• Shalini Saxena

Abstract: International migration has emerged as a global challenge for the 21st century. Due to liberalization policy of the developed countries a large number of people migrate from the developing countries, including India, to the developed countries. At present, internet, affordable air-travel and reasonable overseas communication facilities allow people living outside their country of origin to maintain strong relationship with the homeland. Indian literature in English, particularly, writings of Indian diaspora, has become one of the important means to know about the societies of these developing countries vis-à-vis that of the developed countries, and to study various issues of immigrants. Alienation, identity problems, homelessness, memory, and issues related to race and gender, etc. emerge as major concerns of diaspora. The paper explores the various issues of diaspora in Anita Rau Badami’s The Hero’s Walk (2002) and Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake (2003). Anita Rau Badami was born in India and settled in Canada. Her fiction portrays Indian society through life in a small fictitious town Toturpuram situated near Madras. The novel depicts Indian and Canadian society, climate of Toturpuram, casteism, celebration of festivals, patriarchal set up, political condition, beliefs in astrology, Indian rituals and the issue of settlement of a foreigner in Indian tradition. Jhumpa Lahiri is one of the famous Indian American authors whose work portrays the Bengali immigrants’ experience and their attachment to the homeland. She also brings to the fore their urge to develop a sense of belongingness towards the host land for the betterment of the economic and social life. With the help of above-mentioned texts, the paper also emphasizes that diaspora is all about the creation of new identities, spaces for growth in a land of opportunities, resolution of conflicts and assimilation in a new culture. Thus, cosmopolitanism and internationalism is the reality which is to be accepted for creating a new world order which relies on shared vision and acceptance of certain core values. Index Terms- Metaphors, Diasporic elements, The Hero’s Walk, The Namesake

Metaphors, Diasporic elements, The Hero’s Walk, The Namesake

"A Critical Study of Diaspora in Anita Rau Badami’s The Hero’s Walk and Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.7, Issue 2, page no.350-354, February-2020, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2002253.pdf

"A Critical Study of Diaspora in Anita Rau Badami’s The Hero’s Walk and Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.7, Issue 2, page no. pp350-354, February-2020, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2002253.pdf