The Book
Of Indian Origin is a dazzling collection of short stories and poetry by Australian writers of Indian origin. Cultures collide as children encounter racism in the playgrounds of Canberra, migrant women scrounge for a living nursing Melbourne's elderly, and a young author moves to a strange and unfamiliar country where she suffers from dreamlessness. These searing works bring new meaning to the field of ‘Asian-Australian writing’ and new perspectives on the Indian diasporic experience. Though the field of Indian-Australian writing is still small, this vibrant mix of emerging and established writers shows it is by no means a homogenous entity. Bold, experimental and wildly original, Of Indian Origin unapologetically tackles issues of home and provides a unique overview of how Indian-Australian literary writing has developed over half a century.
The Author(s)
Paul Sharrad is a Senior Fellow in English Literatures at the University of Wollongong, Australia. He co-edited Volume 12 of the Oxford History of the Novel in English and contributes regularly to ‘The Year’s Work in English Studies’.
Of Indian origin herself, Meeta Chatterjee Padmanabhan lives and works in Australia. She teaches research, academic and professional writing at the University of Wollongong, and is one of the co-founding editors of the writers’ collective Southern Crossings.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Mena Kashmiri Abdullah Hadji-Jack | Chupatty Chant
Mary Holliday Phoenix Unbidden
Vinay K. Verma whales for breakfast and dolphins for tea
negative personality | New migrant
Amitava Ray Journey | excerpts from Baby Tiger
K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar Unfinished Continent | Opera House Visited
A Camp of God
Patricia Pengilley The Case of the Vanishing Princess: Sally’s Tale
Meeta Chatterjee Erasure | Landscape: Travelling through South Australia | Bakhtin Said… On Writing a Poem
Sudesh Mishra Mt Abu: St Xavier’s Church | Feejee III | Dear Syd | Self-Reflection
Indian-Australian Association: Annual General Meeting
Manik Datar Point of No Return
Christopher Cyrill What Withers and What Remains
Subhash Jaireth Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill
Moses Aaron King Solomon’s Ring
Bernadette Inez Earle Leaving: 1969
Rihana Sultan Not a House but a Home
Brij Lal Kismet
Suneeta Peres da Costa Dreamless
Shalini Akhil Destiny
Satendra Nandan At the Surgery | Personal | A Remembrance | In Between
Manisha Anjali Fever Dreams
Glenn D’Cruz ‘Where are you coming from, Sir?’
Roanna Gonsalves Curry Muncher 3.0
Aditi Gouvernel Wei-Li and Me
Maria Preethi Srinivasan Explosion Contained | Refugee | You Need to Know and Yet…
Sunil Badami Rebecca
Pooja Mittal too fond | the veil | turandot | rehabilitation | pilgrim
Michelle Cahill Beauty Tips | Five Sijo for My Raider | The Sadhu
Christopher Raja Warwick, Rupert and Me
Rashida Murphy The Moon Still Speaks
Aashish Kaul Load Shedding
Sukhmani Khorana Under my feet | Tea Estate
Chetna Prakash The Pop-up Linen Store
Robert Wood Whiskey Wheat Country | Backwater, Frontwater
Anupama Pilbrow The bone is a long and solid bone | semiautomatic
Rashmi Patel Mercy
Sumedha Iyer Over the Rainbow