Bharati Mukherjee
Bharati Mukherjee
Bharati Mukherjeeis an American writer and professor emerita in the department of English at the University of California, Berkeley...
NationalityIndian
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth27 July 1940
CountryIndia
mean government citizens
I am a naturalized U.S. citizen, which means that, unlike native-born citizens, I had to prove to the U.S. government that I merited citizenship.
father writing home
I flew into a small airport surrounded by cornfields and pastures, ready to carry out the two commands my father had written out for me the night before I left Calcutta: Spend two years studying creative writing at the Iowa Writers Workshop, then come back home and marry the bridegroom he selected for me from our caste and class.
definitions littles madness
My life has gotten a little more complicated than my ability to describe it. That used to be the definition of madness, now it's just continuous overload.
america agendas doe
In other words, my literary agenda begins by acknowledging that America has transformed me. It does not end until I show how I (and the hundreds of thousands like me) have transformed America.
light filters different
I feel empowered to be a different kind of writer. The longer I stay here, the more light filters into my work. I feel very American. I belong.
real inattention india
In India, there are real consequences to inattention; drivers who jeopardize pedestrians can be lynched on the spot.
running growing-up school
Growing up in an old-fashioned Bengali Hindu family and going to a convent school run by stern Irish nuns, I was brought up to revere rules. Without rules, there was only anarchy.
home traveler feels
The traveler feels at home everywhere, because she is never at home anywhere.
dream race america
I am an American, not an Asian-American. My rejection of hyphenation has been called race treachery, but it is really a demand that America deliver the promises of its dream to all its citizens equally.
country iowa cities
You see for me, America is an idea. It is a stage for transformation. I felt when I came to Iowa City from Calcutta that suddenly I could be a new person . . . What America offers me is romanticism and hope . . . Suddenly, I found myself in a country where
teacher teaching inspire
What was the duty of the teacher if not to inspire?
government means unlike
I am a naturalized U.S. citizen, which means that, unlike native-born citizens, I had to prove to the U.S. government that I merited citizenship.
bombarded cnn constantly haiti information next range somalia
I never have my CNN off, it's on the whole day. I don't want to be out of range of television. I'm constantly bombarded by information - Somalia one second, Haiti the next - I need that constant pounding. I couldn't write without television. I need to have the world in my room.
baby jobs sorry
One of the early tip-offs to me about the enormous changes that were going on with being in a Bangalore house, home, where the young woman from a nearby village, who had been hired to baby sit newborn twins, suddenly said after two weeks of work: 'I'm sorry, this is too much work, I'm going to try applying for call center jobs. The pay is better.'