Hybrid (Indo- Canadian) Identity and Nostalgia in Selected Works of Uma

Parameswaran
Proposal prepared by

Sanaa Saeed Merza

Abstract
Displacement is a natural human experience. The reasons behind the displacement are complex
and manifold. Among these reasons are the search for a decent life, security and education, or the
desire to join family members who are settled abroad. Immigrant often suffer from alienation,
marginalization and nostalgia. The concept of alienation is inevitable in the life of an immigrant
because of his journey from rootlessness to self-realization and from loss of belonging to the
search for a new identity that combines nostalgia for the past with longing for a prosperous
present. The immigrant writers are considered to be the most sensitive, understanding, and
skillful in depicting and conveying the human feelings of immigrants and their psychological
dispersion through their literary works. The act of displacement motivates the immigrant writers'
minds to visit their countries regularly through the dreams and literature, so much so that their
homeland appears to them again in the form of a series of objects and symbols in their literary
works. Caught between two cultures, immigrant writers frequently address issues of dislocation,
marginalization, nostalgia, and loss of identity.
One of these expatriate writers is the Indo- Canadian writer, Uma Parameswaran, whose works
often embody crucial issues related to the psychological dispersion experienced by immigrants
such as; feelings of racism, alienation, nostalgia, loss of identity, and the clash between
conflicting cultures. Her works depict how life abroad is exhilarating, lonely, and slightly absurd.
In order to survive in the foreign country, her protagonists search for symbols of the past
everywhere, and attempt to unify their essential sensibility of the foreign country with that of
their inherited past. They attempt to create an “alternative world” by integrating their past
heritage with their present world, ignoring their hidden desire to assimilate among the majority.
They oppose their children's willingness to adapt and accept the prevailing culture. They try to
create their own ghetto. Acculturation frequently has a great impact especially on the second
generation immigrants' culture, language, religious beliefs, and habits. Immigrants face
loneliness, alienation, discrimination, up rootedness, and newline intergenerational conflicts and
cultural dilemmas. Parameswaran as a diasporic writer, brings out all of that in her works.
Parameswaran shows how language and culture of the displaced communities are changing, and
how they live on the edges of two different countries and cultures. immigrants often struggle
with nostalgia as they try to integrate into a new culture. They assimilate and negotiate the
cultural space of the host nation while simultaneously emphasizing the culture of their home. In
her essay "Literature of the Indian Diaspora in Canada," Parameswaran claims that"... immigrant
spaces are not homogenous, they depend on how they adjust and adapt to the new environment
and nation” (12). Uma emphasizes that education, rehabilitation, economic status, value to
society, and cultural rooting are all factors affect settling, and the whole process of belonging
and adaptation. Thematically, Parameswara's works revolve around the alienation of individual
from both himself and society. Parameswara is based on her historical and cultural heritage to
create alternative world that expresses Indian and Canadian sensibilities. This sensibility stems
from her background and gives her a sense of imagination and freedom to travel freely across the
world.

Key Words: Nostalgia, Identity, Displacement, Diaspora, Alternative world, Adaptation,

Alienation, Acculturation

Research Questions
1-To what extent does Uma Parameswara, as an Indian woman express her experience of
immigration, culture, tradition, language, and nostalgia?

2- To what extent can Uma Parameswaran's view that “Home is where your feet are, and may
your heart be there too!” be applied in her selected texts?

3 Uma Parameswaran asserts that most immigrants reach the last stage of assimilation. To what
extend does she base on Homi Bhabha 's theory of Hybridization? The question of whether it is a
complete assimilation or it is simply acculturation, still remains.

4-How do Uma Parameswaran's works depict the four phases that migrants undergo during the
process of acculturation and acclimatization in the host country?
5- How does she use landscapes metaphorically to represent nostalgia and a sense of alienation?
Research Objectives
The current study aims at showing how Uma Parameswaran uses settings, fictional characters,
symbols and things in her literary works to show human feelings awakened by the sensibility of
the characters. Her works help to understand the challenges that immigrants face such as; their
feeling of marginalization, racism, alienation, and psychological dispersion between the
nostalgia and their desire to get new identity and to achieve their dreams of a decent life. Uma
Parameswaran depicts how a diaspora community consists of expatriates and immigrants who
are displaced from a particular country or culture and tried to assimilate into the new culture and
identity by participating in its components, but still hold onto their traditions and their original
cultural values. This study also aims at highlighting Parameswaran's message that immigrant can
be adapted to the new life, and be happy regardless to the period of time that he/she lived in the
host country.

