Saturday, May 16, 2020

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.


52 comments:

  1. Congratulations, Vee, on having your first book published . . . .

    Although I can’t say I’ve had a particularly circuitous long-term goal, I’ve found it always takes much longer to accomplish the goal than I’ve expected.

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    1. Me too ... It took me 10 years to produce a manuscript good enough to hook an agent...

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    2. Hi Joan! Does the second book take much longer than the first, or does it get easier as you keep working at it? I'm halfway done with my second novel but I know it has many iterations ahead! Thanks for your post, Vee

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    3. Hallie! Wow! Did you once say it gets harder as you go from book 1 to 2 etc because of your reader's expectations? Thanks for including me on JRW page! Vee

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    4. I think Book 2 is the hardest you’ll ever write

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  2. Vee, congratulations! And thank you for sharing your path. I've been fascinated by brain anatomy since I took a neurolinguistics class as a doctoral student many years ago.

    I had a long road from when I started writing a mystery to when my first book released, but now they pour out of me. And if I'm ever a little stuck, I also sort of free write. I just start typing and ask myself what needs to happen next. Never fails!

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    1. Free writing? I’m going to have to try it

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    2. I do it on paper--I just make a list of all the things that could happen. With no filter, and no judgment, even if they're silly. Your brain just starts churning them out. Like: what's in the envelope? Now..just think of things. I always come up with THE answer.

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    3. Hi Edith! It's wonderful to hear that stories pour out of you. For me, premises come floating in like crazy, and i have them all written down in 2-3 sentences, but they're waiting for me to complete my second novel! Thanks for your response, Vee.

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  3. Congratulations on your debut! I free-write to find my way through the labyrinth of possibilities (what if? then what?)

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    1. That's exactly what Mary Higgins Clark used to advise writers. Start with: What if and then what...

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    2. Thank you, Margaret! Do you type or write by hand? I keep a thick notebook and write by hand the what ifs and what thens. Maybe because I started using the computer later in life, and have never ever learned to type. So I have to check my computer-generated documents carefully for typos! Vee

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  4. More about the story of Dharma, please!

    I'm familiar with the left brain/right brain thing. I left the world of finance and insurance after ten stressful year for sewing, teaching sewing, writing, and finally, lecturing about all of it for fifteen years. Way more satisfying than trying to get people to buy something they can't feel, see, or show off to their friends, no matter how important it is.

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    1. There's somethingn to be said for tactile. Did you do any art along the way? Feels like the next step would be fabric art or painting...

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    2. I've always done art and crafts, of many kinds. Painting and drawing, sewing, crocheting, needlepoint, quilting, knitting, embroidery, and sewing, from home dec to couture-level fashion.

      Some of those things I did as experiments, or just to try them. And to collect supplies, apparently.

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    3. Hi Karen! I absolutely agree that the visual and the tactile senses add so much to a sory. Maybe that's why I keep wanting to make another short film. I did a stint of painting some twenty years ago, water color first and then acrylics. I still have some of them in my garage. If i had a studio in my backyard, I'd go and dabble in it again. It's harder to set up and clean, without a studio. I tried an abstract style that was most satisfying. Well, one of these days...thanks! Vee

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  5. What an amazing story! I particularly love fiction set in India or about Indian transplants so can't wait to read this one.

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    1. Lucy, thanks! i do hope you'll get to read it. It's more than a mystery. In the early stages, I created several chapters that just dealt with Rekha's family life, but realized it was slowing the mystery down, and had to cut it. I've saved it for future use. I really want to write more about Indian immigrants and the Indian Americans in the US. We live such an in-between lives. Grateful for your thoughts, Vee.

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  6. Congratulations for your first fiction. I'm looking forward to read your story and learn more about Indian Americans and discover the true calling of Rekha.

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    1. Thank you, Danielle! I hope you like it. As I continued to write this novel, more Indiaan and Indian-American POVs started coming up, Although I first wrote them in, I had to remove those chapters b/c it slowed down the mystery. I have saved them for a future novel! Vee.

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  7. Vee, congratulations! Persistence and curiosity are both necessary to wind your way through the long road of graduate school, especially in the medical field. Neuroscience is fascinating! But both of those traits are also necessary for success in writing or any other creative endeavor--so I don't see your switch as extraordinary--you've always had it in you to make it in both worlds. Can't wait to meet Rekka!

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    1. Thanks Flora, for your comments! Yes, I wanted to be an English professor when I was in high school. But during those times, you listened to your parents and their advice. So I went to med school. I cannot say I regretted it but I never practiced, but redirected myself into teaching and research. I think I was deeply affected by the wretched diseases I witnessed in children during my medical training, and I could never rise above it to the determine that I wanted to cure them. I thought research was the best way. But we're still lagging behind in finding cures or learning how to prevent so many diseases. Thanks for your musings, Vee.

