Structure

The memoir is organized into 39 titled sections. Because the text is a hybrid work, some of the sections are written as prose, while others are written as poetry. Others still are recordings, transcriptions, and translations of Rajiv’s grandmother’s songs. These sections of the text are found in the chapters labeled “Aji Recording.” The surrounding chapters alternate between the aforementioned forms as a way to enact the author’s explorations concerning identity, ancestry, and origin. In “Open the Door,” Rajiv explains that Aji’s “poetry that would be my inheritance” (3). Because she is “the last speaker of Guyanese Bhojpuri,” Rajiv understands that “her stories and songs [are] precarious—on the verge of being erased” (4). He therefore endeavors to capture these facets of her experience before her death. However, Rajiv is not simply listening to and penning Aji’s stories and songs for posterity. Rather, he hopes...