Writer Sandhya Mary and translator Jayasree Kalathil on how their new book dissects ‘madness’

Maria, Just Maria is a sweeping novel that follows the life of a recently divorced woman who finds herself in a psychiatric hospital. From this point, the story moves backwards, illustrating Maria’s childhood with her grandparents in Kerala, in a home of strong-willed people and socialist gods with whom she has frequent tête-à-têtes. Told with humour and the whimsical worldview of a child, the novel still manages to address the complexity of a woman growing up against the grain.

Written by Sandhya Mary in Malayalam, it has now been translated into English by Jayasree Kalathil. In an interview with Scroll, Mary and Kalathil spoke about the role of religion in the novel and the habit of conflating unconventionality with madness. Excerpts from the conversation:

I read that you had started writing the story in little snippets over the years. How did Maria, Just Maria come together as a novel?
Sandhya Mary (SM): It started as a conversation between Jesus and me. Even if you are a believer or not, that relationship remains. Jesus was always there, and I used to talk to him a lot; he was like a constant companion. Later, when I realised that these snippets could be a novel, it was a huge editing process to reduce Jesus’s...

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