Spatial Catastrophe and Urban Belonging: Anglo-Indian Identity in Ruskin Bond and Bapsi Sidhwa

Abstract

This paper examines Anglo-Indian identity through comparative analysis of Ruskin Bond's The Room on the Roof (1956) and Bapsi Sidhwa's Ice-Candy-Man (1988). Drawing on Homi Bhabha's theorization of cultural hybridity and Elleke Boehmer's work on postcolonial minority writing, the study argues that Anglo-Indian identity emerges through urban spatial practice rather than fixed cultural essence. While Bond depicts postcolonial urban space as enabling hybrid experimentation, Sidhwa reveals how Partition violence catastrophically destroyed cosmopolitan urban fabric. The analysis demonstrates how gender, class, and historical trauma fundamentally shape experiences of cultural hybridity and spatial belonging.