Being
an only child, I've been spoilt rotten by my parents. Loaded with love and
given the best of everything. My husband too is the apple of his parent’s eye,
one-who-can-do-no-wrong.
My
Tiny-one was born in America. He is an American by birth. Of course he makes a
selection later whether he wants to retain his American citizenship or take up
the Indian one. But we all know how that is going to turn out.
America:
the land of opportunities. It gives you a chance to display your potential and
in turn get the deserved appreciation. All the first world comforts given to
you on sort of a silver platter. You have the best of everything available
within arm’s reach. Setting up a house is simple. Buying a car is child's play.
Living made simple. Living made comfortable.
But
there is always something missing. Unselfish love you receive from your parents
and family. The simple or elaborate, as you may like, celebrations of all the
festivals with your loved ones. The feeling that you belong. This is something
that you cannot experience anywhere else.
We
recently returned the States. One of the prime reasons was the loneliness, of my
parents and mine. We also wanted our child to experience the wonderful love of
the grandparents and extended family. We wanted him to experience the simple
pleasures we grew up with. However, in a catch-22 kind of situation, the work
suffers. Managing the house is unbelievably expensive. Everything just looks
hard to get. All this makes you feel if you were better off in America.
I
suppose there is no solution to this situation. This question is always going
to linger over our heads, wherever we may be.
What
appealed to me about the Unaccustomed Earth is Jhumpa Lahiri has very aptly portrayed
these emotions via her senior protagonist - the first generation of immigrants.
I even sympathized with the younger generation, as I am not very far off from
the age group mentioned. I imagined my Tiny-one going through the similar
emotions in case he does grow up in America, for that matter even if he grows
up in the Westernized India.
The
emotions are true and hit the bulls-eye. The situations however become a bit
repetitive by the last story. The characters are completely unharmed by any
biases, discrimination that Indians face abroad, especially in the 1970’s and
80’s.
The
book is still quite similar to The Namesake, differing only in the format as
that was a full fledged description of emotions of a single family. Being a
group of short stories it was surprisingly fluid, making the book very easy and
pleasurable to read.
It’s
a good read for the people who have experienced similar situations and do
understand that there are more to the stories then is present in the written
word.
