THE LITERATURE OF INDIAN DIASPORA: A STUDY

English

Submitted by

Tripti Kejriwal

UID: SF0117056

B.A L.L.B.(Hons.) (1st Year)

Faculty in-charge

Mrs. Aparajita Dutta Hazarika

Assistant Professor of English

National Law University, Assam

Guwahati

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 Table of Contents

1. Introduction 3-5

1.1. Literature Review 4

1.2. Aim 5

1.3. Scope 5

1.4. Objectives 5

1.5. Research Questions 5

1.5. Research Methodology 5

2. Diaspora and Indian Diaspora 7

3. Indian Diasporic Literature 10

4. Space and challenges faced by Indian Diasporic Writers 14

5. Conclusion 17

6. Bibliography 18

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 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Literature has a crucial and major role in spreading awareness and broadening the various
aspects of the world. The various literary theories and the different works and its contents
serve as an important tool in understanding the presence of art and portray the varied human
expressions. There are various writes have beautifully presented their works, illuminating the
variability of life and experiences and thereby projected the whole world at a glance. Such
works allow people to leave their surrounding and travel the world and share their
experiences subjected to various emotions which fascinates the common masses.

Diaspora is the emigration of people or communities beyond their native lands to an alienated
country with the dearest and heartiest commemoration of their exquisite cultures and
ethnicity. Expatriate deals with many connotations like nationality, ethnicity, marginality, etc.

Often globalisation, persecution, trade and commerce, religious preaching, for participating in
groups like labourers, convicts, soldiers, expatriates or refugees, exiles (forced or voluntary),
or guest workers, in search of better life and opportunities, are the major factors that has
produced new patterns of migration. People shift to different places and get adopted to
foreign cultures, assuming them as their own but still they retain those feelings of oneness
and the love for their ethnic culture still persist after ages.

Diasporic Literature is a very vast concept that includes all those literary works written by
the authors outside their native country, but these works are associated with native culture
and background. All those writers can be regarded as Diasporic writers, who write outside
their country but remained related to their homeland through their works. Diasporic literature
has its roots in the sense of loss and alienation, which emerged as a result of migration and
expatriation. Generally, diasporic literature deals with alienation, displacement, nostalgia,
quest of identity.
Diasporic Literature is based around the theme of people settling in a new community, in a
distant location where they are not familiar with the various elements of the new society. The
diasporic writers feel a great sense of honour and love for their native culture and to keep the
feeling alive and strong and to show their immense connection and touch with their culture,
they pen down beautiful and vibrant works, describing their ethnicity and nationality.

Literature of the Indian Diaspora constitutes a major study of the literature and other cultural
texts of the Indian diaspora.. Applying a theoretical framework based on trauma, identity,
travel, translation, and recognition, this anthology uses the term ‘migrant identity’ to refer to
any ethnic domain in a nation-state that defines itself, as a group in displacement. This
anthology examines the works of key writers, many now based across the globe in Canada,
Denmark, America and the UK – V.S. Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Balachandra Rajan, M.G.
Vassanji, Jhumpa Lahiri, Gautam Malkani, Shiva Naipaul, Tabish Khair and Shauna Singh

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Baldwin, among them – to show how they exemplify both the diasporic imaginary and the
respective traumas of Indian diasporas.
Corelating the concept of diaspora – literally dispersal or the scattering of a people – with the
historical and contemporary presence of people of Indian sub-continental origin in other areas
of the world, this anthology uses this paradigm to analyse Indian expatriate writing. In
Reworlding, O.P. Dwivedi has commissioned ten critical essays by as many scholars to
examine major areas of the diaspora. Collectively, the essays demonstrate that the various
literary traditions within the Indian diaspora share certain common resonances engendered by
historical connections, spiritual affinities, and racial memories. Individually, they provide
challenging insights into the particular experiences and writers.

With more Indian writers settling abroad and engaging themselves in creating writing in the
countries of their domicile, diasporic literature is flourishing.

