“Writing Helps Me Learn From My Own Work”: Saumya Srivastava, Author Of The Month, March 2018

Whether it is mom shaming, dealing with a child’s illness or patriarchal behaviour inside families, Saumya Srivastava has a special way of relating the personal in a manner that’s relatable to everywoman.

Women’s Web is all about enabling women to tell their own stories, and what makes these stories so resonant, are that they are the real voices of our community. Every month, we feature three such contributors who have inspired, entertained or encouraged others to think.

This March 2018, Saumya Srivastava is one of our three Featured Authors of the month. You can view Saumya’s writing at Women’s Web here.

I write because writing is the best form of expression that I am aware of. It helps bring my deepest darkest emotions come alive. Most importantly, I write to deliver my thoughts to the right set of minds and souls. I write because it helps me reach out to people sitting in another part of the world. Sharing and caring virtually is the biggest blessing in the world of writing.

Writing also helps me journal my own experiences and like pictures, my writing helps me relive those moments when I revisit them. Writing also helps me learn from my own work. With every post, I become more experienced. I love to read my past work and more often that not, feel the urge to pen it better.

What do you enjoy reading? Does any of it help your writing?

I like to read any and every thing that comes across. Comics, newspaper, short stories, fiction, fellow bloggers’ work.

Never miss real stories from India's women.

Register Now

Every work that I read helps me think better. It exposes me to a different writing style, which helps me grow. Also, it improves my thinking power. I discover how the writer has created an image in my head and try to replicate that in my writings. Reading makes me aware, polished, empathatic.

When it comes to writing on/for/about women, what questions and issues drive you the most?

Gender equality has been an agenda I strongly write and talk about, at every chance I get. Equality is a privilege (yes, it is) that women have been fighting for since ages. Even the most educated crowd are still unaware of it. The patriarchal society we live in makes it hard for men to admit to the powers they unconsciously possess and practice. A fair share of women are equally part of this ruckus.

Gender Inequality is so integrated with our culture, that people have accepted it as a way of life. Nobody questions it, and even if they do, there are no legit answers.

Could you narrate an issue or incident in your life which you think was gender related, and you handled it in a way that has made you proud.

Both my husband and I can cook, but the meaning of cooking is different for both of us. While for me it’s a chore, for him it is relaxation. My husband’s aunt visited our home and it was late in the evening when we started to cook. While I acted as the sous-chef, my husband, the executive chef took charge. We laid down a beautiful spread and the first words I heard were, “He cooks? That’s what love marriage does to one.”

I being the bigdi hui ladki (spoilt girl – I love that label) that I am replied in the sweetest voice I could garner at that hour, “If the couples started sharing the load, without assigning tasks based on gender, don’t you think all marriages will have love in it, irrespective of being love or arranged?”

She started eating without much talking. I gave a sigh of relief and my husband gave me a look where he knows what he is married to – a woman who speaks her mind.

Name 3 other writers or bloggers on Women’s Web whose writing you enjoy reading.

There are so many good writers on this forum. Everyone has a unique writing style. Anyway, if I have to name them, I will take four beautiful names – Anupama Dalmia, Kasturi Patra, Tanvi Sinha, Ell P.

Again, I have many others in my head but I just named four.

Comments