Vee Kumari's journey from left brain to right... neuroscience to writing and acting

HALLIE EPHRON: So many writers, myself included, took a circuitous route to becoming a published author. I was a teacher (elementary school and college), worked in high tech as a writer and trainer before trying my hand at fiction. Today's guest author, Vee Kumari, took an even stranger journey--from neuroscience, to acting (she produced and starred in HALWA, winning HBO's Spotlight award) and now mystery writing.

Today we're so happy to welcome her to Jungle Red to talk about that journey and to celebrate the publication of her first novel, DHARMA.

VEE KUMARI: A journey from the left side of my brain to the right aptly describes my life after I made the decision to quit science and become a writer and actor.

I will focus on my writing journey here.

It was my parents’ decision that I go to medical school. I wanted to become an English Professor. I was in love with words from childhood, encouraged by my mother to look up the meanings of new words in the dictionary and use it to create new sentences.

I read voraciously, hiding from my mother who might ask me to do a chore or two. I dipped my feet in Christie, Conan Doyle, Collins, and Gardner, and then progressed to more contemporary mystery authors in college.

During medical school in India, and graduate training and academics in the US, mystery books were my constant companions. I discovered P. D. James, John le Carré, Dorothy Sayers, the Kellermans, Ruth Rendell, Martha Grimes, Scott Turow, were among these. Alongside, I also read general fiction by authors like Colleen McCullough, Danielle Steel, and modern Indian authors, Arundhati Roy, Vikram Seth, Rohinton Mistry, and others.

In 2012, while finishing up a 5-year teaching contract at the USC School of Medicine, I was offered the opportunity to continue to teach neuroscience for another five years. However, I heard a call of that little girl who would hide to read, who loved words. I felt I had something else to offer the world and embarked on a new adventure.

I retired and immersed myself in online writing classes offered through UCLA Extension. I progressed from Novel 1 to Novel 5 and came under the tutelage of Lynn Hightower. She was, and still is, a phenomenal writer and teacher.

She taught me the craft of writing which I still continue to explore and develop. She loved the story of “Dharma,” from its inception and every time I buried it in the innards of my computer, I heard her voice telling me to get back to it, that it was worth completing.

What skills from my life as a teacher come in handy as a writer? Clearly, I had the skills to do research and enjoyed it in finding authentic information about the Durga incarnation, about the name ‘Faust’ and the excavation in Jwalapuram, India, where the Durga was supposedly discovered.

What skills did I need to acquire to become a writer? My English was formal and suited to composing scientific papers. I had to learn the colloquialism of the language. It took me a while to brainstorm ideas by myself and it wasn’t until I discovered freewriting that I found the best approach to get unstuck, unblocked, and find new materials, Freewriting remains my most favorite exercise when I am trying to create plot twists and subplots. My most favorite two words are, “What if?”

My connection with “DHARMA,” is best described as a Seven-Year Itch. The phrase as originally coined is a name for irritating and contagious skin complaints of a long duration. The Marilyn Monroe move by the same name gave it a re- interpretation that happiness in a relationship declines after around year seven. The original definition works best to describe my relationship with my book.

It was a persisting itch that never went away. During periods of time, it would heal over and stop itching, but I knew it was there and will flare up with another scratch. During the flare ups, it gave me a burst of creativity that resulted in finishing up a new chapter, coming up with plot twists or conceiving subplots.

The movie version also works. Did my relationship with the book come to an end after seven years? It did, but it was a happy ending that resulted in publication.

Did my itchy sore heal finally? Yes, it did, and I haven’t felt it during ever since I started working on my second novel!

HALLIE: Have you had a long term goal that you took (or are taking) a circuitous route to reach... and did you know you were on that path, or did it reveal itself?

And I hope Vee will tell us more about what she means by left brain right brain and whether anyone can switch gears.

Vee Kumari is a Professor Emeritus (a fancy word for ‘Retired’) of the UC Davis Medical Center and USC Keck School of Medicine. She loved teaching neuroanatomy to medical students for over 35 years. Since her retirement in 2012, she has pursued writing and acting as careers. “Dharma” is her debut novel, inspired by her love of the mystery genre and based on her observations of the Indian immigrant and Indian American lives in the US. She recently produced and was the lead in a short film HALWA that earned the first prize in HBO’s 2019 APAV contest. Vee lives in Burbank near her two daughters and their families.

DHARMA
Rekha Rao, an Indian American professor of Art History, propelled by her sense of duty, dharma, sets out to find the killer of her mentor and father figure. She walks a thin line between her match-making family and Al, a suave Homicide Detective she is attracted to, but also distrusts. Her genuine concern for others allows her to connect with them and learn hidden secrets. Despite admonitions from Al, and suffering bodily harm following a break-in of her home, Rekha tracks down the killer and in that process, tastes the prospects of an unexpected romance, and discovers her true calling.