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  8. I had a doctor once tell me that my brain wiring was off--and that my left/rights were switched. And that's one reason why I'm a left-handed creative thinker. Even though I'm sure that's impossible, whatever it means, that has worried me ever since.
    And Vee, congratulations! Talk a bit about changing from formal English to more colloquial!

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    1. OMG, I love your books! Yes, the left/right works in the way it's described in most people. but in others, the sides are switched and some use both sides of the brain equally for all tasks. All this falls in the realm of neuropsychology which I know very little, For medical students, you teach the basics of how the nervous system is wired, and what manifestations to expect if the wiring is disrupted. Then they are encouraged to learn from the patient's signs and symptoms to figure out where the pathology could be. First year students just sucked it up! They still come with stars in their eyes, wanting to cure all ills. I think it's the best way to get initiated into medicine! Thanks for your comments, Vee.

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    2. As for the switch from formal English to colloquial...I'm still leaning that! It's the contrast between scientific style of writing I was used to versus the conversational style in fiction. Scientific papers have to be crisp, efficient in terms of words and descriptions, and strictly factual. I too free write by hand, I find a sense of freedom with it! Thanks, Vee.

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    3. Oh! First, thank you! What an unexpected delight--thank you!
      And really? Well, that is even more fascinating now. Wow. Off to look everything up. (And Dr. Miller, I apologize for doubting you!)

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  9. Welcome Vee. I've ordered your book, being very fascinated by India and its people, culture, color.

    As a neuroscientist, perhaps you can settle the left brain/right brain conundrum. I've known many people who were talented, creative, all that and a bag of chips, but I've never observed their handedness to be consistent with their flair. Is there a connection? And I'm wondering, Hank, if you are describing mixed dominance? I can't believe you are wired wrong!

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    1. Hi Ann! These types of things fall in the domain of neuropsychology and I cannot claim expertise in it. But I do know that most right-handers have their speech located on the left side of the brain, And more of us are right-handers. For left-handers, there's a conundrum I have heard. They are 50:50. Half have the speech center on the right side and the other half on the left. With functional MRI etc., I'm sure our know ledge has expanded in this area, but I haven't kept track since 2012! Sorry, Vee.

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  10. This is fascinating. I was a natural lefty switched by the nuns. It ended with my being even handed. I can illegibly write with both hands, and I can write with both hands at once. It was a handy parlor trick in grade school I sketch with my right, I use tools with my left, center clay left-handed, but toss with my right. It makes life interesting!

    I have been fascinated with India since I was introduced to M.M.Kaye. I am so looking forward to reading Dharma.

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    1. Hi Kait! That's a whole bag of tricks you have acquired. I'm sure the neuroscientists who study handedness would love to look at the functional MRI of your brain. I'm sure you freaked out your classmates and teachers, right? I hope you'd like Dharma! Thanks for wanting to read it! Vee.

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    2. Yes, in tennis, I have two forehands. VERY confusing to opponents! Throw right, bat right, scissors right. Write left. COMPLETELY impossible to figure out which faucet is for hot and cold. Makes NO sense to me.

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  11. As the mom of two teen boys who scrape off any advice I give them, I am amazed that parents can have such an impact on the career path of their child. While I'm sure you were a credit to the medical/teaching professions and your parents were happy, I'm so glad you were able to fulfill your dream and follow your love of words into acting and writing! Congratulations on the release of Dharma, Vee!

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    1. Hi Jenn! Yes, we Indian children did that in those days! My own two daughters followed their hearts since I didn't push them into becoming doctors. One is a film writer and director, and the other is a violinist. So the streak broke with my daughters' generation. in my case, the story was that my mother, one of the most brilliant women I ever met, wanted to but couldn't become a doctor. So almost all her daughters did. BTW, I have an identical twin in India! Thanks, Vee.

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    2. I wonder are identical twins mirror image or clones... curious minds (does your twin have a career?)

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    4. She also studied medicine but practiced it. Does to this day. I think we were clones until life changes occurred like my moving to the US, having kids (she didn't). Nature over nurture, as they say!

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  12. Congratulations on your first book Vee!

    The only real goal I have which will likely take forever if I'm extremely lucky is that mythical mystery novel I'd love to see with my name on it on the shelves someday.

    Beyond that, the only goals I set for myself is making sure that my bills get paid each month.

