REVERBERATION OF DIASPORIC CONSCIOUSNESS IN BHARATI MUKHERJEE’S ARTISTRY: A CROSS-CULTURAL INTERPRETATION OF MISS NEW INDIA

Abstract [English]

Post-Colonial period witnessed a new phase in the geographical and physical environment of human entity. The new arena brings forth challenges in the form of migration and emigration. Migrations erased and re-inscribed patterns of being and belonging. The sense of being displaced and hybrid identity forced every one to tie up within the entirely different civilizations as well as perceptions. Eventually their hunger for connectedness found out a new interpretation beneath the designation of Diaspora. The word “Diaspora” etymologically derived from the Greek verb “diaspeiro” ( dia means over or across and speiro means to sow or scattering seeds). Initially the term diaspora used to refer to the dispersed jews after the Babylonian captivity. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, diaspora has been defined in reference to “anybody of the people living outside their traditional homeland”. In its contemporary usage diaspora indicates movement and dynamism, origin and belonging, community and culture, along with loneliness and isolation. Diaspora illustrates the hybrid and ever-changing nature of identities that are no more dependent on homogeneity, purity and stable localization. Diasporic literature revolves around the idea of homeland or a place from where the displacement happens, and it deal with the narration of harsh journeys taken on by the characters due to their expulsion. The writers of diaspora give voice to their sense of loss in an alien land and then gradually turn towards the process of reconciliation, assimilation and affirmation. The writers like V.S Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh, Jhumpa Lahiri, Vikram Seth and Kamala Markandeya, Bharati Mukherjee, gives a different dimension to the background of immigrant writings, where they echoed their own voices for the fictionalized characters and the writer themselves merged with the story line for the perfection of real untold story of immigrants.
Bharati Mukherjee, one of the spontaneous figures in diasporic literature gifted a handful of literary masterpieces in the realm of diversity. When the Post-colonial field focused on the hybridity of immigrant’s life Mukherjee seems to throw light on the plight of her women characters. The writer herself pictured every aspect of women as she alienated by her surroundings. Her writings offer a full range of experience of the emerging Indian woman who though rooted in customs, is strongly dedicated to re-defining her role and her connection to various associations of the society in the light of modern thought and consciousness. The characteristic features of Mukherjee’s writings coincides with typical diasporic entities such as quest for identity, uprooting, and re-rooting, insider and outsider syndrome, nostalgia, nagging sense of guilt etc. It also serves as an outlet to the bent up passions, emotions and feelings, providing a ventilator to grievances and grudges. The present paper wishes to overview Mukherjee’s novel Miss New India (2011) and wants to explore how the character establishes her own space.