Dear Deedi, My Sister by Uma Parameswaran depicts the challenges that plague
Canada's greater immigrant community. Despite the fact that it is a brief play, the
effect it creates is tremendous. Sapna, a late-twenties Indian immigrant, is the main
character who tells everything to her sister. It is natural for a lady who has
established in a foreign nation to expect letters from her motherland. "When I
initially got here, the mailman's regular visit was my lifeline," Sapna adds (63).
Despite the fact that she is in Canada, her heart remains in India and with her
relatives. Nature is "both bountiful and oppressive to her" (63). As in India, "wheat
flourishes in miles and miles of prairie gold" in Canada (63). There are cedar and
fir trees around her, but in her mind's eye, "there are other smells and sounds of
mango blossoms, monsoon rains, and temple bells" (63). She has been longing to
hear the temple bells she used to hear in India; to inhale the smell of incense
stickers she used to burn for Lord Parameswaran; to see Lord Nataraja, the
presiding deity of dance; to walk to the temple All of this she tells her elder sister,
Deedi, who lives in India.

In another context, Parameswaran describes how grateful immigrants are to receive

letters from their hometown. It is a fantastic source of comfort for them because it
relieves their boredom and loneliness. Sapna used to do all types of household
chores in the joint family, such as cleaning, caring for the children and men, and
spending long hours fetching water from the well. She is extremely happy among
the family members, although she is often saddened by the ill treatment she
receives from them. "But these are hardships one may bear for Nature, which, as
you say, is sometimes bountiful and sometimes stingy as a mother-in-law," she
says (68). She has been in Canada since she arrived. She feels relieved of all those
burdens now that she has landed in Canada. "Sapna, my sister, you are blessed to
be far away from all these burdens that womankind must carry in this our ancient
land joyful in your new house," her sister Deedi remarks. . ." (68). Sapna responds,
"Here too, darling Deedi, women suffer for being women. The burdens are
different, but the sorrow is the same" (69). These words demonstrate that
immigrants feel the same way about their family difficulties regardless of where
they live. It could be due to living on two planes, straddling two worlds, gazing
both ways, attempting to establish an identity with the new place while looking
back with nostalgia and regret. All of this contributes to a sense of alienation, a
dislocated sensibility- a hyphenated, decentred, and splintered existence, a belief in
the restoration of their sacred ancestral home, and a definition of self through
identification with their homeland.
The Door I Shut Behind Me, Uma Parameswaran's first short tale, introduces her
narrative of thematically connected, intergenerational, and intertextual immigrant
experience. It represents the immigrant's sensation of wonder and terror at the new
world around him, as well as nostalgia for the one left behind. Judith Kearnsin says
of the theme, "the presentation of the theme of Indo Canadian experience in many
genres was particularly engaging, especially because the literature was
interconnected by theme and by recurrent characters" (49). The plot revolves
around Chander, a young graduate who obtains a green card, travels to Canada,
and is surprised to meet Indian families in a new country. As parting gifts, his
mother gives him a copy of the Ramayana and a translation of the Bhagvat Gita.
The plot revolves around Chander, a young graduate who obtains a green card,
travels to Canada, and is surprised to meet Indian families in a new country. As
parting gifts, his mother gives him a copy of the Ramayana and a translation of the
Bhagvat Gita, but he purchases a copy of Chandra Sekhar's Radioactive Transfer,
despite the fact that it is not his subject of study and cannot be read on a voyage.
He is just motivated by a desire to hold that book:

Chander blinked the glare away and

focused his eyes on the book in his hand.
The black of the title, the motley orange
- yellow – green of the jacket resolved
from their hazy halations into a clear
spectrum of colours and forms --The
Ramanaya, a new English translation.
His mother had given this and Annie
Besant’s translation of the Bhagavad
Gita to him at the airport halfapologetically,
half beseechingly,
choosing the last hour so that he would
not have the heart to refuse. “Keep it on
your table,” she had whispered . . . . (3)

These words demonstrate how Indian families in Canada create "Little Indians"
around themselves in order to live in their childhood memories of India rather than
the India of today.

