The Tanjore Painting

The Tanjore Painting deals with the dilemma of Indian migrants overseas and the cultural images they construct to overcome their alienation. There is a compassionate depiction of the plight of the expatriate; some turn inward with a closer connection to home and reinforce their bonds, while others assume the transition signified in the novella metaphorically by altered sexual orientation. The central characters, Lalita and Maya, are siblings from a highly nationalistic family. The migrant Maya holidays every year in India, spending a few days at Guruvayur, renewing the annual pledge to return. In a subliminal satire, the reader is taken to a newly constructed temple, and in a hilarious episode, he is presented with an Indian marriage conducted in America. Meet a newly transformed Swami, who is central to the Indian community, performing rituals for the initiation of the young or for a marriage and experience the underlying pathos in the celebratory party where many expats bare their soul. Lalita gifts a Tanjore painting of Lord Guruvayur to Maya; the icon in a lyrically described epiphany reveals to her the universal equality in all things, occidental or oriental, American or Indian, and she is cured of her obsession to return.