Colonial Residues, Diasporic Identity And Social Conflict In Asif Currimbhoy’S Darjeeling Tea?

Abstract

Asif Currimbhoy occupies an important position in the development of post-Independence Indian English drama. His plays frequently examine the tensions produced by colonialism, cultural displacement, social hierarchy, changing values and the encounter between tradition and modernity. Darjeeling Tea?, first published by Writers Workshop in 1971, is particularly significant for its representation of the Anglo-Indian and expatriate planter community in a changing postcolonial India. Set against the background of the Darjeeling tea plantations, the play combines comedy, satire, irony and interpersonal conflict to expose the declining world of the colonial planter. The characters are caught between nostalgia for the British Raj and the emerging realities of postcolonial India. The play also interrogates gender relations, class distinctions, racial consciousness, diasporic displacement, economic exploitation and the commercialization of human relationships. Through characters such as Mac, Jennie, Bunty and Didi, Currimbhoy presents a society in transition. This article examines the play through the perspectives of postcolonialism, diaspora studies, Marxist social criticism and gender studies, arguing that Darjeeling Tea? is not merely a comedy of manners but a complex dramatic representation of the collapse of colonial social structures.