Portable Roots

Book excerpt: This book was born from my experiences in the IOWA International Writing Program and my innumerable trips to the US. During the 20 years between 1970 and 1990, was conscious of the stormy changes engulfing middle class Indians there. These edcuated families had migrated after the 60's to the Promised Land for reasons of their own. During their long, successful journeys, they were stopped short by the problems facing their teenage children, particularly their daughters. Ini (which in Tamil, means 'Hereafter') – written in 1993 – is about the dilemmas they faced. Ini was roughly translated by Mr. M.M. Subramaniam, living in the US, so that his teenaged daughter could read it. ‘Ini' evolved into Portable Roots... through an interesting collaboration with my friend of many years, Rekha Shetty. Her sociological insights into the changing lives of the Indian Diaspora, have resulted in this transcreation of my original work. - Sivasankari