E-Paper
Sunny shades
Having watched Sunny blossom and grow amid the warp and the weft of Varanasi, one can only say, hers has been the life of an itinerate wanderer, the global woman writer with a penchant for drama and mystery. How else can one describe her creative wanderlust (if you can call it that) and her singular ability to soak in different cultures, and mirror it through her creative works?
Having watched Sunny blossom and grow amid the warp and the weft of Varanasi, one can only say, hers has been the life of an itinerate wanderer, the global woman writer with a penchant for drama and mystery. How else can one describe her creative wanderlust (if you can call it that) and her singular ability to soak in different cultures, and mirror it through her creative works?
Recently in Lucknow, following the launch of her second novel, ‘With Krishna’s Eyes’, Sunny is childlike in her exuberance. She has strong views on life and feels that being a woman and expressing one’s views in a forthright manner are still not palatable in today’s so-called ‘global’ society.
Whether it is her affinity to the languid Ganga in resplendent Varanasi or, her wanderings in Azamgarh or, oblique references to St John’s School in Varanasi—from where she completed her schooling—all these locales echo in Suneeti Singh’s writings over the years. She’s weaved her life in passionate prose to present her world view and remained ever so graceful as articulate. Her novels are set in Uttar Pradesh and her feel of the milieu along with her control over the language is mesmerising.
Set in Varanasi, her first novel, ‘Nani’s Book of Suicides’ published in the year 2000, received rave reviews. She followed this up with ‘Single in the City’, an out-of-the-box self-help book for young women, as the title suggests. She also authored and staged a controversial play, ‘Birthing Athena’, at the prestigious Sri Ram Centre, New Delhi. Split into three acts and with only three characters, the play was a critical and commercial success.
Her knowledge of Hindi movies leaves you stunned and then, you realise that they are the subject of her doctorate. Sunny’s love for all things Indian is amazing and she is proud of her cultural moorings. She graduated with Honours from Brandeis University, in 1990, with a degree in English and American Literature., Ever since, she has been hotfooting her way across the globe with consummate ease.
As she herself says, she has worked as a journalist, teacher and a management executive for multinationals in Mexico, Chile and South Africa. For the last four years, her lust for travel has taken her to many exotic lands and cultures. She has essayed different roles in life too.
She is actively involved in Club Masala, a Barcelona based organisation that works on promoting South Asian culture. In addition, she is also the founder of the Jhalak Foundation, an organisation that funds and organises paediatric cardiac surgery for under privileged children in India.
In Fall, 2000, she returned to college to pursue a Master’s degree in Spanish Language, Literature and Culture at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, which she successfully completed with Honours in May, 2002. She is enrolled in a PhD programme at the Universitat de Barcelona since October, 2002. In 2005, Sunny relocated to London, where she has taken up teaching creative writing at the London Metropolitan University.
