• INTRODUCTION IX Chaitali Sen THE IMMIGRANT, story 1 Hasanthika Sirisena PINE, story 13 Kirtan Nautiyal GETTYSBURG, essay 27 Jaya Wagle FRESH OFF THE PLANE, essay 37 Aruni Kashyap NAFISA ALI’S LIFE, LOVE, AND FRIENDSHIPS, BEFORE AND AFTER THE TRAVEL BAN, story 49 Anuja Ghimire MAIL AND MORE, story 69 Anjali Enjeti DRINKING CHAI TO SAVANNAH, essay 77 Tarfia Faizullah NECESSARY FAILURE, essay 85 Sindya Bhanoo NATURE EXCHANGE, story 89 Ali Eteraz ENCASED, story 105 Sayantani Dasgupta RINSE, REPEAT, essay 117 Shikha Malaviya WHAT I FOUND THERE: TRANSCENDENCE THROUGH THE BLUES AND TWO BOOKS, essay 127 Rukmini Kalamangalam SLOW FRUITING, essay 137 Jenny Bhatt THE WEIGHT OF HIS BONES, story 145 Khem K. Aryal LAXMAN SIR IN AMERICA, story 151 Soniah Kamal WRITING THE IMMIGRANT SOUTHERN IN THE NEW NEW SOUTH, essay 165 CONTRIBUTORS 180 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 184

To a region much inclined to look backward, the American South, Khem K. Aryal’s anthology offers a vision as contemporary as it is vital and varied. These stories and essays assemble the conflicts and collisions (often literal) of cultures to explore and expose the traditions, mysteries, and wonders of Atlanta and Mobile and Houston and all points in between that South Asian populations have transformed. These writers, of Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Nepalese, Pakistani, and Indian descent, are all ones you’ll want to know further as soon as you shut the cover of this magical and necessary book." —Tom Williams, author of Among the Wild Mulattos and Other Tales"A stellar and much-needed anthology that illuminates a part of American life that has gone unacknowledged for too long. Gloriously written and contextualized in a well-researched introduction, this contribution to South Asian immigrant literature not only brings to life the experience of the writers and characters in the sixteen essays and stories, but offers with breathtaking clarity a vision of the American South from a vantage point that makes an old landscape new." —Joanna Eleftheriou, author of This Way Back."South to South is a wonderfully varied collection of work, subversively curated to showcase writers inventing their own traditions as they resist and complicate how we imagine South Asia and the American South. If you thought anthologies were here to generalize, let this one prove you happily wrong! With a range of nuanced, surprising essays and stories from voices originating from Nepal to Georgia, this book offers what I’m looking for in any writing about South Asian Americans: ferocious wit, elevation of historically marginalized voices, and a lively interest in critique of society and self." —V. V. Ganeshananthan, author of Love Marriage

• INTRODUCTION IX Chaitali Sen THE IMMIGRANT, story 1 Hasanthika Sirisena PINE, story 13 Kirtan Nautiyal GETTYSBURG, essay 27 Jaya Wagle FRESH OFF THE PLANE, essay 37 Aruni Kashyap NAFISA ALI’S LIFE, LOVE, AND FRIENDSHIPS, BEFORE AND AFTER THE TRAVEL BAN, story 49 Anuja Ghimire MAIL AND MORE, story 69 Anjali Enjeti DRINKING CHAI TO SAVANNAH, essay 77 Tarfia Faizullah NECESSARY FAILURE, essay 85 Sindya Bhanoo NATURE EXCHANGE, story 89 Ali Eteraz ENCASED, story 105 Sayantani Dasgupta RINSE, REPEAT, essay 117 Shikha Malaviya WHAT I FOUND THERE: TRANSCENDENCE THROUGH THE BLUES AND TWO BOOKS, essay 127 Rukmini Kalamangalam SLOW FRUITING, essay 137 Jenny Bhatt THE WEIGHT OF HIS BONES, story 145 Khem K. Aryal LAXMAN SIR IN AMERICA, story 151 Soniah Kamal WRITING THE IMMIGRANT SOUTHERN IN THE NEW NEW SOUTH, essay 165 CONTRIBUTORS 180 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 184

