Story of love, passion & power games
German author Roswitha Joshi uses domestic as well as professional fronts of an Indo-German journalist couple as canvas to paint a picture of present-day India, highlighting issues ranging from child labour, role of media to marital rape in her new book.
“Trapped in Want And Wonder” is a bi-cultural love story, in the course of which both Dev and Dora become not only passionate lovers but professional rivals as well.
The novel, published by Leadstart, was born in two stages.
Delhi-based Joshi’s original intention was to write the novel focused solely on child labour, as, according to her, she had, many a times, the dubious distinction of observing it at close quarters, and that in unexpected ways.
“Each time, however, others dismissed my interpretation of what I had seen as smelling a rat where none existed. In other words: it was played down as harmless. I realised there were numerous perspectives and all of them embedded in a foggy grey area, which I felt like shedding light on,” she says.
“After I had finished about half the novel my focus shifted to the electronic media, and what I saw and heard there shocked me out of my wits.
“The shouting matches that showed off anchors as powerful actors or tools in invisible hands, the lack of civility, the denial of genuine, open-minded discussions, the obvious technical and financial manipulations, the tearing down of reputations etc. My thinking tools started to work overtime to figure out what could lie behind the ‘show’,” Joshi told PTI.
The challenge before her then was to weave an exciting fabric out of both strands.
“Since the frame of the novel is an Indo-German love story, I mixed a heavy dose of passion, including the possibility of marital rape, into the cocktail.”
Joshi says the`characters are not autobiographical but possess character traits which one could term typical German or typical Indian.
“They live together, love and fight, but neither hide behind a mask nor give up their own identity for the sake of ‘peace’. He tries to dominate, she does not submit to it. So, there is never a dull moment, but lots of fireworks,” she says. The novel is written in a satirical style and Joshi says humour is a key part of her writing. “Humour is very important to me and I use plenty of it even while dealing with serious issues. There is a German saying: ‘Humour is when you laugh in spite of what happens’.
“I am also keen to entertain while engaging my readers’ mind in topical issues, so that he or she does not turn the pages because he or she has paid for them, but feels excited about their content,” she says.
She believes in clarity of thought and style in her writing and does not like convoluted back and forth narratives that confuse one’s mind and obfuscate the matter.
Joshi, who has also written Life is Peculiar, On the Rocks and Other Stories, Once More!, Fool’s Paradise and Indian Dreams, says she will continue to explore the chaos associated with Indian society.
“I have done it and will continue to do so. The ‘creative chaos’ that is India has, indeed, inspired and spiced up all my books including ‘Trapped in Want and Wonder’. While ‘want’ stands for need and greed ‘wonder’ stands for amazement. Both lead to a very heady cocktail that will make you think, laugh and frown in equal measure,” she says.