The Global Journal of Literary Studies
I
Volume II, Issue I
I February 2016
ISSN : 2395 4817
The Global Journal of Literary Studies
I
February 2016
I
Vol. II, Issue I
I
ISSN : 2395 4817
The Dilemma of Identity in Amit Chaudhuri’s Novels
Afternoon Raag and Odysseus Abroad
Alina Nidagundi
Riga Technical University
Latvia.
EUROPE.
Abstract
The focus of the research is to investigate the question of identity in the novels Afternoon Raag (1993) and
Odysseus Abroad (2014) written by Amit Chaudhuri. Both of the novels deal with young Indian-origin protagonists
living in England who struggle with self-identification. The modern world is globalized and has many
representatives of different diasporas living outside their homelands. Afternoon Raag and Odysseus Abroad
highlight the questions of loneliness, isolation, homesickness and trying to adjust. The protagonists of the novels
are anxious to be included as they only half-belong to the world they are in. The novels are conspicuous examples
of diasporic literature and are analysed from the angle of postcolonial and diasporic literary studies.
Keywords : Diasporic Literature, identity, Indian English literature,
The Global Journal of Literary Studies
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Volume II, Issue I
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ISSN : 2395 4817
Indian Diaspora
The Indian diaspora has grown rapidly in the past four decades to comprise more than 28 million people
over all continents. It has developed its own networks, organizations and patterns of living. These patterns
have been manifested not only by the influences of the hostland cultures, but also by relations with the
homeland. The consciousness of homeland is always present and is part and parcel of the transnational
context. It goes without saying that this transnational context has produced a wide variety of prominent
Indian-origin writers who live abroad. One of them is Amit Chaudhuri who is currently based in the UK.
His works Afternoon Raag and Odysseus Abroad focus on such topical issues as the concept of diaspora,
identity, the dilemmas that Indians abroad face.
The concept of diaspora has many interpretations. According to Steven Vertovec, this term describes any
population “which has originated in land other than that in which it currently resides, and whose social,
economic, and political networks cross the borders of nation states or, indeed, span the globe”. These
people are away from their motherland, but “are held together by factors such as a common ethnic
identity and a collective relation towards the original homeland”.
In the case of Afternoon Raag and Odysseus Abroad we come across many representatives of the Indian
diaspora residing in England. The characters of these novels meet and find common ground on the basis
of belonging to the same ethnicity. It is worthy of note that not all ethnic groups form diasporas. The
formation of a diaspora is symptomatic to the following common experiences pointed out by Safran:
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They retain a collective memory, vision, or myth about their original homeland
Their relationship with the dominant element of society in the hostland is complicated and often
uneasy. That is, they believe that they are not fully accepted by their host society and therefore
feel partly alienated and insulated from it.
They regard their ancestral homeland as their true, ideal home.
Their cultural, religious, economic, and/or political relationships with the homeland are reflected
in a significant way in their communal institutions.
The creation of networks, communities and institutions, especially non-governmental ones, has led to the
emergence of transnationalism. The main trigger is the advancement of globalization that can be
described by such key factors as easy travel and communication facilities which have greatly compressed
time and space.
These transnational spaces are constructed from transnational networks which are based on transnational
family networks: “interactions between members of a family living in different countries as well as upon
the networking of community organisations”.
Many Indians migrated from India to different parts of the world, including Europe. If we speak about
Europe, Sahoo states that there exist the so-called ‘old’ and ‘new’ Indian diasporas. According to this
classifications, the representatives of the ‘old’ diaspora migrated mainly to the UK, France and the
Netherlands at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century. In its turn, the ‘new’
diaspora formed later, during the 20th and the 21th centuries.
Thus, it is evident that there has been a well-established practice of moving to the UK for studies, work or
other reasons.
Homeland Orientation
It is no secret that Indian people are home-oriented. Hence the image of home and homeland finds its way
into the representation of life of Indian diaspora representatives in literature. Gijsbert Oonk states that “in
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ISSN : 2395 4817
Indian diaspora literature the reproduction of culture in an often-hostile environment and the relation to
the homeland are key features of the diaspora concept”. It is also worthy of note that some Indians abroad
“do not so much identify with India as a nation but with the homeland”. That is, the exact area where they
or their ancestors originate from. Which leads to the conclusion that region and locality are crucial in the
self-identification process. Gijsbert Oonk claims that non-Indians do not perceive India as fragmented.
The image of the unity is “reproduced in the vast and growing literature on the Indian diaspora which
emphasises how and to what extent Indian culture was reproduced in the various host countries”. We can
witness this process in Afternoon Raag and Odysseus Abroad. Both the protagonists of the novels, young
Indian-origin, more precisely Bengali, students, do not feel at home in England. They constantly recall
their life at home. On many occasions they want to quit their studies and return home.
