The Inspiration Behind The Secret of Elephants by Vasundra Tailor
The idea for my novel came from a visit to India in 2016. I took a walk to Golwad Street in Navsari to see the mansion that used to belong to my father. He had built it in 1954 and was immensely proud of it. The building was still there, but after 62 years, it was in a very dilapidated state. I looked up at the façade of this once-beautiful mansion, and I was overwhelmed with sadness. With crumbling walls and peeling paint, the whole building reeked of faded glory.
As I stared at the shabby, run down exterior, I wondered about the people living in the apartments on each of the floors. What did they think about their place of residence and where were they before they came live in this run-down building? What were their hopes and dreams? Was anyone thinking of leaving?
Early in the 20th century, my own grandfather had left his home with dreams of a better life. He left India altogether and went to seek his fortune in Africa. He settled in Southern Rhodesia which is now Zimbabwe. Many families did that in those days, and many still do. People all over the world make those difficult journeys. If they are struggling in any way and wanting to do better for themselves and their families, they leave their homes and travel to distant lands, hoping their lives will change for the better.
Stories about these journeys have always fascinated me. I was told that my grandfather left India on a steamship, disembarked in Mozambique on the east coast of Africa, and travelled west in an ox cart. Together with other like-minded men, he did something that took a lot of courage. It can’t have been easy to leave everything familiar behind and head out to an unknown land far away from home. Their stories are momentous and important, a remarkable slice of history.
It occurred to me that I could make up a story about one of the families currently living in the mansion in front of me. Their fictitious lives before and after the present time could be linked to the journeys people make to foreign countries. I let my imagination run wild. I was caught up in exciting and dramatic scenes in the lives of characters all connected with this mansion. Those thoughts just would not let me go. As soon as I could, I started to write an outline of my imagined story.
My novel The Secret of Elephants is about a family that is torn apart by a shocking and secret event that occurs in 1950s India and the uncovering of that secret in modern day Zimbabwe. The event takes place in a mansion just like the one my father built. Six decades after the event, in 2016, a young mother called Nirmala is living across from the mansion, struggling to make ends meet with a son who is unwell and a husband who abuses her. She knows that her late father grew up in the mansion which was once iconic and luxurious. He had explained that he’d walked away from a life of privilege because of a disagreement with his mother. He had never told her what the disagreement was about. Nirmala wishes she could find out what happened, but there is no one who will help her search for the truth.
Then, out of the blue, she receives a letter from someone in Zimbabwe called Pramod who tells her they are cousins. She had no idea she had an extended family. The letter opens a door to a past she never knew existed. Her cousin is wealthy, and he arranges for her to travel to Zimbabwe with her son. Arriving in the capital city Harare, Nirmala marvels at the wide-open sky, breathes in the fresh clean air and takes in the beautiful sights and smells that are so different to what she is used to. She begins to hope that her future could change for the better.
Her cousin Pramod is as keen as Nirmala to find out why no one in their families knew that they were related. They start to sift through letters and papers left by Pramod’s recently deceased grandfather. Alter many false leads and dead ends, they finally uncover the truth. But this truth is so shocking that it leaves them reeling. Nirmala doesn’t know how to cope with the discovery which could cause even further heartache for the family.
The Secret of Elephants is a novel set in two different continents, and the characters are mostly all of Indian heritage. But the themes in the book are universal. They include love, betrayal, injustice, retribution, forgiveness and hope. There is a mystery to solve and a journey full of scandal and intrigue. Feeding into the main plot are descriptions of the differing landscapes, sights and smells of the two countries: India and Zimbabwe.
The Secret of Elephants by Vasundra Tailor is out now (Lake Union), paperback £8.99.
—
Vasundra Tailor was born in India and raised in Zimbabwe when it was called Rhodesia. She is a qualified pharmacist who completed her Masters in Pharmaceutical Microbiology at the University of Strathclyde. Based in London, she began her debut novel after obsessing about families currently living in a property in India which once belonged to her father. Curious about human relationships, she loves to meet people from diverse backgrounds and see how they connect with those around them.
Her novel extract won the second runner-up prize for the Mo Siewcharran Fiction Competition in November 2019.
THE SECRETS OF ELEPHANTS
Navsari, India. Penniless and trapped in a loveless marriage, Nirmala spends her days anxiously caring for her sick young son, Varun. Looming over Nirmala’s impoverished home is an imposing mansion built by her grandfather, and from its balcony her cruel aunt scorns them, refusing to help in any way.
But when a mysterious letter addressed to her long-dead father arrives from Zimbabwe, it opens a door to a past Nirmala never knew existed and a future she never imagined possible. If the contents of the letter can be believed, not only does she have family in Africa, but they might also hold the answers to a family mystery that spans three generations.
While travelling to Zimbabwe might lead to a brighter future for Nirmala and her son, it could also reignite the bitter family feud that condemned her family to poverty. Nirmala is ready to risk it all to uncover the truth, but how will she cope when this journey changes her life forever?
BUY HERE
Category: Contemporary Women Writers
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
