Arundhati Roy is not just a name but a voice. Arundhati’s life, which is said to be a symbol of women empowerment, has been full of struggle. English language writer Arundhati gained popularity in a very short time due to her writing style. The progressive and realistic writer holds her position not only at the national but also at the international level.
Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.
She is the first Indian woman writer to have been awarded the Booker Prize. She is not only a sensitive writer, but she is also recognized as a social worker and skilled actress. She was born on 24th November of 1961. His mother Mary Rai is Syrian Christian and father Rajeev Rai is Hindu Bengali. His early childhood was spent in Kerala only. Her parents separated when she was 2 years old. By the way, his father was the manager in the tea garden. She studied architecture at the Delhi School of Architecture. There she met her first husband, Gerard da Cunha, a fellow architecture student.
Their marriage lasted for four years. Both of them did not have much love for architecture, so they left their profession and went to Goa. To make a living, she used to make cakes and sell them on the beach. This went on for seven months after which Arundhati returned back to Delhi. She started her career as an actress. She met filmmaker Pradeep Krishna and was selected for the film Mansi Sahab. During this, she was so impressed with the filmmaker that she married him. She played the role of a tribal talking with sensitive eyes and gestures very impressively in Mansi Sahib. Apart from this, she also wrote screenplays for many films.
Pity the nation that has to silence its writers for speaking their minds.
In Which Annie Gives It Dos Once (1989) and Electric Moon (1992) were critically acclaimed. When she won the Booker Prize in 1993 for the novel God of Small Things, she came to the attention of the literary world. In this book, she has given a poignant, psychological and realistic portrayal of the agony of twin children living life amidst the caste-caste-faith, faith and disparities of South India. She received 1.6 million US dollars as royalty on this novel and it has been translated into 30 languages.
She donated the amount of 15 lakhs received from this novel to the Narmada Bachao Andolan. His book Doctor and Saint: Ambedkar Gandhi Debate Book was also very much discussed. She is actively associated with Narmada Bachao Andolan. She wrote a book The Greater Common Good in protest against the construction of this dam. Arundhati, who raised her voice against many local and international issues ranging from US imperialism, nuclear arms race, construction of dam on Narmada, has been briefly imprisoned for contempt of judiciary.
In the year 2002, the Supreme Court convicted her for contempt of court. She was convicted and sentenced to one day’s imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 2,000. Arundhati, who has participated in several social and environmental campaigns, has also been honored with the Lannan Cultural Freedom Award in 2002 and the Sydney Peace Prize in 2004 and the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2006.