Diasporic narratives of Amrita Shah, Viji Krishnamoorthy and Saras Manickam are stories of survival, oceanic journeys, agencies, and activism: Radha Hegde

The session, ‘Diasporic Narratives of Relocation and Belonging,’ included the insights of authors Amrita Shah, Viji Krishnamoorthy, and Saras Manickam and their experiences writing migrant stories. The conversation was mediated by Radha Hegde, Professor in the department of media, culture, and communication at New York University. The conversation included discussions about the hierarchies, readerships, and forgotten histories of migrant stories. 

The session consisted of three main questions that were posed to all three writers. They were asked what had compelled them to write their respective narratives, how each of the stories capture hierarchies of discrimination, and how each writer grappled with finding the audience for their story. 

“I was like a detective following archives trying to answer two questions” said Amrita Shah as she discussed her most recent book, The Other Mohan. The first question she sought to answer was the mystery of why her great-grandfather, Mohanlal, moved overseas. The next question being the mysterious identity of her great-grandmother. Ms. Shah described it as a looming family mystery that she had been curious about. “The book’s title came from her great-grandfather’s name, Mohanlal, and its similarity to Gandhi’s Mohandas. Mohanlal’s story, however, presents an alternate narrative rooted in acts of resistance,” said Ms. Shah. 

Saras Manickam, author of the short story anthology ‘My Mother Pattu’ expresses a similar vein of resistance in her writing. “We are so used to sanitising our stories,” she said. Ms. Manickam explained that her way of honouring the craft of the story as authentically as possible was not to silence the discrimination, slurs, and racism that is so often present in diasporic narratives. Her work was intended for those interested in these stories, and she believed they would find the right audience if she remained true not to victimhood but to authenticity. 

Viji Krishnamoorthy, writer of 912 Batu Road, describes her writing process as the retracing of a story from Malaysia back to its beginnings in Puthur, Tanjore. “In order to write in the present I had to return to the past,” she said. What began as a gift to her husband in the form of a single chapter had turned into something much bigger. This book is intended for Malaysians interested in understanding other perspectives and uncovering a history that had been erased, said Ms. Krishnamoorthy.

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