Diasporic Divulgences

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Diasporic Divulgences in Bharati Mukherjee's Miss New India

Ambika Sharma Assistant Professor in English

R. K. Arya College, Nawanshahr. Punjab.

INDIA. 144514 &

Dr. Tanu Gupta Professor

Department of Mathematics & Humanities Maharishi Markandeshwar University,

Mullana, Ambala

Abstract:

Bharati Mukherjee is an established diasporic writer who has placed herself among the main stream American writers. She is a writer of Indian origin who presents Indians as protagonists in her fiction. Her novels generally narrate about Indian immigrants who struggle to settle in an alien country usually America. Most of her novels and even short stories are written in the American backdrop. Mukherjee's recent novel, Miss New India is an exception from all of her novels as it is written in Indian background. The objective of this paper is to analyze Miss New India as a diasporic novel where the displacement of the protagonist is not from one country to another rather within the home country i.e. India.

Keywords: Diaspora, Immigrant, Alienation, Assimilation.

Miss New India is the most recent novel by Bharati Mukherjee. This novel completes her trilogy of Desirable Daughters and The Tree Bride. This novel is the story of Anjali Bose, a middle class girl from a small provincial town, Gauripur in Bihar. She is an energetic and ambitious girl who does not want to waste her talent of good language skills in this backwater town. Her command at the fluent English speaking skills is encouraged and cultivated by her American teacher, Peter Champion who is an American expat, teaching in Gauripur. Peter acknowledges Anjali's potential and motivates her to move to Bangalore and put her talents to better use. The novel portrays the struggle of the protagonist to carve a new path in the new world and her struggle for her identity in the new scenario.

This study of Miss New India aims to read the story of Anjali as an immigrant in her own country rather than in a foreign land. She is displaced from one city to another alien city in her own home country. Anjali's displacement from Gauripur to Bangalore results in many experiences as are faced by diasporic immigrants. Though Anjali remains in her home country but her dislocation poses the same problems of cultural shock, alienation, nostalgia and quest for identity as for an immigrant in a foreign land. For Anjali, Bangalore is just like America.

www.the-criterion.com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN: 0976-8165

Vol. 6, Issue. V October 2015005

Bharati Mukherjee has written this novel in the backdrop of the "new" India that is emerging as a transformed nation. This novel appears to be an excellent commentary on India's seismic shift, its growing culture of call centres, development of megacities, the rise of the outsourcing power house and the technological and economic boom. The author has not set the story outside India but within India, Bangalore has been presented as American replica of a city. It has been shown as the Silicon valley of India as America is the Silicon Valley of the world. On her arrival to Bangalore, Anjali feels as if she has come to another planet which is completely alien for her. Her biggest talent of language efficiency seems to be shattered in the American accent of Bangalore. She feels lost and tries to find her identity. She experiences cultural shock when she comes from a small town. She does not fit in the big city culture. This analysis aims to observe Anjali's life and struggle in Bangalore in terms of her assimilation in the alien city and its culture and how she overcomes all the problems and acquires a new identity of herself.

The prologue of Miss New India clears the ground for the making of the "new" India. The author writes about the migration of Americans to India. The Americans in the second half of the past century "began streaming into" India. These American immigrants settled in towns and villages of India and adopted the Indian language and life style completely. Their basic aim was to work for charity. Some of these Americans returned back and some married the native girls, stayed and got connected with India. They became part of India:

America had been wiped from their memory at precisely the time that young Indians were fantasizing about the West, wanting schools and jobs that promised money and freedom. We were hungry for America, but they were sated with it (Prologue, viii).

One such American is Peter Champion. He came to India on duty but after two years of his stay in Bihar, he did not go back to America and took to study houses and public buildings of colonial era in India. He had been in India for almost thirty years. Peter Champion is the propellant factor for Anjali Bose to leave Gauripur and start a new life in Bangalore. He motivates Anjali as:

You have the spark- don't crash and burn. India is starting to wake up. India is a giant still in its bed, but beginning to stir (Prologue, x).

