ABSTRACT
Now that you have come, I will dream in two languages. Now that you have come, I will live each hour twice over. Greenwich Mean Time will only mean so much. Darkness at noon in New York will only mean darkness before dawn in New Delhi. Now that you have come we will think of the others who came on the Fatel Razak, the Komagata Maru, and the Bostan. Now that you have come to London (it could also be Durban or Port-of-Spain) I will not take the train by myself to a restaurant called the Taj Mahal again. Now that you have come to this street in Chicago or Toronto, Bollywood will come to Hollywood and curry will be eaten in a hurry. Only the impure will endure. In the bad new days we will find our bold new ways. Now that you have come Malgudi will be in Manhattan. The seth will be on Wall Street and his servant not far away. Now that you have come, we will join the fray— arm in arm, waving red flags, with the other workers on Broadway. Now that you have come there will be bhaji on the beach. There will be the satanic verses and the imam’s curses. Bhangra will rock rock and ragas will join reggae. There will be a brimful of asha to lighten our day. Now that you have come there will be more ethnic chic in the downtown boutique and hazaar megabytes of expertise near L.A. In Panipat or Sasaram, however, things will remain the same. Now that you have come there will be two types of Indians: those who have the green card, and those still waiting for a ration card to come their way. But, hey, things need to change even if we’re here to stay. Now that you have come I’m here, there, everywhere. This is pure chutney. Would you have it any other way? https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203954157/85b9c46a-0f8f-430e-88c4-f341d09b0379/content/fig123_1_B.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203954157/85b9c46a-0f8f-430e-88c4-f341d09b0379/content/fig123_2_B.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
