Multiculturalism In Interpreter Of Maladies:

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4.2. Multiculturalism in Interpreter of Maladies: The first story, “A Temporary Matter” in Interpreter of Maladies, begins by creating a typically Indian situation at the very centre of the USA, namely, that of power-cut. Of course where in the USA it is only a temporary matter and the local consumers receive notice and ample time for preparing for the situation, in India it is not so, as Shoba points out in the darkness lit up with candles: “It’s like India…. Sometimes the current disappears for hours at a stretch. I once had to attend an entire rice ceremony in the dark. The baby just cried and cried. It must have been so hot” (IM 11). In this case, Lahiri makes the distinction quite vivid but a mere hint can sometimes alert the readers to these situations that mark India and the United States as so far apart. For instance, in the same story, when Shoba used to go shopping, she could be found “arguing under the morning sun with boys too young to shave but already missing teeth…. During the drive back home, as the car curved along the Charles, they invariably marveled at how much food they’d bought” (IM 7). It is not the hint of violence in lower class life in the USA in the pre-adolescence group but the other suggestion that links India with the American way of life by means of contrast. Again Lahiri deals with broken marriages, about the sense of belonging to a particular place and culture and yet at the same time being an outsider to another which creates a tension in individuals which happens to be a distinguishing features of Lahiri's characters. Here Lahiri talks about a young Indian American couple exchange confessions every night as they struggle to cope with the loss of their child at birth and their failing marriage. The story is actually a gender power game in a subtle form, filtered through the clash of two cultural perspectives. The narrator weaves the

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