In this project, we will look into what Indian Diaspora is and also the various literatures
associated with it. We will also look into the life works of different Indian emigrants
including the kinds of writing along with the languages and stylistic elements used and the
challenges faced by them while adapting to a different country, culture and society altogether.

1.1. Literature Review

1) Shaikh Naushad Umarsharif, Diasporic Writings: A view, Lecturer, AKI's Poona

College of Arts, Com. & Sci.

This paper talks about the roots of Diaspora, how in the modern world globalisation has
affected it and further pushed in the direction of migration being one of the major elements of
Diaspora. It talks about the differences and the inter-relatedness of geographical locations and
their culture. It shows that Diaspora is leading towards the growth in diasporic literature.
How although the Indian origin writers have differences in their works but also have a
similarity that unites them.

2) Shankar Saha Amit, Exile Literature and the Diasporic Indian Writer, Calcutta
University, West Bengal, India.

This paper lays more focus on Exile literature i.e. works of writers that have been exiled from
their homelands. It tries to understand the paradox of how the exile affects the writers work
but not the writer himself. It ventures in the exploration of what exile could stand for a writer,
identifies the different kind of exile and how it affects them in different ways. He lays
emphasis on this using the examples of famous writers and their works bringing into light the
differences that they have.

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3) Singh Amarjit, Indian Diaspora: Voices of Grandparents and Grand parenting,
Transgressions: Cultural Studies and Education

The book is a detailed account of how people of Indian origin who settled in another country
have developed over time. They are not the same old people who were either exiled or left
their homeland due to circumstances. With time they have become younger and more
educated and it has become more imperative to hear their story. This book claims that the
diasporic Indian grandparents have significant effects on the countries of their residence and
too are integral parts of the Indian diaspora who deserve the celebratory treatment and status.
The book can be used for courses in the areas of critical social work, family studies,
gerontology, nursing, rural development, critical pedagogy, and diaspora studies.

1.2. Aim

The main aim of the project is to study the Literature of Indian Diaspora with all its changes
and moods. The research will look into the works of the different diasporic writers who have
beautifully portrayed the bond with their native nation and the challenges that they faced
while adapting to different altered conditions.

1.3. Scope

The scope is limited to the study of Literature of the Indian Diaspora.

1.4. Objective

1. To understand diaspora in context of India.

2. To understand the nature of literature written by diasporic writers.
3. To examine the challenges faced by the emigrants in relation to Indian Diasporic
Literature.

1.5. Research Questions

1. What is Diaspora and Indian Diaspora?

2. What is the nature of literature written by Indian Diasporic Writers?

3. What is the space and what are the challenges faced by Indian Diasporic Writers?

1.5. Research Methodology

In this project, the researcher has adopted Doctrinal type of research. Doctrinal research is
essentially a library -based study, which means that the materials needed by a research maybe
available in libraries, achieves and other databases. The research is totally based on library
and internet sources. Various types of books were used to get the adequate data essential for

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this project. The researcher also used computer laboratory to get important data related to this
topic. Help from various websites were also taken.

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 CHAPTER 2

DIASPORA AND INDIAN DIASPORA

Diaspora

 Diaspora is defined as a community of people who do not live in their country of origin, but
maintain their heritage in a new land. The word ‘Diaspora’ can be traced back to the 19th
century to describe the scattering of Jews after their captivity in Babylonia in the 5th century
B.C.E. Diaspora has a Greek origin which can be translated to “a dispersion or scattering,”
found in the Greek translations of Hebrew Bible. Although the historical sense of the Jewish
term is still used especially in scholarly writings, in the modern world the Jewish Diaspora
can refer to the displacement of Jews at other times during their history, especially after the
Holocaust in the 20th century.1

More recently, we find the meaning of Diaspora has been changing and being used in various
context, it has now come be used to refer to not only the displacement of person or a group of
persons but it can also be used to refer to some aspects of their culture, such as ‘American-
style-Capitalism’.

