Crisis of National Identity in Agha Shahid Ali’s Poem ‘Postcard from Kashmir’

Exploring Agha Shahid Ali's Diasporic Sense of Loss and Exile in 'Postcard from Kashmir'

Abstract

This paper offers a critical study of the poem ‘Postcard from Kashmir’ which presents the poets’ sentimental and national feelings towards his birthplace or motherland. His homeland haunts his mind and he longs to experience and Speak about it in this poem. The poem is introductory poem of his anthology tilted “Half Inch Himalayas. Agha Shahid Ali, the Kashmiri author, while being migrated to USA transcends all regional, political and cultural borders by dint of his sheer literary genius. In his poetry he communicates his diasporic sense of loss and exile, merging the international and the immediate. Ali, the eminent Indian author, is the abuse of his society if thoughtful men such as Bhabha and Rushdie celebrate their diasporic role. My tendency is in this paper to present how Agha Shahid Ali sees home, reassert his cross-border, flexible existence, and make an honest effort to turn violent mapping into the ghat of the only world.