Shahina's fables

Amongst all those scattered memories lies Shahina’s most favourite — the times she spent with her grandmother listening to ‘Qissa’ (fables). As years went, her role as a keen listener slowly transformed into that of a writer. Today, as she holds close the Kamala Surayya Award for fiction which she won this year for her work Braanthu, Shahina Rafiq reminisces how the qissas must have followed her into adulthood and how the hidden verses of poetries and stories from her diary made her an award-winning writer.

The birth of Shahina the writer was sure, but slow. “I believe my grandmother has had a good influence on me. I used to love listening to her stories; she was a good story-teller. I also used to read a lot. My father had a small library and whatever little pocket money I had was spent on books. Buying books was a big deal at that time.

Even during those days, writing was not something I concentrated upon.” She picks out an interesting incident from her past that scared the writer in her. “I used to write for my school magazine. But once, my Malayalam teacher called me to the staff room and questioned me on a story I had submitted for the magazine.”     

“She wanted to know if I wrote it myself or if I copied it from somewhere. It was as if I had done something wrong. Now, when I look back, I think she questioned me maybe because it was good. But as a child who could think that way! After that, I used to hide whatever I wrote in my diary. Even during my college days, I had little confidence to write.” Her love for writing ultimately led her to pursue a diploma course in journalism.

After a stint with freelancing, she chose to become a teacher. The next three years were spent at the Devagiri College, Kozhikode, as an English teacher. “Cinema walked into my life during those days and I decided to do a course on film appreciation from Pune. I also decided to get a PhD in Film Studies after my teaching years,” she says. It was a competition organised by the British Council that changed her life.

Explaining about the story that won her the British Council Award in 2012, Shahina says, “This was an international competition. I sent them my story named Notebook, which revolves around the concept of child marriage. The protagonist is the child-bride who is highly imaginative. The fear of what she will have to face on her wedding night leads her to imagine the male body and its aggression to objects and things that comes to the young child's mind like a cycle pump pistons and balloons. It was this story that gave me a confidence to write more. It was the moment I realised that I could call myself a writer.” She has also won the British Council Award for Poetry this year for the poem Die Baapu Die, a poem on the political situation in the country today.

Shahina recieving the Kamala Surayya Award

Speaking about Branthu (Madness) that won her the acclaimed Kamala Surayya Award, Shahina explains, “To win an award named after my favourite writer is an amazing feeling. The story revolves around three women from three generations and their life experiences.  It is a story that touches hidden stories of abuse within a family and the young protagonist's hunt for her father. The story was first published in a weekly. Discussions are going on about launching it as a book.”

Shahina is also busy with the pre-production of a documentary on director K.G. George for which she has penned the script. “I absolutely love K.G. George's movies. I wanted to write a book on him. He is one of the most underrated directors here.  It’s been two years since we started work for this self-funded documentary. The shoot is over and we are hoping to finish off the pre-production this month,” she sums up.