Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London of Bengali Parents, and grew up in Rhode Island, USA. She is an accomplished writer and winner of the Pulitzer prize in 2000. Anyone and everyone who has read the story will agree that she is indeed a master story-teller!!!
The book deals with the trials and tribulations of an Indian Bengali couple who migrate very soon in their married life to the US of A. How their kids grow up confused. they are being sent to American schools, taught American History and yet, they know that they are not natives of the country.
The best part about the book is the intricacies with which she has explained the small, otherwise trivial things about life of an Indian in America. How, they try their best to maintain the culture that they have carried in from India. How they desperately want their kids to appreciate the culture and traditions, they do not understand, and feel no connect to. How the kids grow up hating everything that has anything to do with their being Indian. How they keep reminding themselves, that they are Americans really and have only a faint remote connection to India. How they are lost, coz they no longer feel the connection to their relatives on the visits to India and are aching to come back, to the place they belong. At the same time, they are not completely accepted in the American society. They may sit and eat with them, dress like them, but never will they be, THEM!
The story kind of reminded me of an old Hindi proverb
Dhobi ka kutta, na ghar ka, na ghaat ka (which translates roughly to “A washerman’s dog, belongs neither to the home, nor to the washing-ground”)
Indeed, this is a growing concern, amongst millions of Indians living abroad. The topic dealt so beautifully by Jhumpa, actually needs a further thought. The identity crisis is probably one of the worst that any human can face. You suddenly belong to no place, belong to no one. There are blood relations, you hardly know and there are made-relations who hardly know you!
God bless people who are going through this. May God give them the sanity to first understand who they are and then the wisdom to accept it.
Amen!
mujhe jo achhi lagi usme se ek post.
yet to see the movie… but there are many who hate Jhampa for her boring stories. However, I haven’t tried any.
Thanks Kuldip
Havent read her other books. But, one thing is for sure, Namesake is anything but boring
Well, I first thought of ignoring it, but then-inspite of being really tired after a long day’s work- I thought I have to say something here. I will try to be short..hope so..
First regarding Namesake..I havent read the book; But, have watched the movie. As I understand , movie is very close to the book. The writer herself commented somewhere that Mira Nair has captured the essence of novel very well and there are no distortions to suit the cinematic sensibilities. Movie is well made; The first half is particularly good. But , for me, the problem was in the story rather than the cinematic treatment. The big deal shown regarding the change of name- on which the whole story revolves- is both cliched and dated. Apart from that, certain situations and characters shown-for ex, relationship between Kal penn and his white girlfriend – were too cliched to be taken seriously in America of 2007. If the story was set up in 1960′s and 70′s , it would have been more relevant ( When America was not exactly the melting pot it become now). Iam not saying it’s not good at all. Some of the things are very beautifully captured and it does touch your heart. May be my expectations were more from the story…
Coming to what you said about identity crisis among Indians born here and otherwise…
Ofcourse, there are issues with people who are born to Immigrant parents. But to say that they necessarily face an identity crisis is not correct.
The question of identity is not that simple..
Where does one belong to? This question is not easily resolved even if you have lived in the same city all of your life..I remember once I asked an American-who was working in our team in Montreal- that ,” originally” where is he from..and he very wisely remarked, originally nobody is from anywhere. America came into existence in 1600′s and all white americans were originally British/Irish/Scottish/europeans etc.
Now, somebody living in Texas would want to be known as southern guy and may feel an identity crisis if he starts living in west coast and vice versa..his grandmother might be of Italian descent, his half brother might get married to a Philipino and he himself is dating a Mexican..Now what is his identity..An American, A Brit, Texan, Italian or what?
I have personally known quite a few second generation people ( Indian, Chinese , Lebanese etc). Ok, let’s here talk about Indians only..First, they are not the ABCD’s they are made of by people back home in India…they are much more Canadian or American than Indian simply because they were born here, schooled here and lived here..They, generally, have hardly any issues of being discriminated or profiled because of their skin color or their parents ethnicity. They have no problem integerating in the society here.
They, most of the times, celeberate their mixed identity, as they feel they can take the best out of both the worlds.Most of them are curious about India, have pride in it’s uniqueness and are anything but ashamed of there Indian names or there parents being from India. And this is because North America , and especially US, has been a country of Immigrants ever since and you can , depending upon how you see it, be both an outsider and native at the same time.
Yes, the first generation people do have a constant dilemma, because they were rooted in one culture and suddenly come to a different culture. But, for one, they come at their own will and are ready to face these issues. Second, I see them primarily Indians only who have made these countries as their new homes and are trying to imbibe the new values while retaining their Indian culture and traditions to the extent possible.
Actually it needs much more space and time to discuss and reflect about it ..
Hope, I made some point here
Just to add here..my analysis was based on the movie only which is supposed to be very close to the book. The book might be much better as writing is quite a different medium
God, you are so right. Topic is so close to my heart – that I find it difficult to articulate about this on a comment.
But you are right. Very few things are worse than cultural isolation.
And, I love the book.
-N-
Something from an Amitav Ghosh book (haven’t read the book yet, just read quote somewhere, so don’t know what is the context for this quote)
“Where else can you belong but the place you refuse to leave?”
I find this question to be kind-a practical, pithy answer.
it is a beautiful story, i acutally saw the movie… and u can relate more to this story if you are a bong or u know a little about bong culture…
interpreter of maldives is another classic.. well, i dont read books AT ALL. and this is one amonsgt the 3-4 books i would have read in my whole life time! please do read thsi book…the stories sound very real…
@neurojava: yap! U couldnt say but i could understand
@Rachana:
@Vaishno: Read the book… its even better
I have written a book on social networking. Can you write a review on this.
thanks
dhiraj kumar
the namesake, an outstanding novel by lahiri is based on the inbetweenness of the bengali immigrants and the dilemma of the 2nd generation to accept either of the realities has been well portrayed.