On Diaspora

Abstract

This piece of creative writing tells the story of a young man’s desire to express his religious devotion. As a second-generation South Asian migrant he opposes England, the country he grew up in, with India, his motherland, seeing the former as being spiritually bankrupt and the second as being holy. He longs to be reunited with the India of his memories which he recalls with nostalgic fondness. A recent joyous event impels him to return to his ancestral home to show gratitude at the favourable changes in his circumstances which will mean immersing himself in a place he finds at once magical and mystical. When the time comes for his return, however, his expectations are struck down by the stark awareness that the India he hoped and longed for had changed. This invited him to attempt to reconcile the two worlds he belonged to and to bring his spiritual needs, which he had felt unable to express in his everyday existence into the here-and-now.