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A Return to Self: Excursions in Exile

by Aatish Taseer

A journey through place, belonging, and identity

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AlbakiReads Editorial

A journey through place, belonging, and identity

Part travelog and part memoir, Aatish Taseer’s account begins with the loss of his Indian citizenship in 2019, after three decades of growing up and living in India. The event sends him back to places that shaped him, from Turkey to Mexico, while widening the inquiry to how cities, cultures, and national identities take form. Istanbul brings him face to face with the ambitions of his younger self; the supplied description also places Uzbekistan on the journey. The book connects personal exile with questions about history, belonging, and the forces that shape a sense of home.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Travel writing readers interested in journeys across Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Mexico
  • Readers interested in memoirs about exile and questions of identity
  • Readers curious about the relationship between place, culture, and nationality

Themes

Exile and belongingIdentity and nationalityTravel and placeHistory and cultural formation

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

A blend of travelog and memoir spanning from Turkey to Mexico, exploring Aatish Taseer's uniquely blended identity and asking: Why do certain cities become epicenters of great historical shifts and sites of unpredictable communities?

In 2019, the government of Prime Minister Narenda Modi revoked Aatish Taseer's Indian citizenship, thereby exiling him from the country where he grew up and lived for thirty years. This loss, both practical and spiritual, sent him on a journey of revisiting the places that formed his identity, and asking broader questions about the complex forces that make a culture and a nationality, in the process.

In Istanbul, he confronts the hopes and ambitions of his former self. In Uzbekistan, he sees how what was once the majestic portal of the Silk Road is now a tourist fa
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