All of the characters frequently live in a world of nostalgia centered on a kind of

homesickness, bearing the pangs of uprooting and re-routing, the battle to
distinguish oneself from the new unfavorable surroundings.

"Indians abroad" appear to be less self-conscious than "Canadians abroad." Both

are conflicted between ancient and modern world values. Chander has a
comfortable life in Canada, but his heart longs for his homeland. "I'd give
anything, everything in the world to see one of my own people, to hear their
voices," he says. He conveys his thoughts: "I'd give anything, anything in the
world." world to see one of my own people, to hear one of my own language" (7).

Rootless but Green are the Boulevard Trees by Uma Parameswaran highlights the
lives and experiences of Indian immigrants as they battle with the hard and
perplexing challenge of settling in their new nation. Her principal interest is in
discussing the issues of immigrants at various levels, as well as their struggle to
balance the pulls of two cultures. This narrative shows real people in the Indo
Canadian community, and the events, situations, and experiences depicted are
common and typical of immigrants' families in Canada. Several elements
connected to the acknowledgment and acceptance of immigrants have been
covered in this play, as the change demanded impacts the overall configuration of
memory, history, and cultural values, and at times the complete configuration of
memory, history, and cultural values.

Several factors related to the recognition and acceptance of immigrants have been
discussed in this play, as the change demanded affects the overall configuration of
memory, history, and cultural values, and the individual immigrant must
sometimes work within polarities between the question of belonging and not
belonging.

Jayant, Sharad's son, presents his father, an atomic energy physicist in India, in the
play. Jayant feels that if he had stayed in India instead of traveling to Canada, he
would have become a Director. He becomes a real estate broker as a result of his
inability to obtain a good career. Jayant's voice mocks his father when he chooses
to migrate. "Instead, he quits the place to be and rots here selling houses, Jesus, a
poor real estate broker, just one step better than an encyclopedia salesman..." he
says cruelly. (76). Though he had a better profession in India, the living
circumstances in Canada are superior, as Jayant confesses later when recalling his
ancestral home. "Some home that, a gigantic wreck handed down untouched from
Peshwas, where you have to walk half a mile to go to the shithouse, Jesus, we
haven't lost anything on that point; even he couldn't think so" (77). Sharad, like the
other characters in the drama, suffers from racial anxiety. He has a long neck "that
he prefers to thrust out so that his Adam's apple appears even more clearly and he
looks even taller than he is" (81). Sharad's life exemplifies the diasporic
conundrum because he is like 'Trishanku,' an Indian mythological person who,
with the 'rishis' efforts were pushed to heaven but were denied The gods' entrance
into heaven Using both forces He may labor in different directions at the same
time. not belong in either place and remained in the middle worlds. His
predicament of not belonging somewhere His children's behavior reflects this even
more. Savitri, Sharad's wife endures a variety of obstacles in the a new country
When she learns that her daughter has She reacts angrily and says, "We are not
having an active sexual life." even when you are meant to be treated as sensible
adults act like beasts" (90). Sharad, as a father, finds it tough to accept his
children's way of life. He refuses to acknowledge that his children "have the ability
to stroll into the bushes" (81). These lines demonstrate how first-generation
immigrants face difficulties as a result of their children's behavior. Jyothi's brother,
Jayant, is similarly outraged when he learns that his sister may be sleeping with her
boyfriend. "There is something in her eye that draws him up sharply, against the
wall of recognition," he says as he looks at her (77). He is greatly worried and
wants her to reject his hunch. "Unwilling to accept it," he begs her to deny the
same by repeatedly asking her, "You haven't sister?" You haven't, have you? (78).
As a result, young people are unable to cope with the pressures of home and
friends, and if they do not adhere to their culture, they will be isolated. As a result,
irritation and discontent manifest themselves in the family. The author perceives
"seeds of grief in her eyes" (81) to reflect their melancholy state as a result of their
fruitless desire to fit in.

