Pulitzer Winner Jhumpa Lahiri Makes Long-Awaited Return to Indian Public Stage
After a notable absence of twelve years, acclaimed author Jhumpa Lahiri graced a public platform in India, delivering a poignant address at a literary festival in Kolkata. The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer engaged in a profound conversation with Malavika Banerjee, delving into themes of language, migration, and the formative shame that influenced her early life experiences.
Confronting Language Shame and Cultural Displacement
Lahiri spoke with remarkable candor about the discomfort she experienced regarding her first language, Bangla, while growing up in the United States. "With my American friends, I pretended I didn't really know Bangla," she revealed, illustrating how language became something to conceal rather than embrace. She clarified that this embarrassment stemmed not from Bangla itself, but from a deep-seated desire to belong elsewhere, even as that sense of belonging remained tenuous.
Over time, Lahiri recognized this shame as a profound loss—a distancing from something intimately personal. She now approaches these feelings with understanding rather than denial. Reflecting on the challenges of preserving culture while raising children far from one's homeland, she shared a personal insight:
"It's a huge hurdle to hold on to your culture, and everything that means, while raising children far from it. I am a product of that experiment, and I know many others around the world trying the same. Expecting children to speak like you, care about what you care about, even have your accent, that's where it gets extremely granular. I have friends who left the U.S. because they didn't want their children, born there, to have American accents, since they themselves didn't."
Kolkata: The Central Yet Absent Anchor
Despite spending much of her life abroad, Lahiri described Kolkata as occupying an unresolved emotional space in her psyche. "Kolkata was the centre of our family life, and yet it was also its absence," she explained, noting how the city shaped her parents' world even when they resided elsewhere. Visits to Kolkata came with specific rules, such as being instructed not to speak English, which reinforced her experience of living between identities.
Yet, the city's inherent contradictions, multilingual environment, and rich cultural tapestry continue to anchor her imagination. Lahiri poetically remarked, "All of India is kind of always in Kolkata anyway," emphasizing that she has never truly left the city behind, regardless of geographical distance.
Rejecting Colonial Linguistic Hierarchies
Lahiri elaborated on her conscious decision to step away from English and write in Italian, framing it as a move to distance herself from a language she described as "the ultimate coloniser." She argued that while governments may change, language retains its power far longer, carrying historical and colonial weight.
Writing in Italian, she explained, liberated her from inherited expectations and imposed a new discipline where every word had to be earned. This shift was not about rejection but recalibration, allowing her to engage with language without hierarchical constraints.
Universal Themes of Alienation in Roman Stories
Discussing her latest book, Roman Stories, Lahiri challenged the notion that alienation is exclusive to migrants. "People think there are insiders and outsiders. That's a superficial reading," she asserted. "Everyone is an outsider, wherever they are."
Set around a public staircase in Rome, the book uses shared spaces to explore private loneliness, suggesting that displacement is not merely geographical but existential. Lahiri concluded that belonging is no longer something she associates with a single place or language, but with the ongoing, dynamic act of negotiating one's identity.