Diasporas have been associated with loss and exile--two words that denote suffering and
tragedy. Another group of people--the Africans--were forced to move away from their
homelands because of slavery in colonial America. Hence, a multitude of Diasporas have
occurred globally due to religious, social, political, economic, and even natural forces. These
forces can range anywhere from violent revolutions to massive earthquakes--essentially
anything that disrupts the normal flow of life.

The term “Diaspora”, which is originally used for the Jewish externment from its homeland,
is now applied as a "metaphoric designation" for expatriates, refugees, exiles and immigrants.
It refers to the work of exile and expatriates and all those who have experienced unsettlement
and dislocation at the political, existential or metaphorical levels.

Characteristics of Diaspora

Dispersion: Dispersion has been one of the main characteristics of Diaspora. Members of a
diasporic community, or their ancestors, have been dispersed from a specific original “center”
to two or more “peripheral,” or foreign regions.

1
Umarsharif Shaikh Naushad, Diasporic Writings: A view, Lecturer, AKI's Poona College of Arts, Com. & Sci. p-3 cited on
April 26,2017

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Memory, vision or, myth about their original homeland: Members of a diasporic
community are defined by their retention of a collective memory, vision, or myth about their
original homeland—its physical location, history, and achievements.

Relative alienation from host society: Members of a diasporic community believe that they
are not—and perhaps cannot be—fully accepted by their host society and therefore feel partly
alienated and insulated from it.

Idealizing homeland: Members of a diasporic community regard their ancestral homeland as

their true, ideal home and as the place to which they or their descendants would (or should)
eventually return—when conditions are appropriate.

Commitment of maintenance or restoration of original homeland: Members of a

diasporic community believe that they should, collectively, be committed to the maintenance
or restoration of their original homeland and to its safety and prosperity.

Ethno-communal consciousness and solidarity: Members of a diasporic community

continue to relate, personally or vicariously, to that homeland in one way or another, and their
ethno-communal consciousness and solidarity are importantly defined by the existence of
such a relationship.2

Indian Diaspora

The Indian Diaspora today constitutes an important, and in some respects unique, force in
world culture. The origins of the modern Indian Diaspora lie mainly in the subjugation of
India by the British and its incorporation into the British Empire. Indians were taken over as
indentured labour to far-flung parts of the empire in the nineteenth-century, a circumstance to
which the modern Indian populations of Fiji, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad, Surinam,
Malaysia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and other places attest in their own peculiar ways. Over
two million Indian men fought on behalf of the empire in numerous wars, including the Boer
War and the two World Wars, and some remained behind to claim the land on which they had
fought as their own.

Much of the literature on Indian Diaspora pertains to migration, their socioeconomic and
cultural experiences, experiences of adaptation, challenges that they had to face to adapt and
assimilation in the host societies in foreign nations.

As Kingsley Davis (1968) puts it in the Indian context, "...pressure to emigrate has always
been great enough to provide a stream of emigrants much larger than the actual given
opportunities." And Tinker (1977: 10) puts it, “there is a combination of push and pull: the
push of inadequate opportunity in South Asia and the pull of the better prospects in the
West."3
2
Umarsharif Shaikh Naushad, Diasporic Writings: A view, Lecturer, AKI's Poona College of Arts, Com. & Sci. p-3 cited on
April 26,2017

3
http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/1827/8/08_chapter2.pdf

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Overseas emigration of Indians may be seen in terms of three phases:

(a) The ancient and the medieval,

(b) The colonial and

(c) The post- colonial phases.

The conditions that make for a diasporic community are admittedly complex, but this
presumed link between the diasporic community and the motherland is easily questioned, nor
is there any reason why we must be held hostage to any form of linguistic tyranny. No
substantive issue can be decided on the issue of 'origins'. It thus appears perfectly reasonable
to speak of an Indian Diaspora, as it does of the Chinese Diaspora, the African Diaspora, the
Palestinian Diaspora, and of course the Jewish Diaspora.

