A Study of Female Characters in Diaspora Literature with Special Reference to Select Works of Meena Alexander and Chitra Banerjee

Abstract

Meena Alexander returned to India in the 1970s to teach at the university in
Hyderabad. The author makes a reference to the origin of Nampally Road in her
autobiography Fault Lines. As the title of the memoir indicates, her sense of
displacement or dislocation is such a strong sentiment, owing perhaps to the
physical path of her life that she appears to struggle with lines, boundaries and
environments in her work and self. This universal sense of displacement is
evidenced in Nampally Road, where much like the author, the main character Mira
Kannadical returns with much optimism to make a new beginning in her
homeland, extremely disaffected after her four‐year study stint in England. Mira’s
return coincides with preparations for the festivities surrounding the 60th birthday
celebrations of Limca Gowda, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.