Last January I was in India to give talks and readings at two events and to conduct research on an historical novel-in-progress. The first was a cultural event at the Indira Gandhi Centre in Delhi and the second was a conference on the diaspora at the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies in Kolkata. For more info: http://ignca.nic.in/ and http://www.makaias.gov.in/call/html

While there, I had the fascinating experience of traveling up the Hooghly in a boat and wandering around the Garden Reach area, to see the old depots that my ancestors departed from in the 19th century, when they emigrated to the West Indies. With me were several other conference participants, all of whom are descendants of this 19th century diaspora--some from the U.S. via Guyana, others from Mauritius. It was a magical experience--a kind of "Ellis Island" return for all of us, and it makes me wish there was some kind of historic plaque and curatorial explanation of this huge migration. (Over 1.5 million Indians emigrated to Mauritius, the West Indies, Fiji and South Africa during this period.)

On the other hand, I should also say that there is a lot uncertainty about these depots and whether the buildings we saw were part of the original complexes. Though at times, while traveling down the river, we could point to the docks and landing places, over the century addresses change, buildings are torn down or are re-used. Nonetheless, it was exciting, fascinating, and moving to traipse around these weed-filled lots and peer into the old brick buildings, trying to imagine the movement of lives that passed through here. Certainly that's why I was there, and I returned home with a reinvigorated vision for my novel-in-progress.