History + Literature + Fiction = Teenage Inspiration
Indian American Immigrants from the Early 20th Century to the Present: A Fictional Family History
Diya Das' novel is based on an honors project completed during her junior year at Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, PA. It is a historical fiction told through three venues - San Francisco (1917-1918), Chicago (1980-1981) and New York (2005). The end result is a conglomeration of American history, literature and fiction.
Das, a first generation Indian immigrant, decided to write about Indian-American encounters throughout American history.
Early 20th century turbaned tide of Indian agricultural laborers
U.S. Ghadr Party seeking Indian independence from Britain
WWI era Hindu-German conspiracy trial
Transcendentalist comparison of the writings of Walt Whitman and Rabindranath Tagore
Immigration Act of 1965 eliminates quotas and the Pacific Barred Zone
Post-1965 immigration wave of Indian professionals
1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan resulting in U.S. arms negotiations with India and Pakistan
Deepavali, Hindu festival
Indian American subculture in the new millennium
Bhangra music and dance
Indian American response to 9-11
Das' research ended up taking her on a personal journey. The entire odyssey relates to herself – where facts and imagination did not create a coherent story - Das substitutes elements of her own life.
