RTI

This is not about the Right to Information but about a book called Return to India, written by Shoba Narayan. I first discovered her when I began reading the Saturday Mint Lounge recently. She writes a column in it, a pretty nice one.

The book is about THE GREAT DILEMMA that every immigrant faces at some point, or at many points- to return to your native country/home country or not. One begins to empathise with Hamlet when faced with the question, as every true-blue immigrant will tell you. Shoba writes a very honest account of her urge to get out of India and its domineering relatives' circle around her in Chennai, her transformation from a psychology student to a sculptor and a journalist (something that could only have happened in the U.S.), and her subsequent 'arranged marriage' to an NRI, love for her parents and theirs for her.

She does not pull any punches about her longing for America in the face of all the 'evils' she faces back here in her growing up years (like ultra-conservative parents). But slowly, unknowingly, she starts missing things Indian as she grows older and has children. Then this desire to return becomes an obsesssion, and she convinces her husband into taking up an assignment that brings them closer- to Singapore, and eventually to India.

The story is well-told, and will be of interest to anyone contemplating a trip abroad, a stay abroad, or a return - an RTI. Or to those with friends facing such a dilemma.

1 comment:

Diamond Head said...

I say written ticket to read - Dil E Maa? as in dilemma?

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