Ambulocetus versus Trishanku: ‘Nowhere’ space, diaspora and genealogical tourism through Paleontology and Hindu Mythology

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article is an examination of the ‘nowhere’ space concept and genealogical tourism, reinforced through metaphorical representations in Tahmima Anam’s The Bones of Grace and Uma Parameswaran’s Trishanku. The typological and comparative differences that manifest the sense of unbelongingness in these texts inscribe diasporic subjectivities, besides the fact that the narratives themselves consolidate into tangible formats of individual and collective experience. The disciplinary domains that the metaphors are derived from, allow analysis of the causal relationship, image construction and dynamic engagement between the analogies and the larger themes configured in the narration. The Trishanku metaphor belongs to the South Asian Hindu culture and the Ambulocetus analogy comes from the discipline of Paleontology. While the Ambulocetus is about the protagonist Zubaida’s not knowing her biological origins (in Anam’s fictional representation) and therefore investigating her genealogy metaphorically or paleontologically; the Trishanku myth has been deployed by Parameswaran to delineate the predicaments of the Indians settled in Canada, through the illustration of Indian geographical features, cultural and religious figures. Tethering the analysis to relevant tourist and diasporic conceptual matrix, the article hinges on questions of how these South Asian narratives negotiate distinctive metaphors.