On the other hand, the second generation immigrants in this drama – Jyothi,
Jayant, Krish, Vithal, Priti, Arun, Dilip, Rajan, and Sridhar – have attended
Canadian schools, talk and dress like other Canadians, and have comparable
hobbies, but they are still considered outsiders.

"...but you'll never be one of the boys," Jayant tells Jyothi. "I'm not sure why
someone would want to fit into this mold" (76). Second generation Indo-Canadians
struggle to strike a balance between what society expects of them and what their
family demand of them. Second generation immigrants' parents want their children
to be members of Canadian society while also confirming their perception of
Indian youngsters. They, like their parents, have no recollection or nostalgia to fall
back on, nor do they treasure the luxuries of today because they have never felt the
discomforts.

In addition to this, the majority of the Indo-Canadian diaspora people feel

alienated, assimilate, and take "nostalgic vacations." For those who are first
generation, their memories of their ancestral house continue to be significant.
Everywhere they venture in the foreign soil, they go across fierce competition and
racial prejudice. The tension is less acute for members of the first generation who
spent the most of their lives and settled in Canada in their middle ages because
their roots are still in India.

They can always revert to their own nation. The second generation, however, feels
very dissatisfied when white people are not ready to accept them and view them as
equals. According to Uma Parameswaran's paper "Scaling Walls: Linguistic and
Cultural Barriers Between Writer and Community," "All these years we thought
the isolation was coming from us, but now that we are striving to blend we know
exactly what they feel. (28). As a result, immigrants are forced to hold on to their
own traditions and socialize with their own people in order to avoid utter
rootlessness and alienation from both cultures and to save themselves from the
psychological crisis of their identity.

Trishanku, by Uma Parameswaran, is a collection of distinct characters' dialogues;

some voices Others do not reoccur, but all draw richness and significance from
each other; each monologue stands alone as a poem. the Trishanku portion.
Trishanku's most prominent characteristic is the intense sense of vitality brought
about by recollections, dreams, and current situations each speaker is in. This
enduring piece exemplifies the life of a typical immigrant from India of middle
class i.e. Canada. Each and every one of the people, events, and even talks are
recurring themes that cross genres in her work and provide a level of consistency
and truthfulness giving the impression that she is a writer who uses actual persons
and events in her work. In this poem, the author describes the strangeness of the
region, its geography, and its rituals through the portion in which Sharat recalls his
ancestral house, where his father would perform puja in the early morning while
facing the rising sun in the east:

In our ancestral home

Every newmoon day
Father, as his father before him,
in silk dhoti
vibhuti on forehead and chest
sacred thread dipped in turmeric
sat on a wooden plank

facing the east

to repeat the purohit’s chant
sprinkle holy water with darbha grass
and call upon our ancestors. (40)

This demonstrates the speaker's ability to bring his or her dreams and recollections
to life. Every person who is emotionally, physically, or both displaced by another
culture.
Mangoes on the Maple Tree by Uma Parameswaran focuses on the loneliness and
melancholy that immigrants experience in the early stages of settling in a foreign
country. Immigrants come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and although some are
unconcerned with distinctions in status or culture, others are more emotionally
invested. Not all people have the same ideas about what it means to be a part of
their country, their home, and their cultural identity. A first generation immigrant's
attachment to the cultural values, customs, and traditions of their native country
causes alienation, nostalgia for the past, and a sense of rootlessness in the new
country. Therefore, the concept of double consciousness and homelessness, which
mark the diasporic identity, arise from the sensation of loss or "dwelling in
border."

The writings of Uma Parameswaran show a somber longing for Indian tradition as
well as awareness of the necessity to reestablish roots in that culture. Her writings
make it possible to understand how immigrant immigrants become disenchanted
with Canadian society and how they become oppressed by feelings of alienation
and rootlessness. She has a vast collection of recollections of her native country
due to her diasporic background. It has given her the drive she needs to carve out
an identity for herself in the host culture. Her characters serve as examples of how
commonplace everyday situations are.

