Diasporic Identity Of Indian Diaspora

"STUDYING DIASPORIC IDENTITY THROUGH INDIAN DIASPORAS"

"Displacement has no replacement and this is the reality of diaspora"

The dictionary meaning of the term diaspora refers to a large group of people with similar heritage or homeland who have since moved out to all places of the world. The term is derived from an ancient Greek word which means " to scatter about". But the term has been particularly referred to the historical mass movements of involuntary nature like that of the expulsion of the Jews from Israel, the trading of Africans as slaves into North America, the

The first generation refers to those Indians which left the country during the colonial rule and the other set constitutes the Indians who moved out after India got independence. Another group may be added to these two groups which is called the modern diasporas . The national identity of the first generation may be changed politically, but they remain fastened to their original homeland culturally , linguistically and ethnically and the second generation finds it hard to adhere to the identity of the parental land. In contemporary modern era, immigration , exile and expatriation are related to home, identity , nostalgia, memory and isolation. These are mainly the recurrent themes in the diasporic writings of writers like V. S Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Jhumpa Lahiri, Kiran Desai and many other

Ashima's link with the Indian soil is mainly because of her love for the Bengali language and the American English seems less important to her. The grasping of "a tattered copy of desh megazine" in a hospital in America indicates her temporary relief in the foreign land . Another important factor in constructing the identity of these diasporic people or immigrants is culture. In the novel, the proximity of these people to Indian soil has been illustrated through the nurturing of the Bengali culture by singing songs of Nazrul and Tagore , analysing the films of Satyajit Roy as well as debating over the political issues and parties of West Bengal. Native cultural activities like dances and songs seem to construct the cultural identity of the people and at times even negotiate with the other cultures too. In the novel, The Namesake written by Jhumpa Lahiri, Ashima's preservation of the various Bengali rituals epitomizes the bond with her native land rather than bonding with the foreign land. The celebration of Gogol's Annaprasan (rice ceremony) as per the Bengali norms provided Ashima a temporary relief in the foreign land even though most of her relatives and family members are missing. But her son Gogol's cultural identity is more connected with the American culture. He listens to American music more than the Indian