Anita Nair is a Bangalore based author Satyr of the Subway and The Better Man. Her novel, Mistress is on the long list for the Orange Prize for fiction for 2008
What does Spirituality mean to you?
I equate it to a deep sense of peace and serenity, to my ability to find that spot inside where everything is calm and in perfect order.
Do you believe you are guided and protected by a superior force?
Oh yes, absolutely. I very firmly believe there is a God walking with me, though I do not give It any name or specific manifestation. It has no face or particular religion, but I can feel it in any creative activity, when having a child, or just watching grass growing: where does that will to grow come from? It is obviously the manifestation of God, of a power beyond this, greater than us, that takes life over.
It is also a comforting thought that someone is looking after me. I can lean back and someone will hold me. At times of dilemma and difficulties, I sleep over it and in the morning I generally am quite clear about what I should do. I managed to commune with God in the sleep on a level I am not really conscious of. But of course it would be perverse or childish to think that God only makes good things happen. If help is not there, I have to understand it is simply meant that way, and decipher the how and why of it, instead of laying the blame on God.
Do you believe you have a special mission or purpose in this life?
I believe every single individual is born with a certain purpose. I could not fathom that the God I believe in created a segment of society without a purpose in life. Some people though are more aware about it, or focus more their energies in order to further that purpose.
In my case, I have always felt a compulsion to hold a mirror to society --- showing who we are and what we can do about it. It mainly manifests through my writing, though not only. Since I was very young, I knew I would write. I wrote some poetry when I was six or seven and felt such joy from it that I decided to do the same thing for the rest of my life. In fact, I...
