I have already written a novella , AMERICA , in Tamil, based on a Srilankan Tamil refugee’s life at the detention camp in New York. The journal, ‘Thaayagam’ was published from Canada while this novella was serialized. Then, adding some more short-stories, a short-story collection of mine was published under the title America by Tamil Nadu based publishing house Sneha. In short, if my short-novel describes life at the detention camp, this novel , An Immigrant , describes the struggles and setbacks a Tamil migrant to America faces for the sake of his survival – outside the walls of the detention camp. –
Chapter 1 am born anew
Chapter 2 In the middle of the night
Chapter 3 Cyclone
Chapter 4: A Courageous Priest
Chapter 5 From Ilango’s diary..…
Chapter 6 The heart that gets into a trance in the rain
chapter 7 Mrs. Padma Ajith
Chapter 8 Fabulous Feast
Chapter 9 The pride and glory of 42nd Road
Chapter 10 The camels of the desert that have lost their way.
Chapter 11 The tale of Ilango turning into Ilanagaa
Chapter 12 With hope intact!
Chapter 13 I want a job
Chapter 14 Funny immigration officer!
Chapter 15 Selling Umbrellas!
Chapter 16 16 Haribabu’s advertisement
Chapter 17 Haribabu’s road side business.
Chapter 18 Henry’s Cleverness (Yes?)
Chapter 19 Gosh in Love !
Chapter 20 Indira’s doubt
Chapter 21 By the grace of Carlo….
Chapter 23 An appeal to the goddess of freedom
Chapter 24 Heading towards lawyer Anisman’s office!
Chapter 25 Anisman’s advice and suggestion!
Chapter 26 A clever agent called Papblo
Chapter 27 I am born anew
CHAPTER 1: I AM BORN ANEW TODAY
From the fifth floor of the wartime naval force office building, which also functioned as the Correctional Facility, Ilango looked out to the streets of great, grand New York City. Situated on Flushing Street, the place had doubled as a detention camp for illegal immigrants and had been his only home for the past two months. Darkness from the night continued to seep through with all kinds of thoughts swirling Ilango’s mind. At last, the dream of escaping this detention camp would soon become a reality.From tomorrow onwards, he would be a real free bird. The Court of Justice has allowed him, who hitherto, has been detained in prison as an illegal immigrant waiting to be released on bail. Now, he could hope for the solution of demanding refugee status. He can go out without any constraint and face the challenges that life has in store for him. But before we continue, it would now be helpful to the readers to learn some details about this man.
Ilango: He is a Tamil citizen of Sri Lanka. A young man. One of the thousands of Tamils who fled from their Mother Land following the 1983 ethnic riots. The conflict, wrath, and hostility between the two main social groups – The Sinhalese and the Tamils – are known to have a long-fought socio-political feud of over two thousand years. However, since 1948, when the foreigners who had last ruled the island (e.g. the British) left Sri Lanka, the ethnic clashes resumed. The past historical events of the island greatly contributed to the current situation. Beginning from Thuttakamini/Ellaalan, continuing through Rajarajan I/Rajendran, then Singai Paraasaran, and ending with the king of Kandi Sri Vikrama Rajasinhan – such a lengthy history cannot be brushed aside with one stroke. The enmity and distrust between these two ethnic groups gradually intensified to the present stage of treacherously raging fire. Further deliberate, strategic settlements on the basis of ethnicity, the method of grading in Education, political priorities on the basis of religion have just added fuel to the fire, so to say. But, these are all superficial reasons. The deep-rooted causes are really the distinctly different traits, problems and conflicts on both the socio-political and economic fronts.
