Knots, Gnarls and Rough Bark

About the Book

How well do immigrants from other countries adjust in the United States after emigration? What talents and gifts do they bring to their adopted country? Is their life in their adopted country much different from what it would have been had they remained in their native country?

In this collection of essays, author Dushyant Rajan examines his life growing up in India in a military household with all the benefits of an upper-middle-class upbringing in post-colonial India. The essays describe Rajan’s quest for heroic solutions to life’s everyday problems, the compelling forces which obstruct him in his mission, his conclusions and resignations, and the beginning of a fondness for the life he left in India.

Knots, Gnarls and Rough Bark includes stories about the influence of important figures in his life: his maternal grandfather, Nana, an avowed Anglophile; his father, an officer in the Royal Air Force and the Indian Army from which he retired as an artillery Brigadier; and his mother, the Brigadier’s wife.

Colorful and insightful, these essays provide a broad world view from the eyes of this intrepid author who concludes that whether in the United States or in India, life presents the same blessings and curses.

About the Author

Dushyant Rajan was born in Kanpur, India, and studied chemical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology. He came to the United States in 1973 and worked for the Los Angeles City Housing Authority. Rajan was married for eighteen years and has six children. He lives in Los Angeles, California.