Smita Kale
'What a Paradise' tells a tale of the stimulating experiences of Indian immigrants from the painful disenchantment of the Dot com crisis to the uncertainties of adapting to new lands. It explores the experiences of NRIs vis-à-vis Indians through the eyes of the four main female characters. Jane: Breaking ties with her family over an arranged marriage she escapes to the United States. She savors phenomenal success after her gruesome early struggles in America working 18 hour days balancing studies and part time work at a diner to pay her way through college. Although deracinated from a life of comfort to one of hardship, Jane the maverick wears her accomplishments humbly. Namita: Share the struggles of Namita and her family, migrants to Australia as they face initial disappointments. The issues of racism and identity also feature in their story. It is not without angst and frustration that they mull through their early days in Sydney. Lila: She begins life as a wealthy landowner’s daughter but loses everything before she grows up. Raised by benevolent relatives she works hard to become a doctor. Happily married and working diligently as a medical microbiologist in her Alma Mater, she finds herself the accused in a fabricated criminal case. Although pronounced innocent and reinstated to her post, she chooses to accompany her husband to California. Rukmini: Married to a genius doctor in the U.K. whose commitment to adjuvant research distances him from mundane family matters, Rukmini fields harsh condemnation of her husband for neglecting his aged parents back home in Delhi. Confident in her husband’s love for his family she does not care to explain him to anybody. Set against the vibrant backdrop of an elaborate Delhi wedding their stories unravel alongside incidents of bomb blasts and a hit and run.
