A journey ‘In-dia’ spora

Living abroad is about coming to terms with a sense of loss of identity

One of Monday’s sessions at the HLF, titled Cross-cultural Journeys, featured writers Ashwini Devare, Chitra Viraraghavan and Nina McConigley who, after living in different parts of the world, have come to understand that the life of an Indian living abroad is often about coming to terms with a sense of displacement and loss of identity.

Ashwini Devare, whose book Batik Rain features six stories in places as diverse as Washington DC, Bali, Pune and even Hyderabad, says that years back, as a 19year-old working for a television channel in the US, she was quick to put on US accent.

“I did it because at that time, my job demanded it. And like a chameleon I shed it once I was out of the country,” she says.

Author Nina McConigley, author of Cows Boys and East India, said that she grew up in Wyoming, one of the largest US states and yet somehow the “population of cows there are more than people.”

“Wyoming is unlike most states where you are likely to find Indian pockets. I was constantly mistaken to be from an aboriginal Indian tribe from the US. Unlike some Indian-Americans, I am proud of my hyphenated identity,” she said.

Chennai-based author Chitra Viraraghavan, who went to the US when she was 28 , insists that every American has a different identity, whether they like it or not.

“I for one stuck out in the country like a sore thumb,” says the author of the book The

Americans.

Nina added, “I always feel the need to perform my Indian-ness. There is a constant anxiety as one never knows what’s ‘Indian enough.’”

— DC Top: Pannel discussion on Cross-cultural journey in which Ashwini Devare, Chitra Viraraghvan and Nina McConigley participate. Bottom: Pranab Mukherjee showcases a performance on Mahatma Gandhi on the final day of Hyderabad Lit Fest.