While Uma Parameswaran categorizes nostalgia as a component of the first phase,

the simple fact that an immigrant chooses to engage in ethnocentric community
organization proves that the sense of "nostalgia" never truly goes away. Keeping in
touch with one's roots is therefore the best strategy for surviving under the rigors of
hybridity. In reality, hybridization surpasses the borders set up by humans,
resulting in a kaleidoscopic mix of a multicultural and multiethnic society.
The immigrants have discovered what they had unlearned in the foreign culture
through their experience of alienation: Assimilation is the process through which
the old order must give way to the new. It also depends on the immigrant's age and
how long they have lived in each culture. The majority of first-generation
immigrants are quite aware of the happenings in their host nations, but they
generally do not become emotionally involved in them.

Most first-generation immigrants do not become emotionally invested in the

happenings in their new nations, but they are always aware of the occurrences in
their home countries. The mother nation is not completely cut off from the second
generation of immigrants, but they nevertheless feel uneasy and have unsettling
recollections of their parents' home country. Although less strongly than for the
parents, the problem is nonetheless present. Therefore, Uma Parameswaran in her
play Rootless but Green are the Boulevard Trees has expressed the endeavor to
"assimilate" as follows: "Why does it have to be "them" and "us" all the time, why
not simply you and me, an individualized approach; the best option is to let time
take its course."

Uma Parameswaran explains the attempt to "assimilate" in her play Rootless but
Green are the Boulevard Trees by asking, "Why does it have to be 'them' and 'us'
all the time, why not just you and me, an individualistic approach; the best bet is to
let time take its course and come a couple of generations everything would be
more even all around, within the community and outside (101-02). The second
generation is caught between two polarities; the immigrants have a sense of being
in-between, which can lead to either identity loss and alienation or a hybrid
identity, which entails absorbing aspects of both the home and the host cultures
and is also known as poly identity. Therefore, there is no solution to the
immigration difficulties. The optimistic outlook of the immigrants can help them
overcome the troubling circumstances that prevent adjustment or that provoke
illogical responses. The author Gauri Shankar Jhain writes in Dimensions of
Diasporic English Fiction:

Undoubtedly, an ancestral home represents an institution to an Indian, and roots

are more than just a physical location; they represent a way of life that is based on
values that have been upheld and practiced for many generations. In the end, Uma
Parameswaran's protagonists slowly overcome their estrangement and strive to
assimilate in their new home. She recreates the atmosphere of nostalgia,
homelessness, and the ensuing misery suffered by her characters. They recollect
their "homeland" in a variety of ways, including by recalling ancient mythology,
telling and reciting children several adaptations of the major Indian epics, and
preparing Indian food at home.

They preserve a connection to their "homeland" by memorizing ancient

mythology, telling and recounting the children several versions of the tales from
the great Indian epics, and cooking Indian food at home. Perhaps Uma
Parameswaran's greatest accomplishment is that she gives her immigrant people a
space and a voice in Canadian literature, breaking their isolation and silence

The works of immigrant writers depict the scattered human feelings awakened by
human sensibility to the surrounding conditions.
Uma Parameswaran, writers of the Indian diaspora in Canada, frequently tackle the
critical themes of racism, alienation, and the perplexing social discrepancies
present in the life of an immigrant. This article examines racial discrimination,
alienation, and nostalgia in Uma Parameswaran's writings.

Exile is a part of the human experience; writers from displaced communities

convey their rich imaginative resources via literature. The act of displacement
drives diaspora writers' minds to visit their country regularly through dreams and
literatures, so much so that their homeland reappears to them as a succession of
objects or fragments of narratives. They document the issue of displacement and
self-fashioning and allude to the dispersion, scattering, or decentralization of
national or religious groups living outside their birthplace. Caught between two
cultures, immigrant writers frequently address issues of dislocation, survival, and
loss of identity. If the writer is a coloured immigrant in a largely white society, the
nostalgia is amplified. Writers from the Indian diaspora in Canada

Bharathi Mukherjee, M.G. Vassanji, Rohinton Mistry, and Uma Parameswaran,

writers of the Indian diaspora in Canada, frequently tackle the critical themes of
racism, alienation, and the perplexing social discrepancies present in the life of an
immigrant. This article examines racial discrimination, alienation, and nostalgia in
Uma Parameswaran's writings.

Uma Parameswaran's works are characterized by nostalgia and longing for the
homeland, as well as a sense of alienation in the country of adoption. She has
expressed wistful memories in which the reader can see the immigrant's fluctuating
involvement in the country of adaption and the country of origin.