REDEFINED POLITICAL BORDERS AND ESTRANGING MASS MIGRATIONS IN THE SELECTED NOVELS OF AMITAV GHOSH

Ghosh’ novels propagate one of the central themes of the post-colonial era?the displaced persons. His fictional world is full of restless people in motion. People move from place to place as the politicians redraw the borders of their country as the symbol of their authority. People living in both sides of the borders are compelled to move from their birth place for various reasons like religion, nationalism etc resulting in mass migration. Mass migrationrefers to the movement of large numbers of people from one geographical area to another. Ghosh’ main focus is the Indian diaspora resulting in the migration of people in the borders of India, Burma and Bangladesh. After the political freedom from the British, the nationalism in the Indian context changed its meanings as it excluded people on the other side of its borders of Pakistan and Bangladesh, and at the same time did not include everyone on this side of the paradise. Many of the people on both the sides of the borders were uprooted due to various political reasons and had to face the hectic task of rebuilding their lives from the ruins of history. These people lost their moorings on the other side of the border; however, they failed to strike root in India also. Although they are materially well off, they could not easily come out of their emotional wounds. This further leads to a sense of estrangement as the migrants are in persistent search of their identity. In Ghosh’s novels, borders drawn out of some political interest affects the harmonious environment of the people living inside as well as outside it. Ghosh questions the necessity of border lines and benefits they have brought to people living on both sides of borders. This paper on “Redefined Political Borders and Estranging Mass Migrations in the selected novels of Amitav Ghosh” shares some views on mass migration as depicted in Ghosh’ novels, The Circle of Reason, The Glass Palace, and In an Antique Land.