The protagonist of Afternoon Raag mentions both the Bengali language and his family’s origins and
history multiple times even though the numerous relatives are spread out both all around India and the
world: “I remember in childhood travelling with my parents to a town in Assam, and being taken in a car
to the outskirts, and entering a place without electricity, where people lived in a small house among other
houses; we were greeted by a family: a father, his daughter, her husband, and a child, and the old man had
the same surname as I. My father addressed him with the Bengali word for ‘paternal uncle’, and they
spoke in the Sylheti dialect, and fragments of that world in which the remnants of my father’s family
lived came alive in the light of a hurricane lamp”.
In fact half of the whole novel consists of the protagonist’s memories of India and his family life. He is
extremely homesick and nostalgic. All the small details of his Indian household start to haunt him shortly
after his arrival to Oxford. The fact that he is among many international students in a buzzing-with-life
environment does not help. He tries to fill this void by starting meaningless relationships with two fellow
students. He knows that they do not make sense in the real world, outside the bubble of their Oxford life.
In Oxford even beds are “made for solitude”. The protagonist’s main daily task was to “diminish each
moment” of his life there. The only speck of light are his yearly trips back home, letters that he receives
from his parents and reminiscing about his music guru and his mother singing.
On the other hand, Ananda, the protagonist of Odysseus Abroad, lives in London and at first glance
should not feel that lonely. He has the luxury to live in a tiny apartment of his own. His parents visit him
often. His mother stays in London the most. She cooks all this favourite richly flavoured food: “Again,
Ananda thought of his mother, her omniscient chatter, her crusades. His uncle and he felt incomplete
without her. Why did he miss her? Was it what Sunjay (finalist at LSE, staying upstairs before the Patels
came along) had said: “The reason you want your mother here is because she cooks you nice meals.”
How far he’d been from the truth! […] His mother resumed cooking too — dressed in a red printed sari,
serving up coder jhaal. Thick white rectangles of cod in a gravy of chilli powder, with a spattering of
turmeric, slivers of onion and fingernail shavings of garlic, and specks of kalonji that she’d brought from
India.” Despite her frequent visits, his mother cannot stay in England all the time. Even though Ananda is
an adult, he feels safer and more at ease when his mother is with him. He no longer has to face all the
unknown alone, there is a familiar comfort of home that her presence represents. That is the reason he
suddenly finds himself missing her more than he would have ever expected.
His maternal uncle lives in London not far away from him. They constantly meet and go to Indian
restaurants and cafes. All of that is on the surface, but in reality Ananda is desperate to go back.
Everything is so unfamiliar and hostile. He feels that he is “now without a real home in London”. He
thinks about music and constantly practises raags to the displeasure of his neighbours. In this way he feels
closer to his everyday routine in India. His uncle does not share his sentiments, or at least pretends he
does not: “Not only was he seldom sympathetic towards Ananda’s outpourings of homesickness, he
claimed he never felt homesick himself. He was lying.”
The Global Journal of Literary Studies
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ISSN : 2395 4817
Identity
Anand Mulloo claims that living away from homeland caused inevitable “transformation, blending,
adaptation, adjustment, interchange that formed part of a dynamic multi-cultural cultural life that
produced a new diasporic identity, distinct from the original Indian identity. Having blended the various
cultural experiences, they became the bearers of multiple creolised identities.”. In fact everyone gets
“creolised” – the hostland cannot stay unchanged having experienced the appearance of ethnic cuisine,
dress, music, entertainment, festivals, ethos and an attachment to Indian culture, civilization and
philosophy of the Indian-origin population.
The protagonists of both novels are confused about the place they belong to. On the one hand, England
seems familiar and full of fellow Indian-origin residents. On the other hand, it is very different from their
homeland and they do not feel fully included in the life of the society.
The protagonist of Afternoon Raag is self-conscious. It comes partly from the foreignness of his looks as
well as from the reaction of people, even beggars: “…alcoholics who, for some reason, seemed least illat-ease when begging from a dark-skinned foreigner. […] I would either be wished good luck or cursed
for being in England”. The protagonist studied, read and thought about England being in India so much
that it definitely influenced his perception of the country. His expectations were different and they
interfered with his real life experiences.
At the same time the new world of Oxford has made the protagonist realize that he is no longer
completely rooted. He identifies himself with everything Indian, but strives to become more local too. He
marvels at Mandira who has many English girlfriends, feels at ease with them and generally lives in this
exciting world of rapid English he cannot always follow. He feels insecure about his English skills, even
though he is quite proficient and eager to learn more and more. He inwardly compares himself to other
students, in particular to his friend Sharma: “…the confidence with which he expressed himself in
English, dropping articles and subverting grammar, made me think that my own sense of foreignness, of
loneliness, was a luxury and an invention”. Compared to others he feels more secure and progressing
through this transition time.
