So here I am with a 500-word blogpost to write. I can't write about my American experience (even though American culture is very different from South Asian culture) because I've been in this country for so long that it doesn't appear different or culturally alien to me. So, let's see, what do I blog about?
One of my favorite stories in the collection Storywallah is titled "Out on Main Street" by Caribbean-Canadian author Shani Mootoo. The author was born in the Caribbean Island of Trinidad and her ancestors are originally indentured labor from India. So, Mootoo is probably third or fourth generation of the Indo-Caribbean diaspora. She is also part of another diaspora since, like many Caribbeans, she moved to Canada a few years ago. In Canada she expresses her Indian and lesbian identity by going to a sweet shop run by Indians (the equivalent of a bakery and restaurant) with her girlfriend to sample some traditional Indian sweet snacks like jalebi etc. However, as a fourth-generation Indian diasporic person from the Caribbean, Mootoo does not know the traditional Indian words for the sweet snacks on sale in the shop. This is what the diaspora does: some connection with the original language is maintained but quite a bit is lost. So she is embarrassed at the linguistic confusion but also by the behavior of her other girlfriend and other lesbian friends who enter the shop. This explains the title of the story "Out on Main Street." Its a funny, touching, and very well written story and even though we're not discussing it in class, I highly recommend you read it.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, I heard Shani Mootoo, the author of the story, read from her novel at a conference I attended at the University of Antwerp, Belgium in 2000.