The novel opens with the description of Anjali's life in the small backwater town of Bihar. Anjali likes to be called as Angie. Anjali is a typical middle class Indian girl, born and brought up in the traditional patriarchal society. But her small eyes dream big. She feels she is not born for living in Gauripur, "She'd always imagined herself in Mumbai or may be on the beaches of Goa, and so she mentioned those possibilities to him. Eventually even in America, she thought...(12). When Peter advises her to go to Bangalore she finds Bangalore as an alien city to her. Bangalore has been depicted as a city with British historical background. In Gauripur, Anjali happens to meet Rabi from Desirable Daughters and The Tree Bride. He is the son of Tara and Bish. He has become a photographer. Rabi's migration from California to India is shocking for Anjali, "Now that's crazy. Why would anyone from California come to a poppy little town like Gauripur? This is a prison!" (36). Rabi's motif of coming to Gauripur is to study the American expatriates in India. We get references to Rabi's parents in California, Tara and Bish. The appearance of certain characters from Desirable Daughters, The Tree Bride



in Miss New India, like Rabi, Parvati, make this novel connected with the previous novels and proves it to be the last novel of trilogy.

Anjali Bose is shown as a victim of identity crisis throughout the novel. In Gauripur she shuffles her identity between Anjali and Angie. She confesses, "And for the first time, she was able to articulate it, at least to herself: Maybe I'm not here. Maybe I'm not seeing it. "Angie" is somewhere else. Splitting herself in two was a comfort (49-50). When she is sexually abused by Subodh Mitra, the boy her parents have chosen for her to marry, she decides to leave Gauripur. Her long buried desire gets precipitated by this incident. Anjali seems to behave like she has split personality. She tries to relate all the happenings to Anjali or Angie depending upon the situation. When she leaves her home finally, she feels, "She was Anjali, She could look down and see poor little Angie whimpering on her bed" (65). She even compared herself to a ghost. With the monetary and moral support of Peter, she goes to Bangalore. Her sexual assault has transformed her completely. She becomes a mature woman from a careless girl. On her way to Bangalore she realizes:

The numb certitudes of her life: I have no family. The only money in my pocket comes from a man whose world is alien to mine and whom I'll never see again. I have no job, no skills. School teaches little (74).

Her journey from Gauripur to Bangalore is no less than an ordeal, "the arrival in Bangalore seemed like the beginning of another ordeal" (78). When she steps on the land of Bangalore, she is not confident or enthusiastic but is drained off her confidence, "This was the first morning of her new life, but it felt like death" (78). Bangalore as mentioned earlier is presented as America in this novel. The call center culture is cultivating and progressing just to curb the demands of America. Bangalore is just like another America created on Indian map. The youth working in call centers are Indians who speak and live more of an American life that is alien to their own country. After her arrival in Bangalore she feels completely alienated, "She had nothing to lose, no good name to tarnish. No one knew her parents, and her parents had no idea where she was" (81).She is like an immigrant who not only feels alienated in the host country but also feels not belonging to his home country. Anjali is a woman who does not seem to have any past and future is equally uncertain. She also faces the language barrier in Bangalore. She is unable to understand the local language, "The language sounded so alien" (82). The city of Bangalore has the American imprint on almost everything. She is baffled as if she has arrived on a different planet:

Huge American cars, many with women drivers, snaked around her auto-rickshaw. To avoid panicking, she concentrated her gaze in the direction of the footpath that had to run alongside the road, but the footpaths-Sidewalk, she told herself, think American- had been torn up to make way for new servers (83).

Bharati Mukherjee has also added the colonial era touch to her description of Bangalore. Bangalore is presented in this novel as a city with colonial background. Many places, buildings and even residents of Bangalore are of British background and nomenclature, "But Bangalore retained British place names too, like Kew Gardens and Cubbon Park" (83). Anjali's first encounter with the new city culture is baffling for her. She is surprised to observe



the cultural shock. She experiences the drastic difference between the life style of Gauripur and the life in Bangalore. Her encounter with some young working boys and girls in Bangalore makes her doubt her potential. She fails to cope with the American accent, "She had no idea. Strange monsters dwelt in the linguistic interstices of the English language" (104). She gets glimpse of the call center culture of Bangalore. She comes to know that how the Indian people working at call centers have fake identities and name. They acquire a perfect American accent which is not their own accent. They keep on changing their American names frequently:

All those high-fiving, caffeine-fired call agents with made-up American names: Darren, Will, Mike, Brad, Tom, Fred, Hank, Paul, Josh, Jeff. And Mukesh/Mickey Sharma, the sicko-caller from champagne (132).

