Dr Vijaya grew up in Davanagere, a small town in Karnataka, in the 1940s. She lost her mother while still a child and was brought up in an economically disadvantaged household full of men.
Married in her late teens, Vijaya moved to Bangalore and entered a dark and traumatic stage in her life. Unspeakable acts of nightly sexual violence and terrible domestic labour led to horrific physical and mental torment. But she refused to repress her self-worth and stepped out into the world. She enrolled in evening college, and came in contact with Bangalore’s literary and cultural community. Finally leaving her abusive marriage behind, she became a pioneer editor of many Kannada magazines, and eventually a leading writer, journalist and cultural critic.
Her inspirational autobiography, Kudi Esaru: Thithatti Tirugi Nodidaga in Kannada, won the Sahitya Akademi award in 2019, and now appears in a translation where culture-specific details and rich local flavours come alive in vivid descriptions of rural life, food, attire, and domestic intrigues. Peopled by a host of unforgettable men and women whose lives crisscrossed with hers, including literary giants of Kannada like Masti Venkatesha Iyengar, Chandrasekhar Kambar, U R Ananthamurthy, Lankesh and others, Dr Vijaya’s memoir also traces the changing socio-cultural contours of Karnataka.
After the Fire is a daring and forthright narration by a woman who rose up repeatedly after being struck down by life and circumstances—to find her true self, and also the grace to look back with warmth and without rancour.
