This work is a reflection of my struggles with my own dualistic perceptions of societal processes as I have experienced them in Sri Lanka. Because of my upbringing and location in a plural society such as Sri Lanka, my responses have comprised concerns and frustrated despair at seeing Sri Lanka sundered by ethnic animosities and intolerance, instead of celebrating the plurality and diversity of culture and language which so richly endow our lives.

This book is about the repatriation of Tamils of Indian origin from Sri Lanka to India. Repatriation was the outcome of the decisions that were made by policymakers from two countries. In the end, it turned into a humanitarian crisis, which resulted in thousands of people being uprooted from a country they had legitimately called their home and in the separation of families who had once lived together.

Repatriation affected Tamils of Indian origin from all walks of life – the traders, the money lenders, the unskilled laborers in urban areas, as well as those who worked as domestic servants or labored on the estates.