Nevertheless, if one unequivocally speaks of an Indian Diaspora, it is because other forces

have emerged to cement the widely disparate elements from the Indian sub-continent into an
'Indian' community. For example, Indian cinema, Hinduism, and food. The popular Hindi
film provides a considerable element of commonalty to Indian communities, even among
those where Hindi is not spoken, and a profound homage to the Hindi film's rootedness in the
deep mythic structures of Indian civilization. Across the globe, the popular Hindi film
commands an extraordinary allegiance from Indians. Indian communities everywhere are also
showing evidence of an alarming susceptibility to a resurgent Hinduism; and if Hindus in
India are willing to accept the idea of a pluralistic Hinduism, diasporic Hindus appear to
know the meaning and contours of Hinduism better than Hindus in India. Finally, in the
matter of food, one beholds with amazement how Mughlai food has become the cuisine of
India, entirely synonymous with Indian food. The same surely cannot be said of the cuisines
of Gujarat, Andhra, and Kerala, or even of the popular snack food, idlis and dosas, of South
India. In the Indian Diaspora, the plurality of India is condemned to disappear, even as the
most enigmatic traditions are given a fresh burst of life, and a unitary vision of 'Indianness',
of Indian civilization and of Hinduism, appears poised to dominate.

CHAPTER 3

INDIAN DIASPORIC LITERATURE

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 Diaspora Theory with its various features has greatly influenced the literature of each and
every language of the world. This literature is widely and commonly known as Expatriate or
Diasporic Literature. It is one such field which immensely flourished. Hence, it would be
proper to examine features and aspects of such literature in which Indian Writing in English
not only contributed greatly but also received international recognition and admiration in the
past few years.
Uma Parameswaran has defined it as follows:
“First is one of nostalgia for the homeland left behind mingled with fear in a strange land.
The second is a phase in which one is busy adjusting to the new environment that there is
little creative output. The third phase is the shaping of diaspora existence by involving
themselves ethnocultural issues. The fourth is when they have ‘arrived’ and start participating
in the larger world of politics and national issues.”4
India has the second largest Diaspora in the world. The overseas Indian community
estimated at over 25 million is spread across every major region in the world. Yet, it is
difficult to speak of one great Indian Diaspora. The overseas Indian community is the result
of different waves of migration over hundreds of years driven by a variety of reasons-
mercantilism, colonialism and globalisation.
The chief characteristic features of the diasporic writings are the quest for identity, uprooting,
nostalgia, nagging sense of guilt etc. The diasporic writers turn to their homeland for various
reasons. For example, Naipaul, who is in a perpetual quest for his root turns to India for the
same. Rushdie visits India to mythologize its history. There are many examples of highly
regarded people who come to India time and again because of the cultural and emotional
attachment that they have to India. All the same it is necessary to realise the importance of
cultural encounter, the bicultural pulls which finally helps in the emergence of the new
culture. The diasporic writings also known as the ‘theory of migrancy’ helps generate
aesthetic evaluation, negotiate with cultural constructs and aid the emergence of a new
hybridity.5

Indian Diasporic writings help in many ways and is a powerful network connecting the entire
globe. Diasporic literature helps in the circulation of information and in solving many
problems; it helps to re-discover the commonality and inclusiveness of India, it acts as a
channel strengthening the bonds between the states of India and with other countries at large.

Diasporic opinion helps to break through the past alienation and isolation which caused much
injustice and abuse of human rights. It serves as an outlet to the pent up passions, emotions
and feelings, providing a ventilator to grievances and grudges. In other words diasporie
literature helps as a cathartic indignation.

The welfare and wellbeing of the overseas Indians, a sense of security for them and India’s
greater concern for them is brought out through these writings.

4
http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/1827/8/08_chapter2.pdf
5
D. Butler Kim, Defining Diaspora, Refining a Discourse, Rutgers University, 2001

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The diasporic writings have also helped in casting a new aura around global India and have
contributed in building a novel image of India abroad. All this helps in strengthening bonds
between various countries and they begin to relate through historical, cultural, social,
traditional and economic ties.

