Living in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Kolkata

By Sam Tranum

Jhumpa Lahiri says many of her stories focus on Boston because it was the first place her parents landed in America when they arrived from Kolkata, via London.

“It’s something I’ve never had to go through in my life. I've never had to have a brand new life in a brand new place,” she said in an interview with the publisher, Knopf. “It just seems very foreign to me, to be honest, and yet such a part of my family's story so I keep writing about that.”

Well, I know something about starting anew in a new place, Jhumpa Lahiri. I grew up around Boston and, more than four decade...