‘Diasporic Concerns’ and Picturization of ‘Predominance of Isolation' of Indian Woman in The Namesake : A Film Study

At times people are placed in different spheres of the globe for various reasons and consequently they are exposed to numerous non-familiar situations and subjected to go through multiple new and unforgettable experiences. Since Nineteenth century American continent has been 'a land of dreams' in its true sense and it keeps inspiring fortune seeking persons belonging to other parts of the globe. For many this richest utopia on this earth proved to be “a land of making dreams in their pursuit of happiness” and at the same time for many others this has been proved a nightmarish 'dystopia, a land of breaking dreams'. Even in the era of post-colonial and post imperial American society the journey of an outsider may prove to be a series of painful experiences due to multiple reasons. Isolation is the bi-product of many such experiences which are articulated vociferously by the portrayal and picturization of one of the female protagonists Ashima Ganguly in The Namesake which receives a uniqueness by the subtle and symbolic use of the immortal lines from Wordsworth's famous poem “Daffodils” (“I wandered lonely as a cloud... golden daffodils”). This study attempts to locate isolation, as faced by Ashima, who was born and brought up on Indian soil and transplanted on American soil due to matrimonial reasons. Here in her homeland (West Bengal) India, Ashima holds the centre of affectionate attention amongst her paterfamilias; but after her migration to America, she suddenly realises that this cross-cultural matrimonial migration brought her to socio-cultural and emotional periphery where she finds herself totally uprooted and marginalized. She cannot exercise even the cultural and ritualistic way of naming her own baby as the societal practices of the land was somewhat prohibitive in nature. Life itself subjects her to multiple but very subjective experiences. Though the experiences themselves were intensely personal but they definitely can be applicable to the citizens of both the nations 'India as well as the United State of America' in general.