Past Cultural Restrictions in Anita Rau Badami's 'Can You Hear the Night Bird Call?' and ''Tamarind Mem'

The objective of the thesis is to bring out the trauma of the immigrants who are stuck up by the nostalgic and glorious past in their alien world. The cultural and social restrictions faced by the characters who live in their separate but intertwined worlds are brought in a detailed manner. Anita Rau Badami, one of the newest writers in the field of diasporic literature even with her a few literary writings has been able to carve a niche for herself in the literary world. Badami has dealt with the complex problems faced by women. Tamarind Mem depicts the relationship between a mother and a daughter who are trying to make sense of their past with different perceptions. The novel unfolds how the past cultural restrictions shape the personal lives and aspirations of the characters. Can You Hear the NightBird Call? Badami narrates the lives of three women which are linked together through their experience of violence. In other words, the novel spans sixty years in the history of the Sikh community in Punjab and Canada. In "Introduction" the purpose and aim of the present study is stated. It details some of the major events in the life of the author and her achievements which are relevant for the understanding of her characters, vision of life and her development as artist. "Estranged Relationship" deals with the problems prevailing in the family of the two novels Tamarind Mem and Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? Familial relationship is a universal issue and it has attracted the attention of many writers. "Shakiness of Memory" deals with the nostalgic reminisences in the two selected novels for discussion which psychologically affect the characters. Memory is a thought of something that one remembers from the past. "Conflicting Cultures" deals with the problems of the immigrants in a foreign land. Immigration is the movement of people to another country or region to which they are not native in order to settle there. Finally "Summation" recounts all the findings made in the various areas of the current research and also includes a discussion of further research areas viable in respect of the writer.