Abstract

Diaspora is the dispersal of individuals from their long-established homeland.Immigrant experiences are forged intrinsically of expeditions and border crossings. Migrations have both wiped out and re-inscribed patterns of belonging and being, producing a self with numerous and prejudiced identification which is concurrently both individualized and community anticipated. Tilo,the protagonist in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’sThe Mistress of Spicesis an imagination of ‘diasporic’,uniqueness. She experiences impediment in relocation, because of the sway in her migration.This paper focuses on the unevenness in the diasporic life of Tilo, who endeavours to integrate herself in a cross-cultural environmentalong with the shifting priorities of her life. While other diaspora authors consciously analyse the replica of cultural perplexity in the alien land, Divakaruniaccords a pivotal outlook to redefine diaspora in a discrete shade of light. By delineating the experiences and struggles of South Asian immigrant women who live in the United States she unearths their identities. The present paper demonstrates the jaggedness in the immigrant women’sdiasporic life revealing the complexities of reconciliation with the conflicting entities in their lives.

Key words: Diaspora, culture, identity, predicament, ingenious, dilemma