To a region much inclined to look backward, the American South, Khem K. Aryal’s anthology offers a vision as contemporary as it is vital and varied. These stories and essays assemble the conflicts and collisions (often literal) of cultures to explore and expose the traditions, mysteries, and wonders of Atlanta and Mobile and Houston and all points in between that South Asian populations have transformed. These writers, of Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Nepalese, Pakistani, and Indian descent, are all ones you’ll want to know further as soon as you shut the cover of this magical and necessary book." —Tom Williams, author of Among the Wild Mulattos and Other Tales"A stellar and much-needed anthology that illuminates a part of American life that has gone unacknowledged for too long. Gloriously written and contextualized in a well-researched introduction, this contribution to South Asian immigrant literature not only brings to life the experience of the writers and characters in the sixteen essays and stories, but offers with breathtaking clarity a vision of the American South from a vantage point that makes an old landscape new." —Joanna Eleftheriou, author of This Way Back."South to South is a wonderfully varied collection of work, subversively curated to showcase writers inventing their own traditions as they resist and complicate how we imagine South Asia and the American South. If you thought anthologies were here to generalize, let this one prove you happily wrong! With a range of nuanced, surprising essays and stories from voices originating from Nepal to Georgia, this book offers what I’m looking for in any writing about South Asian Americans: ferocious wit, elevation of historically marginalized voices, and a lively interest in critique of society and self." —V. V. Ganeshananthan, author of Love Marriage

• INTRODUCTION IX Chaitali Sen THE IMMIGRANT, story 1 Hasanthika Sirisena PINE, story 13 Kirtan Nautiyal GETTYSBURG, essay 27 Jaya Wagle FRESH OFF THE PLANE, essay 37 Aruni Kashyap NAFISA ALI’S LIFE, LOVE, AND FRIENDSHIPS, BEFORE AND AFTER THE TRAVEL BAN, story 49 Anuja Ghimire MAIL AND MORE, story 69 Anjali Enjeti DRINKING CHAI TO SAVANNAH, essay 77 Tarfia Faizullah NECESSARY FAILURE, essay 85 Sindya Bhanoo NATURE EXCHANGE, story 89 Ali Eteraz ENCASED, story 105 Sayantani Dasgupta RINSE, REPEAT, essay 117 Shikha Malaviya WHAT I FOUND THERE: TRANSCENDENCE THROUGH THE BLUES AND TWO BOOKS, essay 127 Rukmini Kalamangalam SLOW FRUITING, essay 137 Jenny Bhatt THE WEIGHT OF HIS BONES, story 145 Khem K. Aryal LAXMAN SIR IN AMERICA, story 151 Soniah Kamal WRITING THE IMMIGRANT SOUTHERN IN THE NEW NEW SOUTH, essay 165 CONTRIBUTORS 180 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 184

To a region much inclined to look backward, the American South, Khem K. Aryal’s anthology offers a vision as contemporary as it is vital and varied. These stories and essays assemble the conflicts and collisions (often literal) of cultures to explore and expose the traditions, mysteries, and wonders of Atlanta and Mobile and Houston and all points in between that South Asian populations have transformed. These writers, of Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Nepalese, Pakistani, and Indian descent, are all ones you’ll want to know further as soon as you shut the cover of this magical and necessary book." —Tom Williams, author of Among the Wild Mulattos and Other Tales"A stellar and much-needed anthology that illuminates a part of American life that has gone unacknowledged for too long. Gloriously written and contextualized in a well-researched introduction, this contribution to South Asian immigrant literature not only brings to life the experience of the writers and characters in the sixteen essays and stories, but offers with breathtaking clarity a vision of the American South from a vantage point that makes an old landscape new." —Joanna Eleftheriou, author of This Way Back."South to South is a wonderfully varied collection of work, subversively curated to showcase writers inventing their own traditions as they resist and complicate how we imagine South Asia and the American South. If you thought anthologies were here to generalize, let this one prove you happily wrong! With a range of nuanced, surprising essays and stories from voices originating from Nepal to Georgia, this book offers what I’m looking for in any writing about South Asian Americans: ferocious wit, elevation of historically marginalized voices, and a lively interest in critique of society and self." —V. V. Ganeshananthan, author of Love Marriage