Journalist writes about immigrant experience in debut novel
Author inspired by experiences growing up as an immigrant in Singapore
When Ms Akshita Nanda came to Singapore from India 23 years ago as a 16-year-old student, she had no family or friends here.
A month later, she was poring over books in the libraries, which made her feel at home, especially when she made friends with other readers.
One of the books that made an impression was Adrian Tan's The Teenage Textbook, about teen angst.
Ms Nanda, 39, an arts correspondent with The Straits Times, said her parents gave her some advice.
"They told me when you go to a country, eat the food and read the books that everyone else does to get to know the place.
"I read The Teenage Textbook by Adrian Tan and realised that other teenagers also feel isolated. The books made me feel at home and I fell in love with the libraries of Singapore," she told The New Paper.
Her journey from India to Singapore later compelled her to write her debut novel, Nimita's Place, which was one of the four finalists for the Epigram Books Fiction Prize 2017.
Published last month, the book follows the journey of two displaced women, Nimita Khosla and Nimita Sachdev, and the obstacles they face in dealing with displacement and finding a place they can call home.
In 1947, during the partition of the subcontinent, Khosla leaves the city of Lahore, which would become part of Pakistan, to relocate to India.
In 2014, her granddaughter, Sachdev, finds herself facing rising anger against immigrants when she arrives in Singapore.
Ms Nanda finished the book a day before the submission deadline for the fiction prize. Her handwritten first draft was at least 160,000 words long.
Typing on the computer for long stretches for the next six drafts took a toll on her wrists. She now wears a wrist guard once every two to three months.
As she was juggling a full-time job while writing the book, she had to cut down on her social life, had little sleep, and was mentally exhausted.
Asked what kept her going, she said: "I wrote this book because it was a story no one else has written and a story I wanted to read. That got me through the first draft."
In her book, she also explores themes such as passion getting in the way of familial obligations.
Ms Nanda, who is single, hopes both immigrants and Singaporeans can relate to the book. She said: "I hope this can be like The Teenage Textbook to Singaporeans. Nobody has written about the immigrant experience in Singapore.
"Immigrants are not saints, neither are they devils. We are all human beings. We have much more in common than what divides us."
She is now working on her second book, Beauty Queens of Bishan, about beauty standards and pageants.
Nimita's Place is available at bookstores at $26.64 inclusive of GST.
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