Title: Tatai’s Stories
The Literature Times: What inspired you to start writing, and how did you discover that typing could be your way of expressing thoughts and emotions
SOUMYA UPADHYAY: After coming here to Bardhaman, when I heard and saw Ahan and Srijan writing brilliant stories through this method, I got inspired. Babi and Madhumita auntie encouraged me all through. My mentors were always supporting me. World sees what you write, not by which means you are doing it.
The Literature Times: Your book, Tatai’s Stories, is a reflection of your thoughts and emotions. What message do you hope readers take away from your work?
SOUMYA UPADHYAY: I believe writing stories require both emotion and passion. Thought has a very individual appeal, unlike emotion, which keeps any creative person motivated to carry on with his work.
The Literature Times: You describe your journey into literature as breaking the stereotypical bridge between the verbal and non-verbal worlds. How do you think literature can help bridge this gap?
SOUMYA UPADHYAY: I think rather I see literature as a medium of expressing your true individuality and slowly spreading the unifying part of your mind towards the thousand minds wandering across the world until that matches with them and then the individuality melts to form a bridge of unification between the reader and the author. Even being a non-verbal autistic, I believe the main purpose of literature is to reach you to the world. It does not really matter through which language or which medium it’s reaching them.
The Literature Times: Can you tell us about the creative process behind your stories? How do you develop your ideas and bring them to life?
SOUMYA UPADHYAY: I think it is expressing my thoughts straightforwardly without any intricacy or difficulties of understanding it. I always opt for a convenient way of thinking and I always prefer keeping the language easy. My journey of autism taught me the requirements of communication. Even before the typing mode was introduced to me, I wanted to communicate with others my thoughts.
I see content in nature. Most of my characters are very simple. They are not extraordinary type of persons. Their struggles are not superficially extravagant. Their struggles are like ours, a day better than today.
The Literature Times: Your writing is deeply philosophical and poetic. Who or what are your biggest literary influences?
SOUMYA UPADHYAY: I never read any book. My babi reads me stories and novels. I listen to him and learn. Actually the you-tube exposes a whole new world to the persons like us. Hemanta or arati mukhopadhyay, Lata mangeshkar or Sandhya mukherje, Salil sir or Sachin dev barman, Manabendra or Shyamal Mitra or Sanat Singha, Mukesh, Kishore, Md. Rafi or Manna De and Rabindra sangeets of Debabrata Biswas, Suchitra Mitra and many others – everything gets into us through that You-tube including the movies of Ritwick Ghatak, Satyajit Roy or Mrinal Sen and many others. I saw Charlie Chaplin. I get very much influenced by them.
The Literature Times: Many people view autism through a narrow lens. How does Tatai’s Stories challenge common misconceptions about autism and communication?
SOUMYA UPADHYAY: The main misconception most of the people are primarily driven by is that they often narrow down the idea of communication to a single mean i.e. the communication through the word exchange. They completely negate the other modes of communication. They never appreciate communication through other modes, like typing, writing or expressing us through painting or playing musical instruments. We should move on and try to change those misconceptions.
The Literature Times: As an author, what has been the most rewarding part of sharing your stories with the world?
SOUMYA UPADHYAY: The joy of storytelling, the ultimate thing that an author gets, is the pleasure of communicating his thought to the readers, nothing else. This is not less than a reward. It’s also true for me.
The Literature Times: What challenges did you face while writing and compiling this book, and how did you overcome them?
SOUMYA UPADHYAY: However, ‘Tatai’s Stories’ is my first book. The author here tries to describe the thoughts and stories he had borne with himself for so many years. The main challenge that was in front of me was how the readers would accept a completely new author. But, after seeing the readers liking my stories and getting their feedbacks, are energizing me to continue with my other stories.
The Literature Times: How do you envision your future in literature? Do you have any upcoming projects or books in mind?
SOUMYA UPADHYAY: Yes, I hope to finish off another book of English and one separate book of Bengali novella by July. Hope this will add a different title to my narrative. Very different from the present book.
The Literature Times: What advice would you give to other non-verbal individuals who wish to express themselves through writing?
SOUMYA UPADHYAY: The other non-speaking individuals who get intimidated by the facts like social acceptance, standards and circulation, my suggestion would be that never get intimidated by those things. Please be confident and write the stories or poems which you have in your mind. Never feel yourself judged by others. The best person who can dictate you is you. Once you speak, the world will listen to you.