The Diaspora Indian writing in English covers each and every continent and part of the
world. It is an interesting paradox that a great deal of Indian writing in English is produced
not in India but in widely distributed geographical areas of indenture ('Girmit') i.e. Indian
Diaspora in the South Pacific, the Caribbean, South Africa, Mauritius, and the contemporary
Indian diasporas in the U.S.A., the U.K., Canada and Australia. Frankly speaking the very
idea of 'India' needs to be understood properly when contextualized in the backdrop of
cultural study of the Indian Diaspora.

It is very interesting to note that the history of Indian Diasporic writing is old as the diaspora
itself. There are several contributors of Indian Diasporic literature in English. The first Indian
writing in English is attributed to Dean Mohamed, who was born in Patna, India. His book,
The Travels of Dean Mohamet was published in 1794. It predates by about forty years the
first English text written by an Indian residing in India. Kylas Chunder Dutt’s ‘Imaginary
History’ A Journal of Forty- Eight hour of the year 1945 published in 1835. The first Indian
English novel, Bankimchandra Chatterjee’s Rajmohan’s Wife, was to be published much
later in 1864. It proves that the contribution of the Indian Diaspora to Indian English writing
is not new. It is also interesting to note that, the descendants of the Indian indentured
labourers in the so-called ‘girmit colonies’ have mostly favoured writing in English Writers
like See Prasad Naipaul and later Shiva Naipaul, V.S. Naipaul, Cyril Dabydeen, Dravid
Dabydeen, Sam Selvon, M.G. Vassanji, Subramanian, K.S. Maniam, Shani Muthoo and
Mariana Budos are important in this field.

Literature of old generation of diasporic Indian writers like Raja Rao, G. V. Desani, Santha
Rama Rau, Dhalchandra Rajan, Nirad Chaudhari, Ved Metha,, mainly look back at India and
hardly ever record their experiences away from India as expatriates. It is as if these writers
have discovered their Indianness when they are out of India. Evidently, they have the benefit
of looking at their homeland from the outside. The distance offers detachment that is so
required to have a clear insight of their native land. Gradually, the old diaspora of indentured
laborers is replaced by the new diaspora of International Indian English Writers live in the
market driven world. These writers register their away from India experiences and even if
they look back at their motherland it is often in a melancholic tone rather than nostalgia.
These modern diasporic Indian writers can be grouped into two different classes. One class
includes those who have spent a part of their life in India and have carried the baggage of
their native land offshore. The other class comprises those who have been raised since
childhood outside India. They have had a vision of their country only from the outside as an
alien place of their origin. The writers of the previous group have a factual displacement
whereas those belonging to the latter group find themselves rootless. Both the groups of
writers have created an enviable corpus of English literature. These writers while portraying
migrant characters in their fiction investigate the theme of displacement, alienation,
assimilation, acculturation, etc. The diasporic Indian writers’ portrayal of dislocated
characters gains immense significance if seen against the geopolitical background of the vast