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  13. Thanks, Jay! Keep your dream alive! If I can do it, switching from sconce after retirement, you can too. It took me seven years, and even then, I had to go the self-publishing route. But Grace Peirce of Great Life Press was an angel who held my hands while going through the process! I hope to see your name on your book soon! Vee.

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  14. Congratulations, Vee! What an inspiring story! I have a degree in biology so am a firm believer that being both left-brain and right-brain inclined gives you a nice creative balance. I can't wait to read your book.

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    1. Hi Deborah! It's an honor for me to read comments from you (and everyone else on this site, thanks to Hallie!), such well-known authors. Hopefully, I will follow in your footsteps! Vee.

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  15. Hi Vee! Your experiences growing up in such a culturally rich environment as India and then moving to the U.S. probably warrant a book of their own! Did some of your own life creep into Dharma? I can't wait to read this combination of mystery, family, and, hopefully, social commentary.

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    2. Hi Pat! Thanks for your thoughts! I wrote several chapters about Rekha's family life, but had to delete them b/c they slowed down the mystery. My future novels are going to be more about the lives of Indian immigrants and Indian Americans in the US. Vee.

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  16. Vee, your story is so fascinating, and how brave you were to take the leap to your live your repressed passions. This left brain/right brain is so interesting, and those people, like you, who are comfortably adept at both seem to have hit the jackpot. However, the intermingling of the two sides seems to seep in often to disprove an absolute dominance, too. Just looking at my own family, we have the following: my husband, a well-entrenched left brainer, who thinks jobs or careers should follow the logical pattern of numbers or earning potential (I do believe he has an almost absolute dominance); me, who I would describe as clearly coming down on the right side of the brain, but who also was able to overcome my dislike of numbers to take over for some years the bookkeeping for my husband's family's business of multiple stores (and actually find I liked the number balancing of Profit and Loss reports), although my brain still largely favors the right; our daughter, who is more right-brained, but who is extremely practical and well-organized and is great at managing money; our son, who seems evenly balanced on the left and right sides, being great with numbers and science, but who lives more for his creative side and writes, not well-organized and not great with money. But, then there is the language abilities or the left side being the "seat of language." I'm sure that you can help me sort this one, Vee. My husband, whom I said seems a clear-cut left brainer, has always depended on me to help him with any writing he's had to do, and while he isn't without language skills, I'm clearly dominant in that area. Both of our children have excellent language skills, both verbal and written. So, I don't understand why the left side of the brain is referred to as the "seat of language" when the right side, or creative side, seems to be the side that can make language magical and can express themselves so well. So, why is the left side the seat of language? I was intrigued by your mentioning of needing to learn the colloquialisms of the English language. How did you go about doing that? And, Vee, do you think that the left side/right side of dividing the brain is still an accurate way of describing the brain?

    I finally arrive at what I should have opened with, a hearty congratulations to you, Vee, on your debut book. Like Lucy, I enjoy books set in India or about Indian transplants to this country. Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake and Interpreter of Maladies are favorite books about the adjustments from the Indian culture to the American. Sujata Massey's books are favorites about historical looks at women in Indian culture, and they are great mysteries, too. I am delighted to now add Dharma to my reading, with its conflicts for Rekha between her parental culture and her heart, and what sounds like a thrilling mystery, too.

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    1. Thank you, Kathy! Isn't it amazing how my story prompts you to analyze the right- and left-brainness ( if I may say so) of your family. I think the pure concept is no longer valid! I'm sure there are many other patterns like the ones you describe that have already been identified by neuroscientists. One interesting thing is that having exited science, I no longer feel compelled to keep up! My book won't hold up to Massey's or Lahiri's, I am afraid. Both masters of writing about the Indian life. Hopefully, it will be another viewpiont on Indians and Indian Americans. We all see the world so differently, don't we? Vee.

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    2. Vee, because we all see the world differently, and even when writing about the same culture or subject, authors come at it from different experiences and knowledge, so I'm betting that your book will absolutely hold up to the two other authors I mentioned. It will be wonderful to look through yet another set of eyes at the complexities of Indian culture and American mixed in.

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    3. Thanks, Kathy, I hope you find this to be true. Perhaps my comparison was of the wring style. Being my first novel, I stuck with a simple style and that works for mystery as well. You're so thoughtful! Vee

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  17. Congratulations on your new novel!

    Hank, yes, I had a long term goal of going to law school and I finally made it by a long route! I finished law school and started working for a law firm. It is funny because the law firm specializes in Workers Compensation and my law school never offered a class in that area!

    Diana

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    1. oops! I meant Hallie, not Hank! Overslept this morning and brain still sleepy! LOL.

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