In Odysseus Abroad Ananda has to adapt to the new circumstances. In India he spoke and read a lot in
English, wore jeans, ate sandwiches and it distinguished him from others. However, “almost none of this
counted for anything in London, since everyone here spoke English, ate sandwiches, wore jeans or
corduroys. In this way, his identity had been taken away from him…”Ananda notices that many Indians
are referred to as “Asian” by the English. This label feels foreign to him: “Ananda didn’t see himself as
“Asian.” He was keen to militate against the category, though his militancy must, naturally, remain
incommunicable to the people it was intended for. He was Indian. He’d go back home some day…”
London definitely does not feel like home. Ananda describes his first two years as “painful”: “Firstly,
there was the civilisation itself, with its language — a language only secondarily his — its zebra
crossings, where cars slowed down and waited, pulsating, its assortment of tea bags and cheese and pickle
sandwiches, its dry, clipped way of speaking. He felt terribly excluded.” Everything feels fake. Even
Indian food which is in abundance there. Something is lacking in its taste and it disturbs Ananda.
Traditional food undoubtedly plays one of the key roles in the Indian culture. Having the opportunity not
only to cook it at home, but also to taste it any time at a variety of Indian restaurants and cafes should
have cheered Ananda up. But he does not see it as an advantage. He wants it to taste exactly like in India:
“It was the tragedy of London — to eat Indian food outside of the “curry” and to constantly discover the
unfamiliar in the familiar”. Testes and smells blend and it is no longer the pure Indian type, just like
mixing of people’s identities.
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ISSN : 2395 4817
Conclusion
The prominent Indian-origin writer Amit Chaudhuri is a vivid representative of the Indian diaspora living
abroad. Two works written by the author have been analysed. The problem of identity is in the focus of
attention.
The Indian diaspora has considerably expanded in the 19th-20th centuries. In this connection there
appeared two notions: “old” and “new” Indian diasporas. The term diaspora is many-sided and can be
interpreted in various ways. Some of the approaches have been highlighted in the work.
Both in Afternoon Raag and in Odysseus Abroad there exists the problem of feeling homesick. Home and
homeland are one of the milestones for every Indian. That is why they crave for everything Indian while
they are away from home.
In Afternoon Raag the protagonist never forgets about his homeland, about some small details of the way
of life in India. On the other hand, living in England, he does try to be integrated in the local society. His
attempts are not successful as he feels lonely and homesick every day, every moment. As he lives in
Oxford the reader gets to know some bits about the life of students studying in Oxford.
The main protagonist of Odysseus Abroad lives in London. He also feels lonely, although he has tight
connections with his home and he is happy to welcome his parents in his small apartment. Raags are
important for him to practise since for him they are a bridge between him and India, his homeland.
Another key concept of home is Indian cuisine. In both the works the protagonists cannot do without
Indian dishes. In Odysseus Abroad in London Indian food does not taste Indian. Homeland for every
person is one and it is here that people feel themselves happy.
Thus, both the works represent a subtle study of an Indian who finds himself abroad. The protagonists are
young and look for a better life, education in Britain. But they find out that some other things prevail.
They are: the feeling of being homesick, missing great traditions and customs and even food one gets
used to from the cradle.
The works give food for thought not only to those who live abroad, but also for those who remain at home
but think that life is better somewhere else. The novels prove the idea that being away from your home
does not make people happy. The author Amit Chaudhuri is very convincing in depicting it.
References
Vertovec, S. (1997) Three Meanings of Diaspora. Available from
https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/diaspora_a_journal_of_transnational_studies/v0
06/6.3.vertovec.html [Accessed November 20, 2015]
Safran, W., Sahoo, A. and Lal, B.V. (2009)Transnational Migrations: The Indian Diaspora. London, New York,
New Dehli: Routledge, 4.
Safran, W. (1991) Diasporas in Modern Societies: Myths of Homeland and Return, 83-84.
Basch, L. (1994) Nations Unbound. UK: Taylor and Francis, 5.
Sahoo, A. K. (2006) “Issue of Identity in the Indian Diaspora: A Transnational Perspective” Pp. 81-98 in
Perspectives on Global Development and Technology, Volume 5, issue 1-2 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden.
Oonk, G. (2007) Global Indian Diasporas. Exploring Trajectories of Migration and Theory. Amsterdam:
Amsterdam University Press, 11.
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Chaudhuri, A. (1993) Afternoon Raag. London: Oneworld Publications, 118-119.
Chaudhuri, A. (2015) Odysseus Abroad. London: Oneworld Publications, 95.
Mulloo, A. (2007) Voices of the Indian Diaspora. New Dehli: Motilal Banarsidass, 267.
The Global Journal of Literary Studies
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Volume II, Issue I
I February 2016
ISSN : 2395 4817