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Indian subcontinent. That is exactly why such works have an international readership and a
lasting appeal.
Two of the earliest novels that have effectively depicted diasporic Indian characters are Anita
Desai’s ‘Bye Bye Blackbird’ and Kamala Markandaya’s ‘The Nowhere Man’. These novels
reveal how racial prejudice against Indians in the UK of 1960’s isolates the character and
deepen their sense of displacement. Bharati Mukherjee’s novels like ‘Wife and Jasmine’
depict Indians in the US – the land of immigrants both legal and illegal – before globalization
got its momentum. Salaman Rushdie, in his novel ‘The Satanic Verses’ approaches the
metaphor of migration by adopting the technique of magic realism. Chitra Banerjee
Divakaruni,in her novel ‘The Mistress of Spices’ depicts Tilo, the protagonist, as an exotic
character to reveal the migrant’s anguish. Amitav Ghosh’s novel ‘The Shadow Lines’shows
the extent of rootlessness encountered by character born and brought up on a foreign land.
Amit Chaudhari, in his novel ‘Afternoon Raag’, portrays the lives of Indian students in
Oxford. These writers also depicted the positive aspect of displacement. There are benefits of
living as a migrant, the opportunity of having a double perspective of being able to
experience diverse cultural modes. It is often this advantage that enables diasporic Indians,
particularly of the second generation; face the dilemma of dual identities. Such ambivalence
produces existential anguish in their psychology.
The ranks of second generation diasporic Indian writers like Meera Syal, Shashi Tharoor,
Hari Kunzru, Sunetra Gupta, Jhumpa Lahiri, etc. have faithfully demonstrated the lives of
both first and second generation immigrants in the US. This is possible because big issues
like religious discrimination and racial intolerance are no longer the main concern of these
writers. What matters now in the present world are the small things. Little unappreciated
things gain enormous significance in changed conditions. It is here that the different reactions
by Indian, westerns and diasporic characters towards similar situations are bound to differ
only apparently. It reveals that the inner needs of all human beings are the same.
The great writers of Indian English fiction like Raja Rao, Mulkraj Anand, R. K. Narayan,
Kamala Markandaya, had a strong dedication to expose cruel realities of life to effect the
desired change in society. Nationalism, Partition Poverty, Peasantry, Subjugated Women,
Rural-Urban Divide, East-West encounter, Feudal Practices, Casteism, and Communalism
were some of the themes quite closer to their hearts. All of them are well known for realistic
portrayal of contemporary Indian life. Taking departure from the first generation of Indian
English novelists, the postmodern Indian English novelists have concentrated on an
completely new set of themes which are wide ranging and inclusive as the life in the age of
globalization is immersed in the emerging issues of globalization and subsequent
multiculturalism, feminism, queer theories, diasporic sensibility, glamour, consumerism,
commoditization, upward mobility, erosion of ethical values are some of main issues raised
by contemporary.

Overseas Indians have made significant contributions to the economy of the country of
residence and have added in considerable measure to knowledge and innovation. It comprises
the creative writing on the Indian Diaspora by the Indian writers, diasporic Indian writers and
non- Indian writers. Indian-English writers like Anita Desai, Bharathi Mukherjee, Shashi
Tharoor, Amitav Ghosh, Vikram Seth, Sunetra Gupta, Rohinton Mistry, Jhumpa Lahiri and

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Hari Kunzru have all made their names while residing aboard. Their concerns are global as
today‘s world is afflicted with the problems of immigrants, refugees, and all other exiles.

Jumpa Lahiri’s ‘Namesake’(2004) focuses on the problems of child-rearing in an alien

culture. The central theme of Lahiri’s fictional aura is Indian-American life and the dilemma
in the lives of Indian immigrants who encounter problems such as identity crisis, alienation,
nostalgic feeling etc. In the ‘Namesake’, she plays a role as an impersonal detached
storyteller. She pays a visit to Bengali immigrants in America where the state of exile is
cultural as well as emotional.The novel is a recurrence of what ensues to diasporic people. It
is a story of Bengali Immigrants family which surrendered itself to the country of adoption.
The novel describes the hardship of a Bengali couple who immigrate to the United States to
lead a comfortable life.

Nostalgia is another aspect which plays havoc with the immigrant‘s identity. His desire for
the past makes it difficult for him to relocate himself in the adopted country. This is the focus
of Anita Desai in this novel—the quest for self and survival of self. The diasporic characters
are caught up in the conflict between two countries and its codes. Bharathi Mukherjee’s
‘Jasmine’ also depicts the American society where people and their relationships are always
in motion. Jasmine may be epitomized as a rebel, an adopter and also a survivor. Her
confidence is revealed in this statement “There are no harmless, compassionate ways to
remark one self. We murder who we were so we can rebirth ourselves in the image of
dreams.”6

Thus, the present chapter has attempted to examine the reflection of Diaspora Theory and its
various aspects in literature by discussing features of Expatriate or Diasporic literature. It has
also analyzed the Indian contribution to diasporic literature in English. Apart from the
described and the mentioned contributions made by the diasporic Indian writers, there are
other significant contributions too, which has greatly and immensely contribute to English
literature.

