up by a family that encourages her to be more American than Indian, Rakhi finds solace in her own daughter, her paintings and her coffee house. The author in conversation with Sitanshi Talati-Parikh.

Your novels run the gamut from arranged marriages to love marriages – but either way, the marriages are not always described as completely successful.

Some of them are, and some are not – just like in real life. Often, I like to depict my characters in interesting situations of conflict – mirroring social problems that I myself have observed.

How have your readers taken to your latest Queen of Dreams?

The responses have been very positive – a lot of good reviews. People seem to like the characters; they are intrigued by the theme – of the importance of dreams as messages – and they feel that the inclusion of what happened tragically to the Indian American community after 9/11 is a valid aspect to touch upon.

Do dream tellers still exist?

Almost every major Indian city has them. Certainly they exist in my hometown, Kolkata. I found them by asking around. I talked to them; but also did a lot of research by reading books on dream tellers and dream interpretation in Bengali culture.

Have you ever had your dreams read by a professional dream teller?

Yes I have. But it’s too personal to discuss. However, I’m convinced that from time to time we are sent significant messages or guidance through our dreams.

Rakhi, in the novel, describes the terrors of 9/11. What was your personal experience of 9/11 living in the US?
It was a difficult, dark, scary time. My whole notion of belonging in America was shaken up, even though I’ve been a citizen here (America) for many years now.
There still remains some prejudice, some suspicion. You can see it most clearly going through security checks at the airports. Brown-skinned people are scrutinised much more often and far more carefully.

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