How do you identify the artisans?
I met Ram Keli, with whom we worked for Godna,
at the Surajkund mela in New Delhi, where she was
selling paintings of tattoo motifs. Through her,
we found Sunita and Sumitra from a remote
village in Chhattisgarh. I met the Chittara artist
Radha Sullur through an NGO. We work
with women only, because if the money
goes to the women, it usually goes
towards the family, children, and overall
well-being of the community. The
model is such that they are paid
upfront—additional revenues cover
our expenses and what’s remaining
goes back to the communities.
What are the challenges of
running the project?
The initial one is to identify a craft
to engage with, because not
everything translates into
typography. We need to explain the
project to the artisans, the benefits
to them. The workshops, too, can be
overwhelming since we need to take
quick calls and often change course.
Unfortunately, in villages there’s a lot
of male domination, and when we were
developing Pakko [based on a Gujarati
embroidery technique, and soon to be
launched], the men wanted the women back
in the house. So we couldn’t do a workshop,
and had to improvise. Digitising the letters is also
a big challenge—they are very complex—so we
collaborated with Andrew Balius, a type designer and
partner, to transform them into workable typefaces.
http://www.typecraftinitiative.orgWhat’s on your bedside table? The absolute necessities
of life: My book, the book I read to my daughter before she
sleeps, eye gel, hand cream, and some more books. And
I am excited to announce that my bedside table has a new
addition—reading glasses! Your most prized possessions?
My daughter. And my three novels. Tell us three things
about your new book, Prime Time Crime. Stories of
Mumbai gang lore are popular in cinema, but Prime Time
Crime is noir from a woman’s point of view. And that has not
been explored in this genre. It moves at breakneck speed.
It is backed by research that is seamlessly interwoven with
the story, so you will know a bit more than you did before.
Who would play the protagonists—intern reporter
Ritika and gangster AT—in a film adaptation? Alia Bhatt
and Sidharth Malhotra. Which is the last great book you
read? Lone Fox Dancing, the autobiography of Ruskin Bond.
What do you look for in a novel? Engagement. I need to
get sucked into the world created by the author. Genre does
not matter, craft does. What is the the most interesting
thing you discovered through a book? Each of the books
I read recently covers the gruesome aftermath of Partition—
Lone Fox Dancing, Indira by Sagarika Ghose, and The Rebel:
A Biography of Ram Jethmalani by Susan Adelman. That’s
when I realised there is only one divide segregating the
human race. You are either rich or poor. The rest does not
matter. In political upheavals, not your religion but your
economic status decides your outcome. The rich will survive
and the poor will suffer. Unfair but true. A classic you
haven’t read? A Room Of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf.
The last book that made you laugh out loud? I’m going
to get brazen and say He Loves Me Not, written by yours truly.
What do you do when you have a writer’s block? I talk
about what is blocking my writing over a stif peg of Macallan
with my husband. The following day, during solitary pursuits
like cooking or swimming, I get my answers. The Macallan,
I tell you, is my golden key! ■RAPID FIREAuthor Vrushali Telang on her new
novel, the one quality of a good read,
and the only cure for writer’s blockBOOKABHIJIT GOHAIN