SPOTLIGHT: SHOBHANA KUMAR, CLASS OF 1991

 SPOTLIGHT: SHOBHANA KUMAR, CLASS OF 1991

Although I have never had the pleasure of meeting either of them, on behalf of the OLA, I would like to dedicate this post to two persons long associated with Lovedale: Mr G Raghavan. (1942-2008)  and Mrs Neela Raghavan (1951-)

This is the second in the series of blog posts talking about OLs who were in the Spotlight 

Today's Spotlight is on Shobhana Kumar, Class of 1991 who was recently declared the Joint Winner of  the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize for 2021-2022. This annual award founded in 2018 recognises literary and social accomplishment. The awards, selected by a Jury from 11 shortlisted works, were presented at a ceremony held in the India International Centre in December 2022. 

Of Shobhana Kumar's book ,"A Sky Full Of Bucket Lists" (Red River, 2021) the jury opined: " What a delight it is to read this combination of jazz-like cadence, sharp wit and profound compassion! [This work] is a well of linguistic acuity that brings forth the reality of being a human in its raw and underrepresented form. Shobhana Kumar addresses unease with ease, angst with grace, and offers a unique perspective on the truth of personal struggle, behind the veneer of convention and past the bitterness of social rejection.”

Our hearty congratulations to Shobhana on her commendable feat. 

It was during Founder's 2013, that I met Shobhana for the first time. We were amongst the OL writers who read from our published books at the OL Book Reading event. Even then one could see the potential in her writing. 

Mathew Antony (Convenor) (1965), Shobhana Kumar (1991), Aruna Gill (1969), Prem Rao (1967), and Saaz Aggarwal (1977) at the OL Book Reading, Founder's 2013. 

Shobhana is the daughter of Mr G "Raga" Raghavan and Mrs Neela Raghavan. Mr Raghavan served Lovedale in several capacities from 1969 till he retired in 2000. He was the Headmaster of the Prep School from 1987. 

Mrs Neela Raghavan ( who moved to Lovedale on her marriage to Mr Raghavan in 1971) served as Matron in the Prep School and the Girls School from 1984 to 2000. 

Shobhana Kumar recalls, " Appa taught Maths in Prep school. He started off teaching Tamil in Senior School in 1969, and as I remember, told KIT (Headmaster Mr K I Thomas) he wanted to teach and be with young children. He was also Jamuna House housemaster for the longest time, and my earliest memories of growing up are from that house. 

Amma, Neela Raghavan was a matron first in Prep school and later in the Girls School.

My father passed on in 2008, after a two year battle with Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma. At his farewell speech in school, I remember he said his every breath and after life would remain in Lawrence. The school was his life as the students, his own kids.

He was a fabulous storyteller, and we always used to joke that the students probably remembered his stories more than they did his Maths! 

ED:- I can vouch for that. Many OLs remember his story telling skills and his stories even to this day. 

We asked Shobhana to tell us the story of her schooldays and beyond -through these questions:- 

1. When were you at School? Which House were you in? 

1982-1991, that is class 4 to class 12. I was initially in Deodhar House. I think we were in class 8 when the school decided Girls’ School can’t do with three houses, when the boys had four. So, Nalini was created around then, and I remember how students were drawn from all three houses—Champak, Pankaj and Deodhar, to create Nalini House. I also remember the flag being drawn and the emblem for the house: it was a deep maroon, with a golden panther (I think) drawn on it, with the words, ‘Ever Onward’. It was beautiful, being part of this new journey.  

2. Your father - the highly respected Mr G Raghavan -taught in Lovedale from 1969-2000? How was it being a child of a staff member? A day scholar? What were the pros and cons? 

Yes, he did. In fact, Mr. K. Balasubramaniam (KBS) and he, (GR), always joked that they joined as bachelors and retired from Lawrence as grandfathers. Lawrence and Lovedale was home. It still is my emotional anchor. 

