Meet Sarah Das Gupta - dipity Community Spotlight Q&A Interview no. 14
learn more about writer Sarah Das Gupta's work through dipity's global interview monthly spotlight feature
Introduction
Sarah Das Gupta is a writer from Cambridge, UK who started writing a year ago while in the hospital following an accident. She is a disciplined writer, working for seven hours most days. She holds a degree in History from the University of London and a Certificate in Education from the University of Hull. As an English teacher for over sixty years, she has read and taught much of English Literature. Sarah enjoys writing poetry, fiction, and memoirs. One of the great rewards of writing is the research involved. She has written on the lives of creatures ranging from giant turtles to beavers and from Indian women working on construction sites to the fashion industry's sustainability. Her work has been published in over 150 magazines including American Writers Review, New English Review; Perfect Haiku, Songs of Eretz, and Dipity whose editor published her first poem. Many years ago in India, she contributed to The Statesman's book reviews and the regular feature The Calcutta Notebook. Her current ambition at 82 is to have a chapbook published.
Blood on Their Hands by Sarah Das Gupta
That day we had visited the Marble Palace in Kolkata. It would have been ideal for Sleeping Beauty. The magnificent ballroom with its dusty chandeliers, the wax-covered candelabra.
I could imagine ghostly dancers; their silk gowns sweeping the floor and hear the faintest echo of a Strauss waltz drifting along the colonnades. I stopped in front of a haunting portrait of a young man in a smoking jacket and a beautiful lawn shirt. My reverie was broken by a blaring horn from a taxi. Less than half an hour to catch the Delhi train!
I was probably already drowsy in the warm autumn sunlight as the train pulled out of Howrah. I remember a group of boys at the very end of the platform before a strangely languid mood lulled me into a deep sleep.
On the Day of the Dead, fog hung over the Lower Circular Road Cemetery in Kolkata. Sculptured angels loomed out of the mist above the grandest tombs. Most of these were relics from British Rule in India. The shadowy figure of a man appeared, under a clump of funereal yews. He turned, livid skin, stretched over the skull, revealed the veins beneath. He held out a skeletal hand. I grasped it, feeling mesmerised, touching with warm hands, cold bone. He wore a Victorian smoking jacket, well-cut black, velvet trousers, and an exquisite shirt of the finest white lawn.
As he held my hand, the cold knuckle bones knocked against my living fingers. We stood in asumptuous ballroom. In candlelight, couples floated across the floor. They turned and circled to a Viennese waltz; their elegant movements reflected on the mirrored walls. My escort led me into a dark, smoke-filled side room.
“No harm if I indulge for a while?”
“It’s suffocating here,” my voice seemed far off, as if belonging to one of the elegant dancers.
The smell was sweet like syrup, with a hint of flowers. Shadowy figures lay on silk-covered ottomans. Smokers held bamboo pipes, with lamps to vaporise the contents. A group of Indian Nautch dancers moved sinuously to the insistent beat of the tabla. Dark waterfalls of hair, and silk saris, shimmered. The rhythm quickened, the dancers were a carousel of colour and movement. The drum beat grew frenzied, desperate.
A drunken Englishman, judging by his voice and accent, grabbed the prettiest girl, tearing her blouse and sari. The trembling moment of silence that followed was shattered by a pistol shot! A young Indian servant was wrestled to the floor. Blood sprayed across the smokers.
Crowds gathered round the dead drunkard as his corpse slid to the floor. A patch of blood stained the delicate, saffron silk
The effects of the opium, the heady music the dying embers, the flickering shadows, I felt myself falling into a dark abyss...
The Delhi train stopped at Kharagpur. I sat up sleepily, “Why have I got blood on my dress?”
“Better on the dress than the hands,” an old Sikh murmured.
Q: What is the backstory of this short story?
I lived and worked in Kolkata, West Bengal for many years. Two years ago, on returning to the city, I visited the Marble Palace, built in the 19th century for a wealthy Bengali family. It had a powerful atmosphere of the past. You could imagine the ballroom full of dancers and music. I would not have been surprised to have met a ghost from another era. I had previously walked round the cemetery in Lower Circular Road where many British from the Victorian era are buried.
Q: What were your most recent publications?
I have had poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction published in Litmora Literary Magazine, The Madrigal, New English Review, Perfect Haiku and others.
Q: What are some of your fave publications?
My favourite publications include Dipity, Dorothy Parker’s Ashes, Instant Noodles, and The Chamber Mag who gave me my first opportunity:
“A Kolkata Diary” in Dipity Lit Mag
“SHORT LIVED” in Instant Noodles Lit Mag
“Pishima’s Jackfruit” in Dorothy Parker’s Ashes
“Three Dark Poems” in The Chamber Magazine
Q: What else do you do outside of the writing or poetry community? OR What else are you working on or excited about in the future? Any fun hobbies?
As I have retired, I have more time than most people to write. I also read widely, especially history and politics. I still keep in touch with students in India whom I taught sixty years ago. I am a terrible hoarder and have large collections of paintings and commemorative china.
Q: When did you begin writing? OR What or who sparked and inspired your writing journey?
I started writing in 2023 after an accident which left me in hospital for some months. I was desperate to find something to do! I was in a geriatric ward where most patients suffered from dementia. My elder daughter, already an established writer, gave me a magazine with writing competitions in it. By the end of the first year, I’ve had work published in many magazines and anthologies.
Q: What advice would you give aspiring poets, authors, or fellow writers in the community?
I think reading and writing are obviously closely linked. To write you need to read, even books you do not Immediately like. As an English teacher, I often taught texts I did not at first admire. I usually changed my mind! Planning and editing are vital, especially the latter.
Q: What are you currently reading?
I am reading the novel Never Let Me Go (2006) by Kazuo Ishiguro.
Q: What was the last movie or TV show you watched or recommend others see in the community?
I really enjoy re-visiting some of the classic films of the Swedish director, Bergman, including Wild Strawberries (1957) and The Seventh Seal (1958).
Q: Which poets, artists, or writers inspire you?
I admire the work of painters from many different eras, including Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights and Diego Velázquez’s Las Maninas.
Q: If you had the opportunity to portray any book character in the world and star in a movie adaptation of their life's story or another in a film who would you choose?
If I were to choose a character to play in a film, it would be Miss Havisham from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. She is about the right age and a fascinating character. She has had many tragedies and betrayals in her life and has developed a morbid resentment of men. She spends her life in her old, shabby wedding dress and with a rotten wedding cake with spiders crawling in and out. This last point would be excellent for me. I eat too much cake!
Q: What's one of your favorite poems in existence?
T.S. Eliot’s “The Four Quartets.” [Extract of it can be found online via various sites such as Poetry Archive.org]: https://poetryarchive.org/poem/four-quartets-extract/.
Waltz (In 'A' Major) — A. R. RAHMAN
To Check Out More of Sarah Das Gupta’s Work
Circle back to some of her work mentioned above in this Q&A and of course, you can search more online as well!
Please Def Follow:
on Substack: https://substack.com/@sarahelizabethdasgupta
P.S. You can also hear Sarah Das Gupta read poetry and discuss some of her past work with the founding editor in episode no. 129 of Dipity Literary Magazine’s Hummingbird Blink: Nectar Poetry podcast on Spotify which was originally released in July of 2023.
Any other thoughts, comments, or shares after reading the interview?
[Interview Processed By VFORROW]
Thank you so much, Sarah Das Gupta, for sharing and submitting again to Dipity Lit Mag! ~ Jazz Marie Kaur (Vevna Forrow)
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