American Express

The story came to her in 2005,in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when she was helping people in Houston. “I started thinking about grace under pressure. Some of the people I worked with were very angry,some devastated. But others were able to maintain their calm,or even joke about things. I kept asking myself,‘Why some and not the others?’ A few weeks later I was experiencing a similar situation first-hand — Hurricane Rita was coming at Houston and we were asked to evacuate. As we sat on the freeway late into the night,paralysed by traffic and wondering what would happen to us,I saw people around me responding in a spectrum of ways. That’s when I knew I’d have to write about this phenomenon,” she says,of the book that took her about a year to write.

Divakaruni has so far successfully sold Indian exotica to the West,but in this book,she lets go of red chillies and fiery queens and much of the nostalgia of first-generation immigrants in the US. One Amazing Thing is more about the second-generation Indians in the US ,like Uma,Tariq and Lily who talk of America as the only home they have known.

“This novel has more people of the younger generation than my other works. It also has more non-Indians,” she says. “All these characters challenged me. I really had to explore their attitudes and psyche.”

Meanwhile,several of her works are being considered for cinematic adaptation. In 2005 Paul Mayeda Berges made a movie on Mistress of Spices. Now Nandita Das is reportedly directing a movie based on Vine of Desire with Tabu and Vidya Balan in the lead. “I greatly admire all three women,so I’m very excited to see what they do,” says Divakaruni.

She is equally upbeat about several other proposals that have come her way. “‘The Maid Servant’s Story’ from Arranged Marriage has been optioned by Jagmohan Mundhra,and he said he was trying to get Nandita to play the lead role. Shyam Benegal is reading Palace of Illusions —I’m keeping my fingers crossed,because I love his films!” she says.