Reconciling Cultural Dilemmas Depicted in Kiran Desai’s the Inheritance of Loss

Abstract

Cultural dilemmas seem to be everywhere as the world had become a global village due to communication and technological developments and so people come across people of diverse culture, tradition and practice. To be competent and successful in the present business world of electronic communication, transaction, transportation, banking, commerce etc, it becomes a necessity to identify, analyse and reconcile the cultural dilemmas by realizing the cultural adaptive solutions. It also becomes vital to respect the cultural differences as it also involves creating new ways to resolve cultural dilemmas in order to be transculturally competent with the diverse global community. These cultural dilemmas and its differences are depicted in Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss through the character Jemubhai Patel, the embittered retired judge living in a crumbled house. The novel is the remembrance of Jemubhai Patel’s journeys, arrivals and departures which brings forth Jemubhai Patel’s cultural dilemmas whether to inherit the Indianess or to follow the western ideals. It highlights the bitter experience a man face for his transition to a different culture and the need of the hour is to overcome those differences.