Plenty of pros, because I think my brother, Ganesh Raghavan (batch of 1995) and I got to experience the best of both worlds. The teacher community was warm, loving and when I think of it now, cosmopolitan in its make up. So, we hung out a lot in each other’s homes and to this day share sibling-like bonds with many of the day scholars—Jayashree, Saumya and Anand Balasubramaniam, children of KBS, Thomas Mathew and George Mathew, sons of the much-loved couple, Mrs. Grace and Rajan Thomas, Alok and Ashok Pandey, sons of Mr. Jagadish Pandey, Siddharth and Sitara Sriram, children of Mrs. Meher Sriram, and my classmate, Siddarth Balachandran, son of Mrs. Radha Balachandran. 

Cons, I guess I never got to really experience dorm life. My brother hung out at the dorms a lot more. So, I missed out on a lot of fun, the pranks and all the things that one does in boarding school. However, considering the back-to-back schedules we had, most often, we just had time to go home and crash. I do remember I had to be exempt from games for a whole year owing to health reasons, and feeling very lonely. It was just classes and then back home. I think that was the time I plunged headlong into writing poetry (all depressing tropes).

In a lighter vein, there was no way we could act smart or step a toe out of line for word would get home sooner than we did . 

3.     What are your main memories of life at School?  Use 5 words that come to mind.....( not a sentence)

Dance: The D in ABMDP brought me immense solace and joy. 

The Prep School Library: It made me fall in love with reading. The wooden floor, the rows and rows of books, in many ways, it was a Blytonised life. 

Monsoon: comes with being a pluviophile, I think. I know the adults hated this time, but I loved it. 

Eucalyptus / Cypress: the breath so pure, that sometimes the nasal passage smarted with it 

Walking: We walked so much!! And to think I find it tough to walk to the chemist 100 metres away from home now, and drive to it instead. 

Please may I add one more? 

Haley’s Comet: one of the rare astronomical sights we got lucky to see on several mornings at 4 am

4. Which member of the staff, if any, had a strong influence on you, and why? 

Several of them, my dad being the biggest, although he did not teach me. It was to him that I showed all my (often morbid) verses. In fact, for the longest time even Amma did not know that I wrote poetry. 

Ms. Shirantini Hensman, who taught English for a very brief period, introduced us to Shakespeare in class 7. She told me after I had turned in an essay that she thought I could actually write. Sometimes, all a child needs is that spark of belief. I was lucky to have got it from several teachers. 

Mr. Nitya Cherian Mathai, NCM, who, I think brought history alive in a very special way. When I write non-fiction, I realise so much of my interest in research and history comes from that exposure. 

Mrs. Nirmala Panicker, our dance Ma’am. I don’t think many of us realised that we were learning dance under one of the finest dancers, scholars and teachers of our time. My biggest regret is not having pursued dance. She taught us the importance of discipline and rigour that are so very important for practicing artistes. 

Every teacher influences you in some way or the other, and I think we were blessed to have some of the most amazing and committed teachers. I am forever deeply grateful to all of them.

 

Are you in touch with your old school friends?  What do you like best about this association? 

Oh yes, I am. Thanks to WhatsApp and social media for I don’t think I would have been able to connect so easily. I cherish the long conversations with Ahlu Alaparti (nee Midag Polavarpu), where we just slip into effortless, heart-to-heart talks. Childhood friendships are unlike any other. There is no pretence, no need to be formal, apologetic. Many of my classmates have been very generous with their contributions to Small Differences, the NGO my husband and I run. Behind the grown-up and gracefully ageing faces, are the images of battle-jackets and maroon cardigans—and in many ways, the group makes space to be ‘un-grownup.’

5. What are some learnings from School that have helped you later in your life? 

Multi-tasking for one. Given the multiple things we had to do and were exposed to, juggling a headless-chicken life (which is what my writing and other life is most of the time) has come easily. 

Appreciation and respect for diversity. It’s helped me embrace different cultures with an open mind. 

An appreciation for all the simple joys of life—the pauses, the gentle way with which life passed in the hills, the time to stop and look at a star-studded sky, the genuine warmth of hill folk, the manner in which the mountains and rolling hills humble you. I think all this has left me with a perennial, wistful longing for that kind of life we are so removed from today. 