Bharati Mukherjee tries to highlight the concept of fluid identities in reference to call centers. She immediately comprehends the Bangalore culture of fake American names and identities in order to get a job and to survive in the big city. She decides:

No one in Bangalore seemed to be stuck with a discernible identity. She could kill off Angie Bose, and who would know, or care? She could be anything she wanted, a Hindi- speaking girl from Varanasi or a Brahmin from Kolkatta. Who do you want to be? (95).

On her first day in Bangalore she feels alienated, "She understood, in a way: Bangalore excited her, but it left her depressed. All the money made people go slightly crazy" (97). She manipulates her past in order to survive in her present. In faking her past life she feels, "How liberating it felt, creating characters, obliterating oneself, being a composite" (99). The comparison of Bangalore with America is explicitly declared in Girish's words:

Because you said you wanted to know what Bangalore is like. Well, it's a lot like LA, but it took LA a century. They had a movie industry, and we've got hi-tech. We're both virtual and we've both got buried bodies, but we'll be a much bigger city in maybe five years (102).

Mr. GG tries to console Anjali in her state of alienated in terms of language, "It's just Bangalore babble, " he said. "It's not meant to mean anything. Just that they're here and have jobs and with it comes the freedom to talk nonsense. They're like locusts- in six weeks they'll be moving on. Chennai and Hyderabad beckon" (104). The impact of America on Bangalore is very much clear with the boom in the call centers and their working, "Bangalore worked off the American clock. Everything about Bangalore-even its time-was virtual. Call centers ran 24/7; shifts were constantly starting or ending nine to twelve hours ahead of American time" (112). Bangalore is shown as an offshoot of America. In Bangalore, Anjali frequently keeps on changing her fluid identity like a chameleon. With the help of Peter's references, she stays in Bagehot house. She feels nostalgic in her new set up:

Gauripur memories collided with Bagehot House nightmares. Smothering memories: the same neighbourhood noises at the same time, day and night. Chopping the same vegetables from the same vendor at the same market, spicing them and frying them in



precisely the same manner, eating at the same hour after her father's nightly three pegs, then piling the dirty cooking pots in the sink for the part-time maid to clean the next morning, putting away the leftovers, and going to bed by ten o'clock at her father's command of "lights out!" You could run away from home but not from the rituals of family (126).

Anjali with her gradual stay in Bagehot House learns that, "English was the only language the Bagehot House boarders had in common". She sheds the timidity of Gauripur's Anjali and becomes a new Anjali who is daring to experiment new things," Bangalore's Anjali, a creature of fantasy, considered herself a wily survivor, leveling an uneven playing field" (135). Anjali's confidence increases with her selection in CCI. After Husseina's departure from Bagehot House, her position strengthens not only in the house but also for her job opportunities. She observes her transformation as, "Anjali was an insecure, dump-wary tenant; Angie was an entitled squatter and scavenger" (199). This transformed girl Angie wishes to wipe out all the past memories of guilt from her mind and wants to start a new life in Bangalore, "and dragged Husseina's comb harshly through her hair. She wouldn't let Gauripur memories ruin this day. Comb vigorously; Comb until your scalp hurts; comb all knots of guilt out of your selfish head and prideful hair" (200). She wants to assimilate into the city of Bangalore, "She was starting her life over. She was starring in the Bollywood version of her breakout from Gauripur. Bangalore! Bangalore!" (200). Anjali changes over to Angie very smoothly, she lives the life of dual personality, "Without even trying, Anjali slipped into her high wattage Angie persona. Angie was smart, sexy, and special" (207). Anjali represents the submissive side and Angie is the confident one:

She could not be held responsible for anything that happened in her life because she was not an initiator of actions. Angie the bold one, the initiator, was beyond blame or shame. Anjali just watched and let things happen (222).

