Moni Mohsin at the Authors’ Lounge at ITC Sonar Calcutta on Thursday (Anindya Shankar Ray)

In town for the Calcutta Literary Meet, being held in association with The Telegraph, the Pakistani author of The Diary of a Social Butterfly, Moni Mohsin, spoke to t2 on Republic Day about living with one (!) and being in Calcutta....

Is this your first visit to the city?

Yes… this is my first time in Calcutta. It is such a ravishingly beautiful city but I wish all those land disputes get sorted and some of those beautiful buildings which are crumbling are saved. I went to the Marble Palace and then I tried to get into the Tagore house, and this man would not let me go in. That was very disappointing. It is so full of history, life… and such an energetic place.

Why did you decide to attend the first Calcutta Literary Meet?

I have a very soft spot for my Indian readers because they were so joyous in their reception of The Diary of A Social Butterfly and Tender Hooks (the sequel). I feel that I need to make contact. I feel the only way we can dispel this kind of friction (between India and Pakistan) is for ordinary people to meet and exchange ideas. I had never been to Calcutta and it was a place about which I had read so much. I am a huge admirer of Satyajit Ray and his films. I love Guru Dutt. I have read The City of Joy and Geoffrey Moorhouse’s Imperial City. I read A Suitable Boy and Neel Mukherjee’s Past Continuous. So, it has caught a whole lot of my imagination.

When I was a little girl, my mother used to have these beautiful pearl and diamond earrings. I used to love them and every time she wore them I used to ask her where she had got them from. A dreamy look would come into her eyes and she would say, “Yeh maine Kalkattey sey liye thhey”. Calcutta has always been synonymous with beauty and glamour for me. So I had this yearning.

Coming to your books, you have a brilliant sense of humour. What do you attribute it to?

My sense of humour? I don’t know…. I am the youngest of three children. And my elder brother and sister are quite sort of strong personalities. They used to talk a lot as kids. I was always the listener. So, I have become an observer. Over time, I just listen to people… when they speak… how they look, what they say and this is something that really interests me. And I love reading people.

What makes you laugh?

Hmm… people (laughs out loud)! When I have read people and when they say these things, I cannot sometimes laugh outright, but it does make me laugh.

How many Social Butterflies do you meet every day?

Well, I meet one every single day and that is myself! (Laughs.) I live with myself… so I meet myself all the time. And a lot of the things that are in there are my own reflections. We all have unworthy thoughts. We all want to know everybody else’s gossip. We all want to know what is happening in somebody else’s life. You try and quell that side of yourself as much as you can. But if you give it free rein, you become that. So, I am her with a bit of control. A lot of her is me. I am not saying that I am as shallow as she is, but I like reading Hello! magazine, I like watching soaps and Bollywood, I like meeting people and going to parties.... But I cannot do it 24/7. It is a little bit that I enjoy. If you allow it to take over your life, then you become like her.

Why doesn’t Social Butterfly have a name?

I used to write this column for the Friday Times (in Pakistan) and I started writing it from the first person’s narrative. Therefore the need for a name never came up. It was only 500 words. She was always talking. There wasn’t anybody else’s point of view but hers. And even when I gave other people’s point of view like Janoo (Social Butterfly’s husband), The Old Bag (Janoo’s mother) or Jonkers (Butterfly’s Aunty Pussy’s son), they were in conversation with her. So, the need for a name did not come up. For about six months, I did not have a name and by that time, it was too late to give a name.

But I often think if I were to give her a name, it would be Dolly. She is a doll… she lives like a doll… she thinks like a doll. She is not a very deep person.

Why is Janoo still with her?

Janoo is a loyal kind of a person. And I think they have a good sex life! And I think Janoo knows that although she is deeply irritating and frivolous, she is also in her own way, a loyal person. She is also brave… courageous in a way not many people are. And, at heart, she is secular. And in Pakistan that matters. He is secular too. And that is the common bond between the two of them. She holds her family dear and so does he.

Is the Social Butterfly universal?

