Akhil Sharma on growing up in an Indian immigrant community

Your story “The Narayans” is set in the Indian community in Edison, New Jersey, in the 1980s and 1990s. You grew up in Edison yourself, having immigrated from India at the age of eight. Does the story relate to your childhood experiences?

I always draw heavily from life, but not necessarily from my own life. I remember in India Abroada now-defunct newspaper, about a boy who impregnated his sister. I think that’s where the story originated for me. But I also knew a man who took out a second mortgage on his house, then left his family and went to India to lend money. I’m not sure if he was beaten by the police, but he had an operation and died soon after. The explanation was that he was told to stay home and recover, but instead he went to the market to buy radishes.

In the story, you talk about a group of white girls beating up an Indian boy at school – maybe because he deserved it, maybe just out of racism. Was that a common experience at the time you lived there?

When I was growing up there was a tremendous amount of physical violence. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was racially motivated. I think it was just malice. There was a minority that seemed defenseless and that’s why they were attacked.

The story is about a broken family torn apart by an act of incest and abuse, which creates a sense of collective shame. Why do you think the rest of the community feels responsible for one man’s cruel act?

I don’t think they feel responsible. I think they feel vilified by Mr. Narayan’s behavior. Communities are regularly stereotyped. Currently, there is a feeling that many Indian immigrants are doctors and engineers and therefore Indians in the US have the advantage of being seen as a model minority. People in the story fear that Mr. Narayan’s bad behavior will stigmatize the whole community and thus cause them all to be judged poorly.

The Narayans are portrayed as lower class and uneducated, so it is surprising to learn that Mrs. Narayan is a Brahmin. How much did caste differences mean to Indians who had moved to another country and culture?

Outside India, the caste system continues to play an important role. The fact that this is regularly denied is a sign of the power of the Hindu right in America. Recently, a bill to ban caste discrimination was introduced in California, but it was defeated. The big problem with the caste system is who is part of the caste system and who is not. Untouchables are not part of the caste system. Certain shameful acts can also taint you so much that you are pushed out of the system. The caste system is not closely linked to education. There are uneducated peasants who are Brahmins.

After Madhu, the Narayans’ daughter, is impregnated at the age of fourteen, she is sent to India and eventually married. In this situation, why is the victim banished and not the perpetrator?

Systems want to see themselves as fair, and if the system cannot hold the perpetrator accountable, the victim is blamed and punished. In this case, I think Madhu’s mother may have seen leaving the country as a way to protect her from further abuse.

You decided to tell the story in the first person plural. Who is this “we” and why did you want the reader to experience the story from this perspective?

The “we” is the community. But of course there are different views in the community. It was actually a challenge for me to become confident enough to use the first person plural and then to make it clear that the “we” does not always represent a consensus.

Will “The Narayans” be part of a series of stories about this community?

This is the community I grew up in and know well, so this is often my subject. I expect to write more about Edison and the people who live there. ♦