T 1290.pdf - Pondicherry University DSpace Portal

"Hindus" and "Courtly Vision", Mukherjee comments on these,tories in her introduction: "The purely \Canadian1 stories inthis collection were difficult to wrlte and even more painfulto live through. They are uneasy stories about expatriation",(2) Most of the remainlng stories were written in the springof 1984 in Atlanta, Georgia, when Mukherjee was wrlter-lnresidenceat Emory University.In "Hindus", wrltten In Canada, but set In the UnitedStates of Amerlca, Hukherlee juxtaposes an expatrlate agalnstan lmmlgrant to draw out the contrast. Leela Lahlrl, thenarrator of thls flrst person narrative reveals an lrnmlgrant'sfluld ldentlty. She proudly declares, "I am an AmerlcanCltlzen" (133) but she is also proud of her Bengall Brahminpast. H.R.H. Maharalah Patwant Slngh of Gotlah 1s an obviousexpatriate wlth a grievance aqalnst Indla. "Indla wants me tostarve In my overgrown palace". (135) He 1s fllled withhatred for Indla, self-plty and a sense of Injury.Belng a newborn lmmlgrant does not mean totally denylngher Hlndu past. Her colleague Llsa, surprised at Leela'sfluent use of Hlndl remarked, "I had no idea you spoke Hindu"(140). Earller when Leela had been rnarrled to Derek, she hadfelt anger at the lgnorant confusion between Hlndl and Hlndu.That had been malnly due to Derek's Influence. But now shethlnks: