Of Indian Origin is a dazzling collection of short stories and poetry by Australian writers of Indian origin. Cultures collide as children encounter racism in the playgrounds of Canberra, migrant women scrounge for a living nursing Melbourne's elderly, and a young author moves to a strange and unfamiliar country where she suffers from dreamlessness. These searing works bring new meaning to the field of ‘Asian-Australian writing’ and new perspectives on the Indian diasporic experience. Though the field of Indian-Australian writing is still small, this vibrant mix of emerging and established writers shows it is by no means a homogenous entity. Bold, experimental and wildly original, Of Indian Origin unapologetically tackles issues of home and provides a unique overview of how Indian-Australian literary writing has developed over half a century.
Paul Sharrad is a Senior Fellow in English Literatures at the University of Wollongong, Australia. He co-edited Volume 12 of the Oxford History of the Novel in English and contributes regularly to ‘The Year’s Work in English Studies’.
Of Indian origin herself, Meeta Chatterjee Padmanabhan lives and works in Australia. She teaches research, academic and professional writing at the University of Wollongong, and is one of the co-founding editors of the writers’ collective Southern Crossings.
Introduction Mena Kashmiri Abdullah Hadji-Jack | Chupatty Chant Mary Holliday Phoenix Unbidden Vinay K. Verma whales for breakfast and dolphins for tea negative personality | New migrant Amitava Ray Journey | excerpts from Baby Tiger K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar Unfinished Continent | Opera House Visited A Camp of God Patricia Pengilley The Case of the Vanishing Princess: Sally’s Tale Meeta Chatterjee Erasure | Landscape: Travelling through South Australia | Bakhtin Said… On Writing a Poem Sudesh Mishra Mt Abu: St Xavier’s Church | Feejee III | Dear Syd | Self-Reflection Indian-Australian Association: Annual General Meeting Manik Datar Point of No Return Christopher Cyrill What Withers and What Remains Subhash Jaireth Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill Moses Aaron King Solomon’s Ring Bernadette Inez Earle Leaving: 1969 Rihana Sultan Not a House but a Home Brij Lal Kismet Suneeta Peres da Costa Dreamless Shalini Akhil Destiny Satendra Nandan At the Surgery | Personal | A Remembrance | In Between Manisha Anjali Fever Dreams Glenn D’Cruz ‘Where are you coming from, Sir?’ Roanna Gonsalves Curry Muncher 3.0 Aditi Gouvernel Wei-Li and Me Maria Preethi Srinivasan Explosion Contained | Refugee | You Need to Know and Yet… Sunil Badami Rebecca Pooja Mittal too fond | the veil | turandot | rehabilitation | pilgrim Michelle Cahill Beauty Tips | Five Sijo for My Raider | The Sadhu Christopher Raja Warwick, Rupert and Me Rashida Murphy The Moon Still Speaks Aashish Kaul Load Shedding Sukhmani Khorana Under my feet | Tea Estate Chetna Prakash The Pop-up Linen Store Robert Wood Whiskey Wheat Country | Backwater, Frontwater Anupama Pilbrow The bone is a long and solid bone | semiautomatic Rashmi Patel Mercy Sumedha Iyer Over the Rainbow