The concept of self and formation of identity are interconnected phenomenon that play a pivotal role in our lives. For the members of every diasporic community, identity- be it religious, ethnic, sociopolitical or cultural, leads towards self realization, self recognition, self knowledge and self construction. In making their identity accepted to the hostland, the people go through the process of formation of or rather reconstruction of selves. The psychological process of uprooting and construction of identity is rendered in Kunal Basu’s Kalkatta. Basu, in this novel, conspicuously addresses the issue of migration of people in connection with the partition of India that triggered the exodus of huge number of people from their homes, leaving them destitute and homeless. The paper explores how the author addresses the journey of the muslim immigrants in quest of becoming a “Kalkattawallah”, and their individual formation of selves.
Ayesha Khatun (Thu,) studied this question.