Food is just a metaphor, the book is my hunger for life: Shobhaa De at Jaipur Literature Festival 2023

Jaipur: The 16th edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival commenced today at Clarks Amer. Starting off with an inaugural ceremony and amazing speeches by celebrated speakers/authors like Durjoy Datta, Nandini Das, Katherine Rundell, and more.

In one of such sessions, Shobhaa De, world-renowned Indian novelist famous for her works of fiction and inclusion of intricate themes of sociality took to the stage, in conversation with Chitra Banerjee about her upcoming book Insatiable: My Hunger For Life.

Shedding light on many fascinating aspects of the book, and the art of writing itself, Shobha said that a book is as good as the first few people who believe in it. Books go through a turmoil of publishers, book houses, and sometimes just lay there. But this book of hers got believed in and as a result of the support and love it got, Insatiable is ready to be read.

When asked about the title “insatiable” and what food means to her, she said, “The book is not just about food, but yes food as metaphor for many things. Food connects, food is home, food is love. I cannot take good for granted as it has played an emotional role in my life. Food is curiosity - food tells you a lot about people and what they are eating and how they are eating.” Terming food as “basic and primal”, she added that we tend to take it for granted.

She said that, “ the book is a truthful account of myself in respect to people in my life, my vulnerability, and more.”

Quoting from the book she said, “ you can't go back change the beginning…” Explaining this further, De said, “nostalgia is given immense importance by people. but in many ways I feel a vagabond, loafer, voyager. I can't think of any turning point in life because it's kind of pointless to look back and worry about ‘could-have/should-have’. Present is the beautiful way of staying in it and that is all that matters. At this moment, this is important to me. So I really am not preoccupied to control my future or even plan it.”