Hybrid Identity as a Strategy for Survival: The Anglo-Indian Experience in Ruskin Bond's A Flight of Pigeons

Abstract

The novella, A Flight of Pigeons (1978) by Ruskin Bond tries to explore the survival and in-betweenness of an Anglo-Indian family, the Labadoors, during the Uprising of 1857. This paper tries to discuss how the mixed-race identity of the Labadoors becomes both a survival mechanism and an agent of constant dislocation and relocation, pushing them into what Homi Bhabha theorises as "third space". This paper also tries to tell how this novella does not fall into the oeuvre of the traditional Mutiny Novel. A close reading of the text suggests how this novella differs from the initial novels on the Uprising of 1857. Moreover, the novella presents before the readers a nuanced and layered portrayal of colonial India, where survival depended on siding with those who wielded power.

Keywords: hybridity, third space, Anglo-Indians, mutiny novel