Vassanji's India: A Place Within

Last night I went to an event put on by the Ottawa Writers' Festival, a reading by the wonderful author M.G. Vassanji (author of The In-Between World of Vikram Lall, one of my favourite novels, among others) from his latest work, A Place Within, a memoir on his travels over the past 15 years to India. 

Vassanji was born and raised in Kenya.  His parents were part of a large ex-pat Indian community there.  He was later educated in England (Cambridge) before moving to Canada (as a nuclear physicist!) and settling here.  The Vassanji fiction that I have enjoyed is replete with people that call many countries (and no one country) home.  "In-between" citizens.

It was as a successful published author that Vassanji had his first opportunity to travel to India.

It was January 1993. The desperation must have shown on my face to take in all that I possibly could. This was not something that I had articulated or resolved, and yet I recall an anxiety as I travelled the length and breadth of the country, senses raw to every new experience, that even in the distraction of a blink I might miss something profoundly significant.

From A Place Within, by M.G. Vassanji

Of course, I bought a copy and am thrilled at the chance to read it, especially as it will form an excellent backdrop as I work on my mom's memoirs.

My favourite part of last night's event? The deliberate, considered way that Vassanji responded to all questions.  Some examples:

When asked about his reaction to the US election of Barack Obama the previous evening (as someone who has spent time in the US, and someone with Kenyan origins), he described his optimism and his joy; how his cab driver to his hotel in Ottawa, also with origins outside Canada, had shared that sense that Obama was "their" president.  He considered for a moment longer and said there was "something there that changed the world.  We have to see now what happens." 

There were many glistening gems in Vassanji's remarks last night.  "Here (in North America) we are constantly purifying ourselves," and that ground travel in places like Africa and India allows you to "smell the sweat of your neighbour." 

In order to write A Place Within, Vassanji had to better understand his relationship to India. "It took me a long time to find a voice.... It is a memoir, not of India, but of myself in India." 

That he is so articulate and authentic at the same moment is a wonder.