CHAPTER 4

SPACE AND CHALLENGES FACED BY INDIAN DIASPORIC WRITERS

6
Bharati Mukherjee, 1999. Jasmine Grove Weidenfeld, New York

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Space Created by Indian Diasporic Writers

Writers of the Indian Diaspora have been at the centre stage in the last decade chiefly because
of the theoretical ideas about the formation of a mixed culture. Language and cultures are
transformed when they come in contact with the others. These writers are often pre-occupied
with the elements of nostalgia as they seek to locate themselves in new cultures. They write
in relation with the culture of their homeland and at the same time adopt and negotiate with
the cultural space of the host land. However, looking at the diasporic literature in a broader
perspective it is seen that such literature helps in understanding various cultures, breaking the
barriers between different countries, glocalizing the global and even spreading universal
peace.7

Diasporic writers play a very important role in constructing new identities which further
negotiate boundaries and confines that relate to different temporary and spatial metaphors.
Being displaced and living in another nation with different cultures requires people to create
their own space, diasporic literature allows theories to be generated and positions defined
augmenting the process of construction of new identities.

The terms ‘diaspora’, ‘exile’ alienation’, ‘expatriation’, are synonymous and possess an
ambiguous status of being both a refugee and an ambassador. The two roles being different,
the diasporic writers attempt at doing justice to both. As a refugee, they seek security and
protection and as an ambassador project their own culture and helps enhance its
comprehensibility8.

India is a country noted for its unity in diversity. The rich cultural heritage, tradition, rites,
rituals, customs, languages, dress and food stands us apart. Indians or people of Indian origin
living in foreign countries try to replicate the Indian traditions inherent in their culture often
depicted in diasporic literature. It is through such mediums like literature that all this is made
accessible to the world at large. To justify the same, it is best to quote the example of
Buddhism and the spread of the same. It was not through conquests or forceful means but
through peace and peaceful means (i.e. the spread of texts and other literature) that Buddhism
spread all through South East Asia and other parts of Asia. The noble ideals and ideologies of
the Vedas which were enriched by Buddhism have helped in enhancing the culture and
civilization of many countries and today they share the same great Indian thoughts. Now this
could not have been possible if not for the medium of literature.

Challenges Faced in Indian Diaspora

7
Poornima M.D, Research Scholar and Dr.V.Unnikrishnan, Professor, The Relationship between the Indian Diasporic
Writers and their Homeland, International Journal for Multifaceted and Multilingual Studies, volume III, Issue I, 2016
8
Shankar Saha Amit, Exile Literature and the Diasporic Indian Writer, Calcutta University, West Bengal, India. Cited on April
26,2017

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1) Language Barrier:

English is fast becoming main language used in education in India. However, it is not the
language itself but the way it is spoken. It is not wrong or right way, but a different way. The
slang, the pronunciation, the body language for subtle differences of meaning; the
combination of all that with the Indian accent, and you have the language barrier. To be
successful in a new society, effective communications is a must, as we all soon learn. The
language barrier requires new adjustments and it takes time to improve the communication
skills.

2) Cultural Shock:

Everything is very different all of a sudden for a new person. The language, the market
places, the scene on the street– it is all a bit too much to adjust to overnight. It has nothing to
do with being open-minded, fast learner or quick to adapt. It is just like being parachuted into
a place far away and far different and you don’t know where to go once you touch the ground
and remove the parachute. The race relations in America are very dynamic and much
different from multi-cultural Indian society. Going through the culture shock phase is one of
the common experiences abroad.

