Desi Making Waves

By Rohina Phadnis

A feisty Kurdish woman living outside traditional norms in Berlin. A wealthy Palestinian family that has found refuge and a second home in London. A Bangladeshi family with its own struggles stepping into the melting pot of New York City. These seemingly faraway stories of immigration, minorities, identity conflict and wisdom are woven together expertly by author Kavitha Rajagopalan.

These families all find a home in the book, Muslims of Metropolis: The Stories of Three Immigrant Families in the West. In her first book, Rajagopalan explores what it means to be a Muslim in the Western world, especially after the pivotal date of September 11, 2001. Her story takes readers on a multi-country journey in hopes of understanding.

In writing the story, Rajagopalan spent time with her subjects, making multiple trips to Europe and beyond to connect with them. She experienced the ups and downs of writing – from scrapping a first draft to waiting for the final product to hit the bookshelves, which is anticipated for September 2, 2008. The cosmopolitan Rajagopalan, who exudes a contagious energy and confidence, sat down with ABCDlady to chat about her forthcoming book, what lead her to it, what she learned and everything in between.

How did the idea for the book come about?
I’ve been interested in migration and identity… growing up [with] an immigrant background, obviously how you fit in. I didn’t have to confront those questions [of identity] ‘til college. I was in college. I studied critical theory. I realized you could study thinking through an ideology. I realized people were in a position of … groping for a new enemy [after the Cold War]. Everyone was coalescing behind Muslims. I was like – this is some pretty dark stuff…. I saw this was not going away…. I said, let me write a book…. What’s really interesting here are [the] individual narratives. There’s this notion here of the Turkish narrative…. I thought it was best to broaden the topic. Over the course of graduate school, I started taking these courses – the equipment that I needed [to write a book].

How was your relationship with your sources? Did you feel you had to be distant with or particularly close to them?
At a certain point, when you’re writing non-fiction about someone, it seems impossible to have boundaries. She [Rajagopalan’s Turkish subject] was financially, emotionally, physically overburdened. I was one more demand on her. Instead of being her friend, I was asking about what she was feeling…. I’m completely proud of my characters, of how committed they were to it [the book] and non-fiction…. The hardest part – it wasn’t hard with the men—you have a certain level of access. It’s harder to access the women. I was off a different script. This is where having an Indian background comes in handy. I can relate to traditional things. Her life [the Turkish woman’s] was very different than mine. But my own grandmother was married when she was eight years old. I had these women telling me things they literally haven’t shared with anyone before.

Journalism objectivity has to be put to the side. I think you have to be cognizant that people aren’t as objective when they’re telling their life stories. I was more interested in the emotional truth and the intimacy I developed with these people … You have to follow your instincts. These people all changed who I am. I had to find a way to tell their story objectively.

Did you notice any similarities and differences between United States and European immigration debates?
The main difference here in the U.S. is we didn’t have a very interactive government. I would say [our] debate centers on border management and border control.

In Europe, by nature of the government, they have to discuss immigration policy. Also, Europe having the European border changes the debate. Your debate has to become more about national character. The concept of [being] German becomes compromised. You have to have debate about that and you have to have debate that people aren’t comfortable with. That’s not something you’d find in the U.S ... There isn’t really one ethnic America. Here in the U.S. it’s based on minority relations.

But in the U.K. … you have this very interesting thing … [a belief that] all members of the Commonwealth are citizens. Migration is a new concept. You had this feeling people are all off-shoots of the British Empire. There was this kind of feeling of cultural sympathy. The U.K. has had to develop this important discussion.

What surprised you most when writing and researching this book?
A lot of things surprised me. First of all, I was very surprised by the process of writing a book. I’ve always considered myself a prolific writer. I think, “Oh perfect, I get to have 10,000 words of my own.” I found that difficult … [by] structuring what you want to say you end up leaving out things.

You really have very little room for creativity. You really have to edit. What else surprised me were my personal travels to the areas, like the Palestinian territories. Ramallah is like the Riviera. It was just this beautiful place. And I was also surprised to see how evident the occupation was … physical signs of division.

I was also surprised by how well I was accepted by the families. But I find that if you ask people questions, they are willing to answer.

I was very surprised by how diverse the Kurdish society was … and I realized at that moment that you can’t take at face value what outsiders tell you about one community. You can choose your collective identity.

[I realized] how important fundraising is. You need money for everything, and I was also very surprised that I couldn’t [fundraise] on my own ... Just the book writing process was the biggest surprise. And I’m surprised at the end of it, saying “I want to do it again.”

What was your writing schedule like? What would be a typical day while writing your book?
Since it was my first book, I didn’t have a lot of infrastructure, all of these little things … I left that job [at a non-profit] and raised grant money ... I went to this placement agency. They placed me at Goldman Sachs ... I don’t know what I was thinking. You can’t have a job at Goldman Sachs and write a book! You can’t come home and write a book. I took a few weeks unpaid and went to the beach in North Carolina to write, but I was so happy to be on vacation, I wasn’t as productive – and that was another big surprise about how long a chapter takes. It takes much longer to write than you think it is.

I just left my job. At that point, I just did some freelance editing…. [I would] start in the morning, write for a couple of hours and start again. A lot of the times, one of the challenges I’d find was to structure my day. Finding and setting a schedule is good. These were all interesting lessons. Now I think it should be easier.

Have a clear concept of the resources you need. It helps to have time. To expect yourself to complete a book in a year is not realistic. Have people in your life who can clean your house and make dinner. If he [her husband, Matthew] hadn’t supported me, it would have been very different.

Finally, what are you currently reading?
I just finished a bunch of David Sedaris essays. I’ve been reading a bunch of books by friends. Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust. She’s [a friend] a photographer and a lot of her work deals with memory. She got a small group of us together [to read the book]. It’s really corny!

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