Contents – Here and There: The Diaspora Universe (Issue 8)
Index: Here and There – The Diaspora Universe
Posts from the ‘Issue 8/Here and There: The diaspora universe’ Category
Jun 30
7
Comments
Editorial – Scattered winds
By Bhaswati Ghosh
I inherited diasporic sensibilities even before I would experience living in a diaspora environment
myself. In the latter, I am a greenhorn; I have lived outside my home country for only the last five
years. Yet, I can already sense the agony of the longing my grandmother must have felt in her new
surroundings.
Under a leafless tree
By Sumana Roy
Our apartment, this new sealed airtight-container life, where my hair and skin became as crisp as potato
wafers inside a packet, eventually pushed me out into the cold. I cannot exactly say whether I found it
or it found me. I was, by this time, homesick, but also full of the reserve of – how does one say it
without sentimentality – a tree that knows it will survive winter.
It’s all in a name
By Sweta Srivastava Vikram
The way handbags are to New York women, cars to Los Angelenos, wine to the French, and pasta to the
Italians, the relevance of a name is to an Indian. Depending on the part of India you are from, the
religious faith you are born into, and the caste you belong to, the ritual of the naming convention
might differ. But the core never changes—your name is your statement you make to the world.
Heaven Bound
By C. J. Peiffer
I taught with only a small blackboard and worksheets made on the priest’s typewriter, duplicated with
carbon paper. I learned how to use an important Peace Corps concept: flexibility. I gave up the comforts
of home in exchange for what I gained, for I acquired so much more than I was able to give.
Of foreign words in foreign lands
By Pritha Lal
The first memory is that of a beautiful Egyptian woman named Aazza. As our neighbor in Kuwait, she was
kind enough to take me under her wings and get me up to speed on my Arabic. Being in grade 6, I was
required to have elementary knowledge of Arabic. This lovely woman took it upon herself to teach me the
language—not just what the books said, but a little bit more.
Mustard zing and noodle soup slurp: Loving through food in a foreign land
By Debolina Dey
The diasporic foodie, straddling the worlds between nostalgia and a newfound adventure for taste, a
newer palette, and newer flavours— does just that. Every dish stands in between a memory of tastes
filtered through longing, and ingredients at hand.
Scattered, walking: The point of no return
By Lopa Banerjee
At home, ten thousand miles away from my verdant memories, I cook, water plants, feed, write and rewrite
as I wander aimlessly in crinkled corners of my girlhood. I collide with the shadows of my past, both
staying our separate, ubiquitous selves. Together, we wake to the early morning frost and the sullen
smoke drifting to the far-flung corners of the sky.
Turning the corner
By Achyut Dutt
She was cold, real cold and as I held her, she shivered uncontrollably. I sat her down and brought in
the spare hooded parka from the employees’ closet and draped it round her. She smelt awful but I somehow
managed to hold her tight allowing her body to get warm. Gradually the shivering passed.
Jet Lagged Kolkata Night
By Sudeshna Sengupta
While I was exhausted after a long plane ride — I decided to capture this very intense experience by
writing, sketching, and documenting it in whatever ways I could during the sleepless jet-lagged nights,
sometimes sitting inside the mosquito net — sometimes staring out the window at night from a 4th floor
apartment.
Diaspora encounters
By Sabiha Farhat
On all those occasions we occupied the roads, and brought the traffic to a standstill. Even my
13-year-old was part of rallies. Would Rakesh and his children ever think of protesting and rebelling
against, or reclaiming, anything? Perhaps they don’t need to. As Sehar would lovingly put it, “It’s a
hassle-free country, sister! Welcome to America!”
Excerpt from “FINDING PIYA”
By Dipika Mukherjee
What she didn’t say was that Snapchat this past week had been filled with pictures of that emo Rachel
LePage backpacking through Europe, knocking at unfamiliar doors that said Zimmer Frie! to spend the
night…all that adventure on a Eurail pass. How much more awesome, more photogenic, would an Indian train
ride be?
Death by Snow
By Mosarrap H. Khan
The men and women sang to the accompaniment of drums begging for money; the jobless youth boarded the
trains during daytime hawking Oreo cookies, cheap perfumes, and stuffed toys; the teenage kids came
after the school armed with music systems to dance and ask for money; at night, the train gave shelter
to the homeless who carried all their possessions in small carts.
Being Calamity Jane
By Rashida Murphy
I uncurled from the floor, shut the bedroom door where my daughter still slept, dark hair and one bare
leg visible under a purple blanket and switched the TV on softly. They were doing repeats of a disaster
movie on every channel over and over again in freeze frames. Buildings were on fire and people were
running in the street, followed by explosions and black smoke.
More winters to pass
By Gauarv Deka
She had thought me to be one of those lost Indian men seeking love in alien lands. We had become good
friends once she knew that I had nothing to do with women when it came to romance or sex. She’s the only
person who has known about Arko as well as the fact that I was divorced before coming to Berlin from the
very beginning.
Café Dissensus 