Theirs was a story that needed to be told. Women from the smallest of communities in Singapore, such as the Dawoodi Bohras, Sikhs, Jews, and Eurasians: what were their lives like? They are ordinary women, whose lives, according to writer Nilanjana Sengupta are “made extraordinary only by the love, empathy, and fortitude they invest in it”. She has documented them in her latest book Chickpeas to Cook. Excerpts from an email interview with the Singapore-based author.
Why did you choose to write about the smallest of communities in Singapore? Why women, in particular?
Chickpeas to Cook looks at women of the smaller communities of Singapore. The Parsees, Jews, Taoists, Sikhs, Chettiars, etc — communities which at times consist of only a few hundred families, where women find themselves caught at difficult intersections of faith, religion, family, community, and country. It’s a book about dying cultures, and vanishing dialects and frankly, I have carried it around in my mind for the last few years, particularly since the trend of majoritarianism has become an overbearing one around the world. I wanted to write particularly about women because they are the ones who lead difficult lives, constantly trying to balance the more traditional demands of their communities with the fast-changing modern world outside. They struggle to keep their rituals and practices alive, giving it a new lease of life with every generation. Despite the progress made in terms of equality of rights, women continue to be held up as symbols of family honour — the right dress, right husband, the right time to come back home — it’s the women who are supposed to make all the right choices.
