Rajes Bala, Journey to Jaffna (The Conrad Press 2024)
Happily married Tamil immigrant Param is travelling to see his family in Sri Lanka, after a 12-year absence. He is the eldest son, and as such will be required to perform the last rites for his dying father. Param is estranged from his father, who refused to accept his marriage to Englishwoman Mary.
But there is ‘someone else’ in Sri Lanka whom Param dreads meeting, his former girlfriend Karthiga, whom his father forbade him to marry because she was from a lower class. He had promised to return to her after graduating from a London university until Mary found out she was pregnant with their daughter Meera.
Param’s struggle will be familiar to many immigrants. While still holding onto the values of the home world, his new world faces him with different challenges and possibilities.
He meets on the plane the modern-minded Liz, and a forced landing in Tbilisi throws them together, opening new worlds for Param. He struggles to reconcile his newly changed life with his duty to his family.
The feared reunion with Karthiga brings home to Param just how much his people suffered during the persecution of the Tamils in the 1970s. He feels guilty for breaking his promise to her, guilty for doing nothing to save her.
After his father’s funeral, Param is determined to do his duty by his sisters but finds that his attitudes toward their marriage prospects are different from his parents’ more traditional Hindu ones. In post-pogrom Sri Lanka, the sisters’ attitudes are different, too.
The three women—Mary, Karthiga and Liz—represent different things to Param, and he is emotionally pulled to and fro. Each of these world-views affects him differently, and Bala paints his psychological journey beautifully.
For me, Param is kind of an Everyman, and his summer vacation provides a cautionary tale. He is no philanderer—a thoroughly good guy—but he coasts through life, not making any decisions, not having any opinions, just letting things happen, until a remarkable experience changes him.
Will his indecision mean he misses his chance at life?
This book is a must-read for Diaspora Tamils and will be enjoyed by non-Tamils. Immigrants from all cultures will identify with Param’s journey.
Susie Helme 
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