Indian Diaspora: Troubles and Turmoil Depicted in Benyamin’s Aadujeevitham

Most migrants have left their homes, families and loved ones in the pursuit of a future where they will be able to achieve a higher status in society. The idea that once a person has crossed the Arabian Sea or the Indian Ocean, their life is going to change for the better is a common misconception held by the vast majority of the Indian sub-continent. Those who have reached a successful point in society have managed to do so only through sheer hard work and effort. Non-resident Indians (NRIs), or Indian diaspora, are people of Indian birth or descent who live outside India. According to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs there are approximately 30 million Indians residing outside India. There are many authors of Indian origin who live in and out of India, who have written extensively about the Indian diaspora. And most of them have written about the hardships and difficulties face by these people. Authors like Bharati Mukherjee, Amitav Ghosh, Jhumpa Lahiri, Benyamin, etc., have made an attempt to bring out the terrible conditions of the Indian community who are trying to make a living outside India. I propose to make a study on how the Indian diaspora is affected by factors such as language barrier, cultural shock, family and peer pressure, and how these problems have been portrayed by Daniel Benyamin in his magnum opus Aadujeevitham or Goat Days.