Eco-consciousness, definitely

Appa always told us that it is miserable to be poor anywhere, but there is nothing as miserable as poverty in a cold place. We never forgot that, and that learning helped me always look at the world from the side of the underdog.  It’s what inspired us to start Small Differences, where we work with the elderly homeless, the transgender community, and vulnerable women and children.

6. How did you start writing? Tell us about your book , " A Sky Full Of Bucket Lists" that won you the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize for 2021-22? 

Appa  diligently journaled everyday and gave me a diary on my twelfth birthday, insisting that I write one page a day. I copied Anne Frank’s idea of naming the diary and called mine Andy.  Andy quickly turned confidant and the mundane journal turned to verse quite suddenly. 

Appa always dreamt of me being a writer, and my first contract for a book on Coimbatore was made fifteen days after he passed on—like a blessing from him, really. In 2012, at the urging of a very dear friend, I mailed my first manuscript to Writers Workshop, Kolkata. Another book, *Conditions Apply" followed in 2014. Writing was tough as is, and getting published, tougher. Keeping at it, the toughest, but I guess I plodded on, trying to build on my craft. Writers Workshop gave me that initial courage to do so. 

I began writing haiku in 2012, after attending a workshop on the technique. Far from what most people imagine, haiku is not just three lines slammed together. There are a whole load of Japanese aesthetics and techniques to keep in mind. In 2014, I was introduced to haibun, a form of Japanese short verse that combines prose with haiku. It was also the time I began to embark on collaborative writing with two senior haijin, Geethanjali Rajan from India and Sonam Chhoki from Bhutan. 

In 2012, we founded Small Differences. The first two years, working on the ground with extremely impoverished, marginalised and ostracised communities began to take a toll on me. I began internalising a lot of that trauma. Writing was the only vent, the release and it was enormously cathartic. I did not think of a book at that time, just writing. It was a senior haijin, Angelee Deodhar, who urged me in 2018 to put it all together. That’s what turned into this book. 

Some more writing, and in March 2020, I sent it out to one of India’s highly respected indie publishers, Red River. I kept at the editing process till December that year, and it went to print. 

‘A Sky Full of Bucket Lists’ is the recipient of two awards— The Touchstone Distinguished Books Award, Honourable Mention, 2021, (instituted by The Haiku Foundation, USA) and The Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize, 2021-2022. Both came as a big surprise, for you know—as writers, you are not writing with an award in mind. You write because you simply have to. And yet, for the writer in eternal doubt like me, these recognitions are vital for sustaining that drive to keep turning up before the blank page. 

7. What are the writing/other projects that you are currently working on?

I  have several works of non-fiction, primarily memoirs and biographies that are in various stages of completion. A couple of manuscript ideas that need serious work, and some collaborative writing projects are underway and in the pipeline. I hope to start work on some of these in 2023. 

8. Are there any links you would like to share with our OL audience which elaborate on your writing /work? 

On the Awards: 

https://thehaikufoundation.org/shobhana-kumar-touchstone-distinguished-books-award-honorable-mention-2021/

https://indianexpress.com/article/books-and-literature/the-rabindranath-tagore-literary-prize-2021-22-jointly-won-by-sudeep-sen-and-shobhana-kumar-8337478/

On the book: 

https://www.thehindu.com/books/despite-pins-and-needles-k-srilata-reviews-a-sky-full-of-bucket-lists-by-shobhana-kumar/article34221828.ece

https://www.financialexpress.com/lifestyle/book-review-a-sky-full-of-bucket-lists-by-shobhana-kumar/2257048/

One aspect of our work at Small differences: 

www.equallivelihoods.org

Ted.x Talk on "Importance of Sisterhood for Women Empowerment" 

 

Thank you, Shobhana for sharing your story and photographs with us.

Best wishes in your future endeavours; as a writer, and more importantly as a socially conscious person living up to the ideals taught by your parents.