Papers by Kalyan Pattanayak
The term 'Postcolonial' is used for a historical phase that corresponds to the aftermath of Europ... more The term 'Postcolonial' is used for a historical phase that corresponds to the aftermath of European colonisation. The period is witness to the effects of colonialism on languages, cultures and communities in the post-independence era. The ineradicable mark of the European colonisation on the contemporary world has not only resulted in a process of unification as well as diversification but also has caused the most controversial global concerns like economic instability, ethnic rivalries, cultural violation, migration and dislocation, expatriation and hybrid nations formation along with cross culturalism and ethnic inclusiveness. This sets a question of 'identity' as one of its prime deliberations. The people belonging to the pro colonised paradigm quander in the hunt for a consolidated 'identity' while in the process of doing so find themselves consumed by insecurity and self-doubt. This concern of postcolonial dimension of the quest for identity has been widely addressed by one of the leading Indian Parsi writers in English, Boman Desai in Asylum, USA. The present paper endeavors to illustrate how migration and cultural conflicts impacts the immigrants' sense of insecurity which alters their distinctive identity by leaving a permanent deep subterranean chasm in their lives and their persistent efforts to bridge up this gap of identity with reference to the Parsi community in Asylum, USA. Boman Desai, who is born and grew up in Mumbai, is an Indian expatriate himself as he shuttles back and forth between two major cities of the world and their reflections-Bombay and Chicago. His writings are mostly evocative of some predictability in terms of approach, certain consistency in form of narratives, technique, and choice of subject matters-reminiscence of the past, migration, nostalgia, transculturalism, longingness for identity, alienation, and the theme of marriage-all of which mostly revolve around the Parsi Zoroastrian community. He is certainly more inclined towards emphatically affirming his 'Parsiness' through his works. Desai has the powerful skill to blend his memories of India and that of his Works Cited
Significantly occupied with arresting the outward progression of outpost diaspora from India in t... more Significantly occupied with arresting the outward progression of outpost diaspora from India in the nineteenth century, Amitav Ghosh's "Sea of Poppies" (2008) centers around one female indentured named Deeti, a widow of an elite class family from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh, who absconds with Kalua, the untouchable. Following the pages of Sir George Grierson's journal, Amitav Ghosh recuperates Deeti from history, less with the creative mind of a writer similarly as with the senses of an anthropologist. The novel handles the deficiency of Deeti's caste, its challenged status in the transient experience, and its last recovery as a theme-based topic. In spite of the fact that the customary caste chain of importance was essentially lost in the transitory interaction, the researcher contends, it kept on existing in surrogate structure and just stood by to be figured out as expected. This paper additionally contends that the old Indian diaspora's nostalgic quest for their familial roots in India is played in the novel with the recommendation that the hunt may uncover some awkward truth they might not want to know.
The Creative Launcher
The Shadow Lines (1988) is a historical novel by Amitav Ghosh that focuses on the national and ge... more The Shadow Lines (1988) is a historical novel by Amitav Ghosh that focuses on the national and geographical boundaries that alienate individuals. The book also depicts the violence that erupted in 1964. The title “The Shadow Lines” has multiple layers of meanings; it does not only relate to international boundaries. Ghosh’s choice of the title implies that the boundaries that divide people are just ‘shadows’. Those borders are nothing but artificial and fictitious lines drawn by people from power centre. Ghosh emphasises arbitrary nature of such geographic demarcations. This paper tends to identify the identity of people who did cross geographical borders forcefully or voluntarily and how memory and nostalgia loom large upon them.
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Papers by Kalyan Pattanayak