The Theme of Ambivalence and Adjustment in Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar’s Short Story ‘November is the Month of Migrations’ in the Age of Migration.

Abstract

The paper studies the theme of ambivalence and adjustment in migration literature reasoning the short story ‘November is the Month of Migrations’ by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, published in 2015 in his intensely political book of short stories The Adivasi Will Not Dance. Writers from different countries present postmodern experiences of greater diversity through their writings. Migration and its outcomes are one such experience presented by the Adivasi writer Shekhar from his own community’s experience. The paper examines the individual experience of the story's protagonist Talamai Kisku, a migrant worker from Santhal Pargana, Jharkhand to Namal, the Bardhaman district of West Bengal. It is the economic, political, and cultural circumstances that force an individual or society to move from their native land to new places. In the process of migration, they get involved with different places and people that affect their lives. Talamai gets involved in such circumstances, debates herself, and finally accepts the harsh reality to move on.