Most people think of India as that very poor country on the
other side of the world that’s completely different from the US. They’re partly
right. India is on the other side of the world but it is not a poor country (it
has the fifth largest army in the world and its share of billionaires) and its
problems are not all that different from ours. India faces many of the same
problems as the US—particularly in terms of immigration.
The United
States worries about illegal immigration mainly from the south—from the
Caribbean and from Mexico. India faces illegal immigration along all its
borders. The Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950 displaced thousands of people.
The war between East and West Pakistan that led to the creation of Bangladesh displaced
millions of people, many crossing into India. The long-running resistance by
Tamils in Sri Lanka gave rise to waves of immigrants crossing the channel to South
India.
For the Love of Parvati grew out of my
greater awareness of the immigration/refugee problem in South India. In the
United States I am used to meeting people who are citizens but speak English
with an accent. I don’t think anything about it, and I rarely identify
someone’s origins by their speech unless it’s an accent particular to America.
But in the South India states, Indians often identify people by their language,
their accent and dialect. For an immigrant to speak freely in a bazaar or
another public place is to risk being identified as a foreigner.
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In India as in the United States, people respond to illegal immigrants according to their own personal character. Some dislike the newcomers for fear of what they will take from the country—jobs, stability, services. Others meet an illegal immigrant and see only the individual escaping violence or discrimination against a minority. Many Indians willingly hire illegal immigrants for a variety of jobs that “fly under the radar,” and think nothing more about it. For the Love of Parvati is one of these stories. |
| Tamil Tigers |
Parvati is
a young woman who fled the war in Sri Lanka with her brother. They have
separated, and she has been hired as a maidservant. As the story opens she is living
and working in the hills, wondering when her brother will show up. She learns
early on what has become of him, and is now entirely alone in the world. The
rest of her family died during the wars in Sri Lanka. As a former member of the
Tamil Tigers, Parvati took a risk in escaping, and she takes another risk by
living openly with a family.
The idea
for the story originally came during a conversation with another writer. Sarah
Thomas, who lives in Trivandrum, South India, is well known for her socially
conscious novels, but after a while she decided not to write this story. When
it was clear she wasn’t interested in it any longer, I decided to write it. We
are very different writers, and I would love to have read her interpretation,
but as it is I can only speculate.
Parvati
faces every refugee’s worst nightmare when she realizes that for her there may
never be an escape. For her, every day is part of a never-ending flight from what
she left behind.
To read Parvati’s story click HERE.
To read one of Sarah Thomas’s books, go Here.
Susan Oleksiw writes
the Anita Ray series featuring an Indian American photographer living at her
aunt's tourist hotel in South India (Under
the Eye of Kali, 2010, The Wrath of
Shiva, 2012, and For the Love of
Parvati, 2014). She also writes the Mellingham series featuring Chief of
Police Joe Silva (introduced in Murder in
Mellingham, 1993). Susan is well known for her articles on crime fiction;
her first publication in this area was A
Reader's Guide to the Classic British Mystery. Her short stories have
appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery
Magazine and numerous anthologies. Susan lives and writes outside Boston,
MA. To learn more about Susan’s two series, go to
www.susanoleksiw.com
Hope you enjoyed this week's Saturday Spotlight! On Tuesday I'll be joining with a group of authors for Rocking Summer Reads blog hop so check back often!
Until later...take care & God Bless!
PamT
4 comments:
Thank you for hosting me, Pam. I always enjoy the opportunity of writing for your site.
I read For the Love of Parvati and was moved by the plight of the poor girl. This is a worldwide problem effecting people in so many countries today including the United States. Social consciousness and mystery fiction work well together. Congrats on writing a fine novel.
Susan, thanks for sharing the fascinating background for your latest novel. I know I've learned more about the wide world from reading fiction than any other way. I'm going to go grab a copy of "For the Love of Parvati" now. Because learning new things is a passion of mine.
Thank you both, Jacquie and Jan, for such positive feedback. I do think mystery writers (and others as well) are open to discovering new ways of looking at the world and learning more. Thank you for your comments.
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