You have been awarded the 2008-2009 Elsie Choy Lee Scholar by the Center for Education of Women, University of Michigan, honouring your contribution to women in the field of art, writing and music - a cause that is universal in its appeal. How far have you sought out points of commonality between two disparate cultures, through your poems?

I write about a wide range of subjects, and writing about my experiences as an immigrant in the U.S. is one of them. The poems that came together in my book, Lands I Live In, are about a personal (and geographical) journey. They do not seek out commonality but are universal in that they communicate to the readers feelings they are familiar with -- of dread, strangeness, alienation.

The collection Lands I Live In published by Mayapple Press in March 2007 was nominated for a PEN America Beyond Margins Award. What do you think of the phenomenon of trans-culturation?

It expresses complex thoughts about complex proceses. These issues need to continually be explored, especially in today’s changing and more global world.  Much may be discussed about terminology, but I think the key word is “process” because no matter in which part of the world we live, we learn new things about people and culture and are constantly responding and/or adapting. So when we talk of immigration and assimilation, there are even more complex forces at work. Essentially, there will always be a sense of loss, and there will be some form of growth or change.

How have your growing years proved formative in the shaping of your career as a poet?

As a child, I was more a reader and dreamer than a writer. I tended to be a loner (I think to some extent that was due to my being partially handicapped by polio at the age of six).  I wrote some poetry that got published in school journals, and later in journals like The Telegraph Magazine. But no one, including myself, really read anything into that. I think my love of literature and knowledge in general lead me into the field of education, but I see all those years as ‘seed time’. It was essential for my intellectual and personal growth and that part of my life became a strong and fertile foundation for my creativity (as a writer, that is) to finally break through.

Which literary figures have influenced you and how?

It is hard to pick! But I will try and provide a brief overview. I was deeply moved by the work of Shakespeare, and the Romantics, particularly Blake and Keats, then the Victorians- Tennyson, Arnold, and, later, to some extent T.S. Eliot and D.H. Lawrence. I also read a lot of Indian writers in English, particularly Ramanujan, Ezekiel, Vikram Seth, and several authors in translation, but the ones that come to mind right now are Girish Karnad and Vijay Tendulkar.

Your poems are expressive of the disorientating feeling that is part of the expatriate experience. Comment.

They are. I try to be in the ‘moment’ of the experience and express it in all its intensity and with all of its human and social conflicts and inherent and painful contradictions. It is the movement of a mind and all the senses responding to new situations, tinted by the inevitable sense of loss and fear, as well moments shaped by memory and imagination. There is a grappling with, and a sort of coming to terms with, change, differentness, a feeling of homelessness, but at the same time there is also a self examination going on – an exploration as it were, of identity.

Has any lived experience been particularly challenging for you to render in definite poetic terms?

There are several experiences that I have not been able to render completely. There is much to write about in my life (strange and wonderful), people, places, and relationships. I think there will be a right time for everything. It is not that I can not write about them, but I think I need more distance and perhaps finer skills to render these emotions and experiences into sound and sophisticated writing.

Is poetry your preferred medium of expression or are you planning to experiment with other generic modes, too? 

Yes. It seems to be what I do most naturally and what I am most passionate about. A prose piece sort of writes itself once in a while, but I have not really had the time to explore that side of me much. It is possible that I will write some fiction, but again, I think it is something that may or may not ‘evolve’.

Which time of the day do you feel most enthused to indulge in your creative pursuits, - your preferred hour of imaginative activity?

I do not have any preferred hour. I have long periods of barrenness (I call it a form of laziness. Others call it gestation) when I write nothing, even avoid reading sometimes, and seem to do nothing but think. But then these short periods of feverish writing occur. I am tremendously relieved when that happens because that is when I  often write a lot and write some of my best works, and I am also relieved because if I have not written for a  while,  I panic - thinking that the creative rush will not happen again.  Of course, I do write poems as assignments (for workshops and for MFA classes) so there are deadlines, but that is more a forced activity and sometimes works extremely well, and sometimes not.

Which according to you is your finest piece of verse till date? 

This is very difficult to answer. I don’t think I have written my finest piece, or quite know what that will be and when it will happen, or that I can choose any one piece. I will cheat and pick three. Sommelier which was published in Gastronomica; Consider the Sari which is still to be published; and a fairly new poem, the working title of which is, What the Thunder Said.

A word of advice for young upcoming poets, seeking to successfully establish themselves. Any new poet in particular, whose work has caught your attention.

Read Read Read. Contemporary writing, especially in  India, where I think we study too little of that, and find a way to have your work critiqued by other writers/friends who read widely. I strongly encourage young people to form small writing groups to discuss their work as art, get feedback, and enjoy each other’s diverse styles.

I would like to mention an entire group of talented folks and lovers of poetry who have established a wonderful community of writers in Kolkata and who are nurturing good writing as well as encouranging young poets. Srijan is the name of this group. The generous and talented person who makes it happen is Basant Rungta, is a fine poet himself.

 There is a refreshing lucidity, with all the homely metaphors in place about your poems. Do you consciously work towards effectuating an exactness of phrases/words in order to make possible an easy readerly experience?

The writing of the poems is not a conscious process. It is in the revising and editing that phrases and metaphors are polished to make the poem more effective. Sometimes a poem needs little or no work, and sometimes after much honing, a poem still seems to fall short.

If not a poet, in what other capacity we might have found you today?

I am a teacher too, and always will be one. I love music and dance…so I imagine myself as a dancer or musician, but then I am passionate about animals, Nature, and science too; and sometimes think I would like to have been a naturalist or some kind of wildlife specialist. Great to dream!

In the post-9/11 scenario, how much of your poetry acts as a deliberate probe into the problem in values and confusion of principles that characterise the existing state of things?

I don’t think any of it is deliberate. As a sensitive human being and aware individual I am affected by history, politics, and tragedy, and as a writer I express myself as these thoughts, questions and confusions arise in me. 

Animal ardour and a surreal amalgam of fascination and fear of violence and brutality characterize Ted Hughes’s poems. In reference to your book that is in the offing you had remarked that it would contain “dark” animal poems. What are the possible artistic intersections?

I have not been directly influenced by any writer, as this work has been informed more by observation of human and animal behaviour, mythology, folk tales, and symbolism. You have made an excellent point here. It is true that there perhaps may be echoes of other poets like Ted Hughes. It had occurred to me when I was putting the manuscript together that the work of Lawrence and Blake also refer to these darker forces.  I know it is always possible for a writer to write something that is similar to the work they have read before, but I also think these ‘echoes’ may arise unconsciously in the process of writing.

How was the experience like when you came down to the Oxford Bookstore Kolkata, in April 2008?

It was a very meaningful and moving experience. I have been visiting Oxford since I was a little girl (every birthday I would choose a big book or encyclopedia), through my college days, and working life, and till today when I visit Kolkata. I never dreamed that I would come back here one day as a writer. I am grateful to Maina Bhagat at Oxford for supporting my work. This is a first step in my career as a writer. I have a long way to go.