Arundhati Roy
Overview
Arundhati Roy is an India
n novelist. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel, The God of Small Things
, and has also written two screenplay
s and several collections of essays. Her writings on various social, environmental and political issues have been a subject of major controversy in India.
Arundhati Roy was born in Shillong
, Meghalaya
, India, to Ranjit Roy, a Bengali
Hindu
tea planter and Mary Roy
, a Malayali
Syrian Christian women's rights activist.
She spent her childhood in Aymanam
in Kerala
, and went to school at Corpus Christi
, Kottayam
, followed by the Lawrence School, Lovedale
, in Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu
.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n novelist. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel, The God of Small Things
The God of Small Things
The God of Small Things is the debut novel of Indian author Arundhati Roy. It is a story about the childhood experiences of fraternal twins whose lives are destroyed by the "Love Laws" that lay down "who should be loved, and how. And how much." The book is a description of how the small things in...
, and has also written two screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
s and several collections of essays. Her writings on various social, environmental and political issues have been a subject of major controversy in India.
Arundhati Roy was born in Shillong
Shillong
-Connectivity:Although well connected by road, Shillong has no rail connection and a proper air connection. Umroi Airport exists but has only limited flights.-Roadways:Shillong is well connected by roads with all major north eastern states...
, Meghalaya
Meghalaya
Meghalaya is a state in north-eastern India. The word "Meghalaya" literally means the Abode of Clouds in Sanskrit and other Indic languages. Meghalaya is a hilly strip in the eastern part of the country about 300 km long and 100 km wide, with a total area of about 8,700 sq mi . The...
, India, to Ranjit Roy, a Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
tea planter and Mary Roy
Mary Roy
Mary Roy is an Indian educator and women's rights activist, who won a lawsuit in 1986, against the inheritance legislation of her Keralite Syrian Christian community in the Supreme Court...
, a Malayali
Malayali
Malayali is the term used to refer to the native speakers of Malayalam, originating from the Indian state of Kerala...
Syrian Christian women's rights activist.
She spent her childhood in Aymanam
Aymanam
Aymanam is a village in Kottayam District, Kerala, India, the setting of Arundhati Roy's 1997 novel The God of Small Things.-Overview:Ay in the Tamil language means 'five' and Vanam in Sanskrit means 'forests': Ayvanam, or Aymanam, is the land of five forests...
in Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, and went to school at Corpus Christi
Pallikoodam
Pallikoodam is a high school in the Kalathilpady area of Kottayam in Kerala Pallikkoodam. It was established as Corpus Christi High School in 1967 by educator and women's rights activist, Mary Roy...
, Kottayam
Kottayam
Kottayam is a city in the Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of 55.40 km2. It is the administrative capital of the Kottayam district. Kottayam Kottayam (Malayalam: കോട്ടയം) is a city in the Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of 55.40 km2. It is the administrative...
, followed by the Lawrence School, Lovedale
Lawrence School, Lovedale
The Lawrence School, Lovedale is an educational institution in Lovedale, located near Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, India and named for its founder, Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence. Lawrence had mooted the idea about the establishment of a chain of schools with a view to provide education to the children...
, in Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
.
Quotations
The story of the Narmada valley is nothing less than the story of Modern India. Like the tiger in the Belgrade zoo during the NATO bombing, we've begun to eat our own limbs. Preface to The Cost of Living July 1999
In those early amorphous years of life, when memory had only just begun, when life was full of Beginnings and no Ends, and everything was Forever ..."
Her own grief grieved her. His devastated her. (On Sophie Mol's death, describing Mamachi's grief, and Chacko's)