By Neha Galhotra

Shumona Sinha, a true inspiration and role model for language learners, budding writers, translators, and interpreters. Shumona Sinha was born and brought up in Calcutta, India in 1973 in a Bengali family. She is a renowned French author who lives in Paris, where she moved in the year 2001. Her life and success story is truly motivating and inspiring for aspiring linguists and writers.

Early Life

Her enthusiasm and inclination towards literature could be seen since the early years of her life. She was immensely passionate about books and could spend the entire day reading a bunch of books given by her mother, sitting on a wooden bench at her home and school. Not just reading, but reflecting upon the different characters, the story and the message it had to convey. Her passion for reading helped her in writing, she started writing poetry, prose etc and often got them published in ‘A Little Magazine’ a local edition in Bengal. She won the Bengali’s Best Young Poet Award in 1990. When she was 14 years old, she read a travel narrative written by a Bengali author, in which the author spoke of France, after going through it she consciously or unconsciously dreamt and wished to go to France. She was fond of reading French, Russian and other translated books in Bengali or English.

Getting the French touch, chasing her dreams

She started studying the French language at the School of Foreign Languages, Calcutta and then at  Alliance Francaise, Bengal. She later pursued her Masters in French Language and Literature from a University in South India. After completion of her Masters, she got the opportunity to go to France to teach English to high school students in Paris. She pursued her M.Phil in French Linguistics and Literature from Sorbonne University. Eventually, she wanted to write, translate, publish, complete a doctoral dissertation in French and meet Francophone writers etc.

Entering into the writing world

While pursuing her studies of comparative literature, she translated around 69 French contemporary poets in Bengali, which was indeed a challenging task, given the lingual and cultural differences between French and Bengal. Getting a breakthrough and publishing her first book in France was not difficult for Shumona as she had already published three anthologies, one was of the French poets which she got published in Calcutta, and the other two were anthologies of Bengali poets which she published in Paris in collaboration with Lionel Ray (a French poet and her Ex-husband).

According to Shumona, her first published book could have been a lot better, globally it should have been done differently. She is a novice, all the thoughts and expressions were stuffed in naively she believes. She used to write part of her books at a Cafe in Paris, like many other French authors such as Victor Hugo, Baudelaire etc. However, between her first and second novel, her style of writing improved tremendously as there had been an evolution of her knowledge of French.

A Master of several languages, English, Bengali, French. Why did Shumona choose to write in French?

Reading translated versions of French literature all her childhood, being fascinated by the city of France, to actually learning the French language, coming to France, exploring literature and translating masterpieces her journey has been like a roller coaster ride.

When she was learning the French language, she tried to compose or write in Bengali, her mother tongue but she could not do it. She realized that she was unconsciously thinking in French. To write something romantic, she could never visualize the narrative in Bengali, what came to her mind was words of French. The French language shaped her thoughts. Also, after completion of her studies, she used to translate her thoughts in her mind from French to Bengali to speak to her family, friends etc. She was then completely immersed in the French language but was always connected with her roots, she keeps herself updated with the political scenario in both India and France, the debates, the issues etc. As it is necessary to enlighten people with her own culture as well.

A reflection of herself in every novel

In all the novels written by Shumona, it can be noticed that she makes reference to her personal thoughts, emotions, experiences by making the characters in the book attribute such feelings or face certain scenarios.

Through her first book, actually, through one of the characters, she shares her personal experience. As the postcolonial connection between France and India is not that strong, in her daily life in France she comes across French people who are often shocked and some pleasantly surprised to see an Indian woman speaking French flawlessly. Even after becoming a French on paper, it somewhere bothers her being treated as a foreigner. People don’t know that she writes books, and everyday justifying to people why she is there bothers her often. Thus there has been a gap between her literary life and her daily life in France. She later describes in this book the story of an Indian girl who came to France as a student who eventually marries a Frenchman, a relationship that doesn’t end well. This was apparently her own story.

Concerning her second book which was published in France, related to her own experience, the incidents she came across, her observations etc. She recounts her experience at OFPRA- The French Office for Protection of Refugees. In 2009, she was recruited as a legal interpreter by a French translation agency, which sent interpreters to OFPRA. There she had to be an intermediary between the political asylum seeker and the officer from OFPRA who asked him questions.

Also, she describes how people may be particularly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc come to stay in Europe, with a lot of dreams and fancies but end up doing a petty job here, selling all their land to come here for nothing. They live in a country that they desire but eventually do not love, encountering such people disturbed her a lot. In the book, she describes that the French immigration authority is rejecting 100 per cent of Bangladeshi political asylum depositions. They think that this whole system of Bangladeshi refugees is linked to the mafia and that there are people making money out of it by exporting Bangladeshi people. She shows the extent to which domestic officials are conditioned to have a systematic mistrust of migrants, while the migrants themselves are put under pressure to make up increasingly extreme stories of violence and persecution in order to obtain strictly regulated residency permits.

This sensational book written by Shumona made her famous overnight. Apparently,  she was fired from OFPRA when this second novel appeared in print. It was indeed a bold step to question the authorities using the power of literature. A pen is mightier than a sword indeed! Her book was positively received on literary grounds by the masses and critics, she also won several awards including the Prix Valery-Larbaud.

In her third book, she describes her city, Calcutta. It is an intimate familial and historical portrait set in the author’s native town. Her fourth book is a story about two girls, one from Paris and the other from Calcutta.

Whatever she has done till date has been received positively, she has been felicitated with many literary awards but yet the respect and recognition is relatively less in India, she being a French author. She deserves equal recognition from her country of origin like she does from all around the world!

Shumona believes that neither France nor India, but the French language itself is her homeland. She is carried by the language and nothing else! Salute to a literary gem!

http://www.modlingua.com/interns/923-neha-galhotra-french-portuguese.html