The nomad is thus a way of being in the middle or between points. It is characterized by movement and change, and is unfettered by systems of organization. The goal of the nomad is only to continue to move within the “intermezzo.”
By represents the protagonists at the crossroad where both global and local spaces meet and endless negation between different aspects of lives appear, Lahiri represents an international space for the Indian immigrants in the United States. We can see in the beginning of the novel, Gogol’s mother Ashima is the most culturally conservative member of the family. She misses her life back in Calcutta and has problem settling in to her new American life. The narrator tells us, “On more than one occasion Ashoke has come home from the university to find her morose, in bed, rereading her parents’ letters” (33).
Therefore, the thread of connection that appears in The Namesake has to do with the power of names, of identity, of how we come to identify ourselves. Gogol Ganguli resists
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He experiences his nomadic becoming throughout the novel at different levels. Coming from an Indian immigrant family, he starts to dislike his name. “What is the reason you wish to change your name, Mr. Ganguli?” the judge asks. “I hate the name Gogol,” he says. “I’ve always hated it.” (Lahiri, 59). So, his parents agree to give him a more common name. They chose Nikhil, shortly before leaving for college, he travels to the courthouse and has his name legally changed to Nikhil Gogol Ganguli. “But now that he’s Nikhil it’s easier to ignore his parents, to tune out their concerns and pleas. With relief, he types his name at the tops of his freshman papers. He reads the telephone messages his suitemates leave for Nikhil on assorted scraps in their rooms. He opens up a checking account, writes his new name into course books. “Me llamo Nikhil,” he says in his Spanish