Hello, this is NPR's book of the day. I'm Glenn Weldon. In his debut collection of short

stories, Nishantv Injim captures different and very specific facets of the immigrant experience.

His protagonist grapple with the thrill of coming to the U.S. and the profound sense of loss over what

they've left behind in India, family, friends, food, culture, the things that always made them feel whole,

centered, part of something. Now they can only hover between nations, between communities,

between worlds as their new lives gradually come into sharper relief and their old ones fade away.

Injim talked with Sasha Pfeiffer on Weekend Edition Sunday.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Nishanth Injim grew up in a small town in India and he struggled to adapt to life in the U.S.

He wasn't a writer, he worked as a software engineer, but he found himself

pouring his immigration experiences into short stories. The title of his debut collection is the best

possible experience. It's about being an immigrant, living in a new culture that's sometimes

confusing, and longing for your home country,

even though you no longer feel quite at home there. In a story called The Math of Living,

a software developer anticipates his annual trip to India. In the cab, my father will ask me

either F or G before proceeding to tell me everything that has changed in the city since I last visited.

My mother will ask H questions about the food I'd like to eat.

I will enjoy this attention, this care that was missing when I was a child.

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