Internet has dissolved borders: Pakistani-American writer

There’s a healthy dose of bitterness in Welcome to Americastan, Jabeen Akhtar’s debut novel. This writer finds many things distasteful, including geographical identities. Perhaps, it has to do with being born to Pakistani parents in London, backpacking around Southeast Asia, living in Taipei briefly, and now, in the US. Excerpts from an interview:

Why do you write?
Writing was my answer to not having many friends as I was growing up. I’m still kind of a loner, but as an adult, I primarily write because of a basic urge to put into words everything that I see happening around me.

How did you get the idea for the book?
I knew I wanted to write about a Pakistani family living in the US.  But I also wanted to explore the difference between a Pakistani woman getting arrested and a blond blue-eyed woman in the US. Both could easily want to kill their boyfriends, but the Pakistani could likely face far greater consequences for her actions than the all-American girl.  I thought of the FBI Terror Watch List, and the whole plot fell together easily.

Welcome to Americastan is seriously funny. How much of Samira is Jabeen?
Some of her idiosyncrasies are definitely me—the way she can’t cook Indo-Pak food, she carries her clothes around in trash bags, when she gets depressed, she wears the same clothes for a week at a time. But personality-wise, we’re not very alike. She’s a little tightly wound. She’s more concerned about reputation and career than I am. I’m a lot more laid back.

Samira’s family eats only vegetarian. We assume it came from your veganism. So, what is your politics? And how much of it is there in your novel?
It did. I didn’t want meat in my novel. That’s the great thing about writing fiction.  You can do whatever you want! I don’t want to get into my politics too much, other than to say that my identity could be defined by my veganism and involvement in animal rights more than anything else. And that’s a theme I wanted to present in the novel—for the younger generation of South Asians living in the US, just like the Tanweer kids in the novel, their identities are often formed by things other than their ethnicity. The West finds it shocking that a Pakistani could care more about animals than Islam or learning how to cook curry, and that’s annoying.

The blurb says you live with two plants. What plants are they? Can you describe your relationship with the two plants? Are you closer to one of them than the other?
I have a bonsai and a spider plant. I’m very close to both of them. Even if I have children, they’ll still be my babies.  I talk to them as I water them, asking them how their day went, if they like what I did with the curtains, etc.

In one of your blogposts, you described yourself as “bitter”. What has made you bitter?
I have no idea why I’m so bitter, because I had the most pleasant childhood! Maybe it’s from all the injustices I see in the world. Everything just seems to piss me off.

Your irreverence is splayed across the novel. Where does it come from? Are you fighting sentimentality?
I think part of it’s a product of being Generation X. The humour in the novel is just a reflection of the humour of my generation. Everyone is fair game for ridicule, including yourself. And the minute you try to be sincere, you will be roundly and swiftly ridiculed by everyone, and you should be.

The scene at the store, where Samira accidentally knocks off a White woman’s shopping cart, and despite an apology, gets cursed as “F***ing Arabs” and a parting shot: “Welcome to America”. Is that a real experience that found place in your novel?
Yes it is.  I was at a convenience store many years ago, and I could see the store clerk giving me the evil eye the whole time I was at the slurpee machine. Finally, when I went to check out, she gave me my change and said “Welcome to America.” I didn’t end up saying anything back to her, because I was initially too confused when she made the comment. It was important to me to really show this aspect of racism—confusion. When you’re going about your business and a racist comment comes from out of nowhere, you’re going to feel confusion before feeling hurt, offended or angry.

Pakistani English writing is the talk of the town. What is your take on this current craze for it?
Pakistan is a very literary country, so I think Pakistani writing and Pakistani writers have always been there. It’s just that publishing has suddenly opened up to them. Much of this is in response to the fact that while Pakistan has suddenly entered the world stage, people know very little about the country itself and are looking for writers to fill the gap—to explain the culture, the way of life, the way of thinking. I do think it’s unfair to place this burden on fiction writers. Our responsibility should first be to tell a good tale.  Maybe some writers like to serve as sort of cultural ambassadors from their countries of origin, but I certainly don’t.

Pakistan is barely there in your tale. Why? Is it an apathy towards geographical identity?
First of all, I can’t really write about Pakistan. How can I? I only visited the country once for two weeks many years ago. I couldn’t write with any authority or honesty. Also, the novel exposes a growing apathy towards geographical identity that you see in youth all over the world. In this digital age, kids are g-chatting, skyping and sharing classrooms with kids from all over the world. The internet has dissolved borders. They feel they have an active part in the broader world outside their bedroom windows. Labelling yourself as part of one country or two countries separated by a dash is confining and becoming increasingly irrelevant.

Other writers you think we should read.
Agh, I can’t think of any at the moment!

Who is your favourite Indian writer?
I don’t really have a favourite.

What are you reading right now?
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on my second novel about a bunch of young DC bureaucrats competing for a mid-level promotion. I’d like to have a male protagonist. Sometimes I think I get guys better than I get girls. Guys are pretty basic.