Jaksokuvaus
Dr. Nalini Iyer rereads South Indian and diasporic experiences of Partition, through Balachandra Rajan's 1958 novel, The Dark Dancer. Born in British India but educated at Cambridge University, V. S. Krishnan finally returns to his home country on the eve of its independence in 1947. But after many years cut off from his family and culture, this South Indian civil servant has become a typical colonial product - the 'brown-skinned Englishman' and bureaucrat idealised by the likes of Lord Macauley. Krishnan's relationships with women reveal other Indias - of Gandhian independence and Hindu nationalism - that he has never known. Witnessing the bewilderment and gendered violence of the Long Partition through the eyes of the civil servant, writer Balachandra Rajan explores how the colonial experience caused existential identity crises. Drawing from his indirect experience, Rajan's novel platforms the perspectives of those diasporic South Indians, seemingly unaffected by the civil conflict, and how Britain too was irrevocably changed by the imperial experience. Part of EMPIRE LINES' Partition Season, marking the 75 year anniversary of the Partition of British India in August 1947, which led to the formation of India and Pakistan. Listen to the other episode with Dr. Sonal Khullar. PRESENTER: Dr. Nalini Iyer, Professor of English at Seattle University and Editor-in-Chief of South Asian Review. ART: The Dark Dancer, Balachandra Rajan (1958). IMAGE: 'Balachandra Rajan'. SOUNDS: G. Las. PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic. Follow EMPIRE LINES at: twitter.com/jelsofron/status/1306563558063271936 Support EMPIRE LINES on Patreon: patreon.com/empirelines