The Diary of a Social Butterfly only came out in India and Pakistan. But during Tender Hooks, I spoke to my agent… an Englishman who lives in London… I said to him, David, I am thinking of writing this… but I don’t know whether it will translate. I think she will be lost in translation. And he said no… women like her exist in Dubai, Riyadh, Moscow, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Los Angeles… where they are rich and are not engaged with society and where they live in a kind of bubble. Shallow people… I think people in Britain have been able to read her and understand her… people in America like her as well. My book is coming out in France and I am going to find out if the Europeans like her as well. Indians and Pakistanis certainly recognise her!

Do you think her malapropisms are exaggerated?

Of course, in comedy you have to exaggerate. But a lot of malapropisms that I have written, I have come across.... Instead of saying people made a beeline, people all the time say that people made a ‘beehive’! They constantly say that Pakistan is a safe ‘heaven’ for terrorists… a woman said that she had gone to a birthday where she had a ‘three-tiara’ cake. Then, woh itna hansi key woh ‘historical’ ho gayi bilkul! I cannot make up half the things they say…

Why do a lot of non-readers read your books?

I think because the subject matter is accessible. When you write a book and send it out, it no longer remains your book. It becomes the readers’ book and every reader will engage as and how they please. You can engage with The Diary of a Social Butterfly on several levels. You can have a more serious engagement, where you see the darker undertones… the political backdrop. The book, for me, is also about how difficult it is to live in Pakistan today… what a challenge it is constantly… to your desire for freedom and security… a normal life. I wanted to portray all of that. I wanted to talk about it in a lighter way so that it did not become too dark or too depressing.

I also wanted to talk about the woman’s position in Pakistan… how difficult it is for them and how so many women are making their own way and it is they who are bringing about a change in society. I do think whenever change comes in Pakistan — it has been coming slowly and incrementally — it has been at the hands of women… women’s emancipation and education will bring about a transformation in society.

There are a lot of people who are going to miss all of that. They will only look at the kitty parties and not look at the darker undertones.

Have you come across male fans of Butterfly?

Oh! Huge… maybe more than female fans! I was at a party in Delhi the other night and I met this gentleman who said he loved my book and I met his wife who said her husband was a huge fan… I asked her whether she enjoyed it and she said that she hasn’t read it! I thought, how interesting! In England they sell it like a girl’s book with the pink cover… but when it came as a newspaper column, most of my readers were men. It’s men’s reading in Pakistan.

What did you read while growing up?

I read Enid Blyton and also quite a lot of the old classics like Black Beauty, The Jungle Book, Alice in Wonderland, Alif Laila, 1001 Nights…. Also a lot of fairy tales. My bua (aunt) and ayah told me a lot of fairy tales. As I grew older, I read more of English classics and a bit of Russian and a bit of French.

Now, I really enjoy Indian fiction. I loved Vikram Seth’s The Golden Gate, From Heaven Lake… his earlier work more than his recent work. I like his poetry as well. One of my favourite books is In An Antique Land by Amitav Ghosh. I also enjoyed hugely the Inheritance of Loss (Kiran Desai), Neel Mukherjee’s Past Continuous. I liked the earlier Anita Desai books as well. I find Rohinton Mistry’s work very depressing, but I find him a very fine writer.

How Butterfly would react to…

India’s defeats against Australia: Haw! Poor things bechare!
Look at them. We are winning in Dubai. Chalo never mind… they are winning in other ways.
The Salman Rushdie episode: Satan Verses na? Wohi wali baat hai na? I bought it, but then I did not read it as everybody told me that it is not your type. So, I thought chalo chhoro.
Beti B: I hope so she is as nice-looking as her mother you know. But poor thing… what if she is ugly? Then, what will she do?
Oprah Winfrey’s India visit: Opera you mean? Opera and Chopra together in Jaipur? Yes, I heard…. I heard… chalo she goes to places where there are so many poor, poor people na… she goes Africa also… now she has come to India… all right.
Shweetoo Imran Khan at the Calcutta Literary Meet: She is not liking him. Too much of a hypocrite telling people that there is a moral decadence in the West if they get divorced… apni bhi toh yehi hui hai… he is always sucking up to the fundoos…