Page 32 - Cogito, ergo sum
P. 32

The Indigo in my Index Finger







             Chitra  Banerjee  Divakaruni,  a                  Though         the     term       "Indigo"
             prominent 20th and 21st-century                   remains  unnamed,  Divakaruni's

             Indian writer, intricately weaves                 evocative          imagery          invites
             narratives  that  traverse  both                  contemplation,                 prompting
             Indian            and           American          readers  to  ponder  the  profound
             landscapes.  Renowned  for  her                   implications  of  this  enigmatic
             exploration  of  the  immigrant                   substance.
             experience, she currently serves
             as  a  professor  at  the  University
             of     Houston.        In     her     work
             "Indigo,"  Divakaruni  delves  into
             a  haunting  era  when  individuals
             were  coerced  into  toiling  in  the
             Indigo fields of India during the
             dominance  of  the  East  India
             Company, spanning from 1779 to
             1859,      marked       by     a    farmer
             uprising.  Initially,  the  speaker
             in    "Indigo"      harbors       a    tone
             steeped        in     bitterness        and

             defiance towards the oppressive                   The  poem  speaks  about  how
             Indigo  fields,  recounting  the                  people  in  power  often  force
             devastation  wrought  upon  their                 citizens  to  accept  whatever  is
             lives  by  this  labour.  Yet,  as  the           thrust  upon  them,  while  those
             poem  unfolds,  a  shift  occurs                  who      voice     out     their     views
             from  animosity  to  optimism,  as                against  injustice  are  silenced  in
             the  speaker  reflects  on  the                   brutal ways, and the ray of hope
             enduring  significance  of  the                   that even that sense would come
             colour  red—a  symbol  of  their                  to an end someday.
             cultural heritage amid adversity.                 This  piece  of  poetry  draws
             Ultimately,  the  tone  evolves                   parallels to the prevailing socio-
             once  more,  transitioning  from                  political  trends.  In  the  Indigo
             hope  to  a  bittersweet  sense  of               revolt      of     1859      the     Ryots
             resolution  and  longing,  as  the                (planters)       were      forced       into

             speaker  bears  witness  to  the                  accepting  exploitative  contracts
             cathartic  blaze  consuming  the                  imposed        by    the     East     India
             fields  that  once  inflicted  untold             Company  and  zamindars  who
             suffering.                                        benefitted         from      the      caste
                                                               hierarchy.




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