End of Innocence

EVERY community, it can be said, gets the chronicler it deserves. The Indian migrant is particularly fortunate in this respect, finding a vo...

EVERY community, it can be said, gets the chronicler it deserves. The Indian migrant is particularly fortunate in this respect, finding a voice in every corner of the world, from the US to the Caribbean to South-East Asia and Africa. With varying degrees of merit but undiluted sincerity, they write of the human condition in ways that transcend borders, creating a body of world literature that refuses to be docketed neatly in conventional slots.

Just like the life of Vikram Lall, M G Vassanji8217;s newest protagonist in the awkwardly but appropriately titled novel. Opening in 1953 in Kenya, when Vikram is eight and the sun shows no sign of setting on the British empire in Africa, The In-Between8230; traces the twin trajectories of the boy and his beloved country frmpetuous sister Deepa8212;is inextricably tied up with those of his friends, the British Bill and Annie and the African Kikuyu Njoroge. It isn8217;t just by race and colour that Vikram is 8216;8216;in-between8217;8217;; he is repeatedly caught between forces beyond his control asmpetuous sister Deepa8212;is inextricably tied up with those of his friends, the British Bill and Annie and the African Kikuyu Njoroge. It isn8217;t just by race and colour that Vikram is 8216;8216;in-between8217;8217;; he is repeatedly caught between forces beyond his control as he tries to come to terms with life in a changing Africa. 8216;8216;I8230; prefer my place in the middle,8217;8217; Vikram muses at one point, 8216;8216;being an Asian, it is my natural place8217;8217;.

It is not a painless position, however, and a sense of leaden foreboding colours the confessions of Vikram Lall from the first chapter. Like the railway lines his grandfather came from Punjab to build, the idea of eventual destruction shadows Vikram8217;s journey from Nakuru to Nairobi, small town to power centre. Uninvolved in his sister8217;s searing love story, keeping quiet about his uncle8217;s deceit, playing along as middle-man in independent Kenya8217;s first regime, Vikram pays a heavy price for his detachment.

Revolution, identity, home and homelessness are strong sub-themes in Vassanji8217;s panoramic saga but, above all, this is a novel about love: familial, filial, forbidden, futile. In one of the most poignant scenes of the novel, a battered Vikram lays childhood ghosts to rest by cremating photographs of his friends Bill and Annie, butchered by the Mau Mau. It is the action that kickstarts the healing process, paves the way for Vikram8217;s return from his exile in Canada. It is also where his path diverges from his country8217;s: In Kenya, conscience is still a dirty word and the homecoming is illusory at best.

With The In-Between8230; Vassanji8212;himself a Kenyan-Canadian of Indian origin8212;reinforces his claim to the crown for post-colonial literature. The slow-moving first part is a bit of a dampener, but none of the tedious detail is a mere indulgence of the pen. Vassanji uses them as an artist would fine brushstrokes, lending texture and depth to an epic canvas of survival. Try tearing your eyes away.