Bashabi Fraser

Bashabi Fraser is a writer, Honorary Fellow and part-time lecturer at the Centre for South Asian Studies, University of Edinburgh. Her latest book is called ‘Bengal Partition Stories: An Unclosed Chapter’. She also teaches Post-Colonial literature and is an Associate Lecturer in English Literature at The Open University in Scotland and the West Midlands.

"I have lived in Edinburgh for 14 years," she says. "I first came in 1985/86 as a student to do a PhD in Applied Linguistics I came to Scotland because I needed to do literary stylistics and Edinburgh University offered this course."

Bashabi was born in India in West Bengal and lived in the UK for a few years when she was a child. "My father still lives in India," she says. "I lived on the Himalayas in Darjeeling where the champagne of teas comes from. I lived in the UK as a child between 1960-63 with my parents. They were both researchers at the London School of Economics. My father was a Commonwealth scholar."

Although Bashabi enjoyed her time in London, she still prefers Edinburgh. She says, "As a little girl I loved London. But even though I still love it and I like going back, Edinburgh scores over London. I come from Kolkata, which is a culturally-rich city, so it’s great to be in Edinburgh.

"In Edinburgh I don’t have to get the tube to go anywhere. There are great places to go to and it's wonderful to have mountains nearby and hills right here. This is Edinburgh’s advantage. As a student I could walk everywhere, whereas in London I always had to use the underground. I don’t mind crowds though; where I come from is crowded too so I am used to it."

Edinburgh was also the city where Bashabi met her husband. "After I finished my student days I went back to India. In Calcutta University I was a senior lecturer. It was not my intention to come back to Edinburgh but I did meet Neil here. I was staying at a flat, which belonged to a friend of my parents'. My flatmate had Neil as a supervisor for his PHd, and that was how I met him. We married in Calcutta. So I didn’t come to Edinburgh to stay; I came back because I fell in love!" she says.

Bashabi feels she can identify with both Scotland and India. "The best thing about Edinburgh is its links with India," she says. “Scotland has its own identity, and it's multi-lingual, with Gaelic, Scots and English, just like India. So as a nation, I can identify with both Scotland and India.

"I also think Scottish law is further ahead than English law, in general. We have our own Parliament now and that has been a great source of pride.

"Edinburgh is like a fairytale city. Even though it's very cold, its beauty is beyond imagination."

This was not the first time that Bashabi has spoken at the Edinburgh Book Festival. "I had an event for 'A Meeting of Two Minds: the Geddes-Tagore Letters' at the Edinburgh Book Festival in 2005. But when I first came to the Festival in 1997 it was the 50th anniversary of India’s independence. I had an event about my first poetry collection, 'Life'. "India's High Commissioner came to launch my book. It was overwhelming.

"Speaking at the Edinburgh Book Festival this year, I was nervous, naturally! It's a great honour to be a part of the festival for any writer. It was a great opportunity. I love the book festival."

The book festival is not the only reason why Bashabi loves Edinburgh. She says, "I feel at home in Edinburgh because it's a literary and cultural city. This is the city, which has enabled me to emerge as a published writer.  It has given me a place in its literary milieu in what is UNESCO's first World City of Literature. It has been a welcoming city in this very special sense.

"In fact, I co-edited (and introduced) an anthology of contemporary poetry with Elaine Greig (the curator of the Writers' Museum) on Edinburgh by 80 poets. Its title, 'Edinburgh: An Intimate City', is so appropriate and mirrors what I feel about Edinburgh."

Bashabi loves Edinburgh so much that living away permanently is not an option. "I love my house in Edinburgh too much to move to another place. I move around for work but my roots are here. I would love to spend four months of the year in India and eight months in Scotland in the future. I don’t want to stay in India beyond the comfortable months between November and February.

"I go back to India once a year. When I go back I miss the orderly life in Edinburgh; I miss my cats and my friends and there are no power cuts in Scotland. I’ve always had two countries. I miss India when I am here and I miss Scotland when I am in India!"

Related Links

www.bashabifraser.blogspot.com
Edinburgh University
Open University
Edinburgh Book Festival