Anjali's assimilation in the new culture is evident from her act of sexual relationship with GG. She seems to enjoy it rather than lamenting on it. She admits about her transformation:

I'm a woman now, she said to herself. I'm quite a woman. I'm hot, according to Tookie. Secretive and oh so mysterious, according to Husseina Sherbet-cool, sherbet- refreshing, according to Moni. And funny and fascinating, if I'm reading Mr. GG correctly" (227).

This shows her fluid identity very vividly. Anjali's experience of working as a call center agent gives her a chance to observe the American society and culture very minutely. She realizes that the youth of India in Bangalore live in India physically only, their language, their thought process, their clock time, everything is tailored to fit in the American society. They deal with their customers as if they are not in India but in America only. The mystery about Husseina remains unfurled and also pushes Anjali into a mire of agony and pain. She is arrested for killing Minnie. Her quest for identity continues. When she is interrogated about her name by the police, she thinks, "Angie. Anjali Bose." It conferred no identity. She didn't own the name. She could have been anybody (249). In the police station she confesses to herself, "It



was not happening to her. This is not happening to me; it is happening to Angie. I am a ghost" (256). Her arrest and horrifying experience at police station frustrate her and she becomes mentally unstable, "She was a ghost floating over alien terrain, as much a ghost as her father" (267). After her release from jail she comes to live in Parvati's house with Rabi. Rabi becomes her only confidant. Mr. GG proposes to Anjali to accompany him but she refuses. In Rabi's company she comes over her past bitter memories. She feels, "She had no memories. Her memories were only starting now. Her life was starting now" (322).

Anjali could have easily accepted GG's proposal of being his accomplice but she unlike a submissive and pathetic woman decides to carve her own path. She is confident and chooses to live life of her own. She manages to become a debt recovery agent and survives in Bangalore with complete assimilation to the city but without losing her identity. She achieves her identity of a working woman in Bangalore who made it possible after coming from a small town. She is contended in her new beginning in the city of Bangalore.

Miss New India can be seen as an effort by Bharati Mukherjee to create America within India. The protagonist goes through the phases of alienation, nostalgia and finally assimilation in Bangalore. Anjali represents the immigrants who are displaced and uprooted from their home and are dislocated to some other place for settlement. She belongs to Gauripur but settles in Bangalore. Through Anjali the author tries to showcase the diasporic concerns of immigrants. There are certain other characters in the novel who are shown as migrants. Minnie is one of these. She is the owner of Bagehot House. She claims to be British who came to India with her husband and did not return back after India got independence. Peter Champion is an American 'expat' who came to India and never went back. He is more Indian than other Indians in Gauripur. He devotes his whole life for service in India. And Rabi is an American by birth but he has his relatives in India. He does not stick to one place. He keeps on moving from one country to other. He confesses, "But I'm a nomad. I can't get stuck in one country or one city or even one house" (275). Anjali's assimilation in Bangalore is clear in:

"I have been in Bangalore only three weeks. I have no job, no paycheck, and no family here. But I have seen more and learned more in Bangalore than I have from twenty years in Gauripur. Here I have feel I can do anything. I feel I can change my life if that's what I want!" (163).

Bharati Mukherjee chronicles the discovery of the new India where Anjali is an emblem of 'Miss New India'. Her migration from Gauripur to Bangalore is almost like a shift to a new country. She makes her own way and finds a space for herself. Bharati Mukherjee remarks about Anjali that she survives and assimilates in the new city because she does not stop or halt but moves on unlike her mother and sister who compromised with their fate. Bharati Mukherjee shows 21st century India where American customs and ethics are introduced and altered by a young Indian woman who ends up staying in the her own country. Roots and routes are negotiated in the novel in unique ways, leading to the augment of new kinds of cultural identities. Miss New India is an example of being American by converting Indian in modern India through the validation of hybridity.



Works Cited:

Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory: New Delhi: Viva Books Pvt. Ltd., 2010.

Mukherjee, Bharati. Miss New India. New Delhi: Rupa Publication India Pvt. Ltd., 2012.



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Diasporic Divulgences