3) Family and Peer Pressure:

Self inflicted pressure in many of the cases. The want to be successful and most may end up
being successful, although in very different way than first thought of. However, for a
newcomer, the expectations are generally quite high. Based on the stories told back home, the
common perception about living in the West there is this expectation that opportunities would
be in abundance and easy to find which is not necessarily true.

4) Ego and Pride Adjustment:

As the days go by and there is no luck in finding the kind of career opportunities once
dreamed of, the pressure starts to build. The weight of all this combined with the realities of
daily hurdles can play a big drag on anyone’s psyche. That is when many questions get
raised, people start to question their decisions of settling in another country, and without any
support such times can make them feel the utter loneliness.

5) Education:

People have access to education but the negative factors may affect their self confidence and
their education. A lot of times even after getting good degrees they may not be given
preference, instead be sidelined.

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CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION

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We see with the arrival of globalisation the meaning of Diaspora has broadened, no longer is
it limited to ‘exile’ or ‘forced displacement’. Migration due to the search of a better lifestyle,
new opportunities has led to the popularisation of Diaspora.

People Indian origin living in other countries has been going on since the time of colonisation
nad in the 21st century has become a popular choice among the young adults whether it be for
higher education, better job opportunities etc. with more and more writers of Indian origin
living abroad the subject of their writing has started to revolve around Diaspora. Portraying
their experiences using the struggles of their characters and plot, there are a lot of similarities
in their works that resonate with each other but they are also differences. Their background,
socio-economic circumstances as well as their literary style all unique to them create a
plethora of options to choose from.

Further, the responses of the diasporic writers to India are also varied and not always
adulatory; they range from sentimentality and nostalgia to a cynical celebration of their
coming of age. However, their diasporic condition, their sense of exile and alienation and
their efforts to seek replenishment by making symbolic returns to their origins bind all this
writing into a unity.

The future of Indians in the diaspora, revolves upon two modalities of thought and action.
First, diasporic Indians must, without necessarily offering their allegiance to the idea of the
nation-state, attempt a coalition-style politics with other communities and groups of those
who are not only marginalized, peripheral, and disenfranchised, but whose knowledge
systems have, through the processes of colonialism and management, and with the aid of
Enlightenment notions of science, rationality, and progress, been rendered powerless and
superfluous. The retreat into the family home, the concerted refusal to engage with a wider
notion of the 'public', and the mindless replication of 'timeless' traditions have been among
the more distressing characteristics of Indian existence abroad, particularly in the affluent
West. We cannot but fail to recognize, when we consider the story of Indian indentured labor,
that in the mockery of black people, or in the constant humiliation of Hispanics in the U.S.,
there is also the humiliation of Indians and all those who have been victimized by dominant
categories of knowledge as much as by brute force.

Secondly, diasporic Indians cannot reasonably look to the Indian government for succour and
assistance, and whatever the strength of the emotional and cultural ties between them and the
'motherland', their center of being lies elsewhere. That question, 'what can India do for people
of Indian ancestry abroad', begs to be effaced. However much comfort there may be in
thinking of identity as given, bound within purportedly natural categories, or in supposing
that identity can always be recovered and revived, there is a greater courage, which diasporic
Indians have seldom displayed, in reconstituting identity along lines of political and cultural
choices, and in defiance of received categories of knowledge. Perhaps, in this endeavor,
placed as many diasporic Indians are in an in-between space, they may yet be in the position
of trying to give society a new, at least slightly more human, face.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Umarsharif Shaikh Naushad, Diasporic Writings: A view, Lecturer, AKI's Poona

College of Arts, Com. & Sci.

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 Singh Amarjit, Indian Diaspora: Voices of Grandparents and Grandparenting,

Transgressions: Cultural Studies and Education, published by Sense Publishers, 2013,
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 Shankar Saha Amit, Exile Literature and the Diasporic Indian Writer, Calcutta
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 D. Butler Kim, Defining Diaspora, Refining a Discourse, Rutgers University, 2001

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