The last time Shubhra Prakash was in Calcutta was in 2019, after “almost three decades”. “During my visit, I took some time and I went back to the exact same place I remember living in Salt Lake. I found my way to the exact flat…. To my surprise, I remembered the path I used to take to the Mother Dairy, and lo and behold it still existed. I went ahead and got the mishti doi I loved so much as a child. The last time I was there, I was six years old,” the actor and writer in New York recollected, on the sidelines of a chat about her participation at Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival on January 13, with ‘Fontwala, from ancient script to digital keyboard’. Shubhra who spent the “first six to seven years” in Calcutta, put together the play Fontwala which is about her uncle, Rajeev Prakash, “who designed one of the first keyboards, the Anglo Nagari Keyboard that allowed for typing of Indian script on the computer”.
Fontwala sounds really interesting. When did you feel that you should say the story?
Having been an immigrant in America and being a theatre artiste in New York I was drawn to stories and plays rooted in personal histories that allowed the writer to explore the larger world at a particular time in history. This along with the fact that as an artiste one is always forming stories within themselves that are waiting to come out. Fontwala is a result of this process. Fontwala is a play based on my uncle Rajeev Prakash’s journey as a visual artist from small-town India to an entrepreneur. He is the first artist I knew who came from our family. I knew I would tell his story at some point and decided that I must write it as a play. This along with seeing a lack of stories about Indians and India portrayed without the usual tropes in the American theatre landscape is what motivated me to keep working on Fontwala. Now the work has expanded into a digital exhibition, a solo play, and an ensemble version and keeps growing into various mediums. I chose to relocate to India to research this work, conduct interviews with him and the people he came in contact with, and also immerse myself in the language. I wanted to give myself a chance to live again in India, my home for the first 14 years of my life, and weave in my own experience as someone returning to their homeland to chase a story and find meaning in their own artistic path. The process is completed when the work is workshopped both in America and India.
Personally, what about your uncle’s journey fascinated you?
The fact that he starts as a teenager painting election ads for local delegates on the walls of his neighbourhood in Allahabad/ Prayag Raj for some pocket money and later creates a publishing software called APS (Asterisks Publishing Software) that includes a keyboard that allows typing of Hindi on the computer! This transformation is fascinating to me. He had never seen a computer in his life till he attended graduate school at IIT Bombay IDC in the 80s. His mentor invoked in him his curiosity about the computer and the idea that calligraphy and typography can be done on the computer. He designed his first fonts for the Dot Matrix printer and as he moved on to the computer he realised how significant this device would become for the design world. At this same time, PC and Macs were in fierce competition on the other side of the world. By sharing his story with me, my uncle has given me an opportunity to not only look into a world of fonts, language, scripts, and technology that digitises our scripts today but also at the past of mass production of printing, the printing presses that endured, their significance in the freedom struggle, the era of hand composing, typesetting and those who kept these presses running sometimes over a century standing the test of time. Before I knew it, I was asking questions like what remains of an artist who becomes an entrepreneur? What remains of the aesthetic of a language digitised? What remains of a dream of returning to one’s homeland to live after 20 years in the West?
Where did you stage it first? How many productions have you staged?
I staged the first production in New York City’s iconic Bowery Poetry. The programme was organised by Rattapallax & Bowery Poetry and was funded by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the NY governor and the New York State Legislature. I am looking forward to workshopping the ensemble version in India which will allow for multiple actors and allow for several dialects and languages.
What was the most fulfilling part about telling the story?
A play is never completed till it is played for an audience. This particular exchange is necessary for the process of completion, in my opinion. To be able to perform this story for a live audience is the most fulfilling part. I found that the audience in New York for the solo play Fontwala identified with several different aspects of the play. Furthermore, the play has allowed me to explore various ways it can be presented. On this journey of writing the story, I have collaborated with my uncle in creating a digital exhibition, written a solo play, and am now also writing an ensemble version…. This is how I feel about being able to present at the AKLF. It is not a traditional theatre venue but the story allows me to explore it here as well.
What are you showcasing at AKLF?
The programme at the AKLF is not a play but a presentation with the title “Fontwala, from ancient script to digital keyboard” as part of the Cover Story programme. My presentation will follow the Shortlist announcement of the Oxford Bookstore Cover Prize 2023. Though it may sound a bit like a history lecture I intend to present it more as a story with the character of Fontwala, my uncle Rajeev Prakash whose journey from a calligrapher to a font designer is a device to explore the journey of the script as well.
How much do you read?
I am a believer of we will write as we read. It is important for me to read on a variety of subjects and themes because I want to write in a way that I know where to look in the past and also bring in points of view from the present that are not in the mainstream. I give more time to non-fiction whether it is about the natural world, history, technology, or biographies. I want to learn about the world as it was and the way it is changing.
What are you reading now?
I am finishing up Makarand Paranjape’s second book on Vivekananda and starting Enemy of All Mankind by Steven Johnson.
What are you writing now? Who are your fave authors?
I have recently completed 13 essays inspired by my life as an immigrant in America and of time spent in India as an adult, especially in the last few years. It awaits much editing. Additionally, I am translating a book of speeches of Premchand from Hindi to English.
I am drawn to non-fiction, especially that which describes the natural world. For this reason, I find inspiration in the writings of American writer, Annie Dillard. I admire the works of Hindi fiction writer Shivani who wrote from the perspective of women characters with immense depth. I easily take to works that examine the world through statistics and reveal the beauty of interconnectedness so I like reading the works of Malcolm Gladwell.