If we can embrace motherhood as another equally vital part of being a woman, we can perhaps work out a better balance between home and career, Meera Godbole Krishnamurthy tells Sandhya Iyer

Meera Godbole Krishnamurthy’s debut novel, Balancing Act, is an engaging read about a young mother’s struggle to find balance in her life. Though professionally qualified, her protagonist Tara is content to be a ‘stay-at-home’ mother. However, in a feminist world, she feels she might be viewed as unfashionable and out of step with times.

The novel is autobiographical to a large extent. Meera lived abroad for several years and has now settled in Mumbai. The following are excerpts from an interview with the author:

Were you always interested in writing?

Architecture, painting, sculpture, making quilts, writing — all these creative arts  — which I have explored — have a common language with many overlaps.

I have always loved books and the places they can take you to. Over the years, I found myself interested more in the theory and critique of architecture than the practice of it. Before embarking on this journey, I participated in several writing programmes and workshops at UC San Diego, Stanford and the University of Iowa.

How autobiographical is the book and what parts of it do you relate to most?

Tara and I have many similarities, it’s true. We’re both architects, have two children, and are married to husbands with demanding careers — but so are many women out there. The details may differ, but in spirit, our stories would be the same. I think one always starts with what one knows, but the beauty of fiction is that it can transcend the personal to become universal. Fiction is most convincing when it could be real, even though it is not. There is always a danger though, in assuming that a first work is more autobiographical than it really is! I relate to all my characters and their dilemmas, because to write fiction, you need to inhabit it in such a way that it becomes real to you and consequently, to the reader as well.

It’s not always easy for women to find their groove back once they take a considerable break after childbirth. They are perceived to come with a ‘baggage’ which the professional world does not view kindly.  How do you think this uneasy equation can be better dealt with?

I believe that motherhood is and always has been a joyful act, a creative and large journey, which is not to say that it is without frustrations, of course, but we seem afraid these days to speak of the joys. May be because motherhood — and by extension, the ‘housewife’ — has acquired such negative connotations, been devalued and degraded as the lesser choice. We feminist-mothers, what I call the ‘femimoms’, need to reclaim the unabashed and unapologetic nature of motherhood. I think if we embrace motherhood as another equally vital part of being a woman, it may help balance the equation with a career a little more easily. That said, I am not really sure a true balance is possible, because in every choice, something is gained, but always, something is lost.

What’s coming up next for you?

This book took me either nine years or four years to write, depending on which way you count it. The learning curve on writing and publishing a novel is a steep one and I expect (hope!) that the next one will not take as long.

There are so many more stories to be told. I am working on my next novel now, which is quite different in terms of story and theme, but will still be rooted in architecture, which I find is a deep and rich territory for understanding much else in life.