Skip to content
Help support CapRadio’s local public service mission 
and enrich the lives in your community.
Support local nonprofit public media.
Donate Now

View thank you gift options

CapRadio

CapRadio

listen live donate
listen live donate
listen live
donate
  • News
    • News

    • State Government
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • Race and Equity
    • Business
    • Arts and Lifestyle
    • Food and Sustainability
    • PolitiFact California
    News
    • News

    • State Government
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • Race and Equity
    • Business
    • Arts and Lifestyle
    • Food and Sustainability
    • PolitiFact California
  • Music
    • Music

    • Classical
    • Jazz
    • Eclectic

    • Daily Playlist
    Music
    • Music

    • Classical
    • Jazz
    • Eclectic

    • Daily Playlist
  • Podcasts & Shows
  • Schedules
  • Events
  • Support
    • Support
    • Ways to support
    • Evergreen Donation
    • One-Time Donation
    • Corporate Sponsorship
    • Vehicle Donation
    • Stock Giving
    • Legacy Giving
    • Endowment Support
    • Members
    • Member Benefits
    • Member FAQ
    • Member Newsletter

    • Fund drives
    • Drawing Winners
    • Thank You Gifts
    Support
    • Support
    • Ways to support
    • Evergreen Donation
    • One-Time Donation
    • Corporate Sponsorship
    • Vehicle Donation
    • Stock Giving
    • Legacy Giving
    • Endowment Support
    • Members
    • Member Benefits
    • Member FAQ
    • Member Newsletter

    • Fund drives
    • Drawing Winners
    • Thank You Gifts
  • About
  • Close Menu

CapRadio Reads

 

Feed your curiosity and explore fresh perspectives with CapRadio Reads—our online, on-air and on demand resource for discovering your next great read.

  • All
  • Radio
  • Podcast
  • Follow
    • Apple Podcasts
    • Podcast RSS
 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 
 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 
  • Arts and Lifestyle
  •  

Shanthi Sekaran - Lucky Boy

Friday, June 15, 2018

Author Shanthi Sekaran explores the complexities of U.S. immigration and adoption policies through the story of one "Lucky Boy."

Listen
/
Update RequiredTo play audio, update browser or Flash plugin.
Andrew Nixon / Capital Public Radio
 

Andrew Nixon / Capital Public Radio

Tens of thousands of undocumented women have made the journey across the southern border of the United States. The trip is expensive. Some migrants are raped by guides or fellow travelers. That was Soli’s story in the novel "Lucky Boy," by author Shanthi Sekaran.

Soli arrives in the U.S. pregnant and tries to juggle motherhood and work as a nanny in Berkeley, California. When immigration agents find out about her, she’s faced with deportation and possibly being forced to relinquish her child to adoption. That’s when her path crosses with an Indian-American couple wanting to adopt. Soli may have to accept that someone else could love her child.

Through the story of one "Lucky Boy," Sekaran explores the complexities of U.S. immigration and adoption policies. She sat down with CapRadio's Donna Apidone to talk about it. 


Interview Highlights

Why is this boy "lucky"?

He's lucky in a very sincere way because he is loved very much by these two mothers and by Rishi [his foster mother's husband]. So, in that he's lucky, you know, he's wanted. But also there's some irony in that. [He’s] lucky because he doesn't know — people don't know where he's going to end up. His fate is sort of thrown to the wind because of this love, because of these people who have had him and who want him.

The book is named for the child. How do you get from these people who are very integrated into each other's lives and still keep that focus on the child at all times? How do you get all that on paper?

It's all about the child really. It's about an unborn child. It's about Ignacio, the son of Soli. Rishi has a line where he says, "That's all people want. They just want healthy babies." So that's what the people in the novel all kind of center around, whether they know it or not. They're distracted by all these other things but I think the core of the book is Ignacio.

You wrote a piece for The New York Times late last year called "The Privileged Immigrant" and you said that Indians are different in coming to the U.S. because they have a path. Can you talk about that?

Yeah. So this piece I wrote for The New York Times talked a little about my parents and the fact that they were brought over. They came over to the U.S. in the mid ‘60s because the U.S. was recruiting foreign medical graduates. And so it was very hard for them. They were up in Albany, New York. You know I think around 1960 there were like a total of 12,000 Indians in the entire United States. So it was a lonely experience and it was physically cold and it was probably emotionally very isolated. 

My point was that my parents and South Asians of their generation, especially who were brought over on things like the foreign medical graduate program, were given a visa. They were given a training program to be in here. My father and mother were given an apartment in Albany. It was very hard but they had these little steps put in place for them that allowed them to have a job, earn money, save money, create credit history. It allowed them to take the steps that they needed to take to establish a stable life in this country.

And now we have a lot of people in America who were not given this path. They work here. They make money. There are technically legal ways for an undocumented immigrant to start something like a bank account. But it's terrifying to walk into a bank, you know, if you're undocumented and you could be picked up at any moment, to walk into a bank and give them your name and be officially then on the record. So that has ramifications for generations. They don't save the money. They don't establish credit history. They cannot integrate themselves into the economy and into the system of succeeding the way that maybe my parents could.

Donna Apidone interviewed Shanthi Sekaran on Feb. 7, 2017.

 Older

John Lescroart - Fatal

Newer 

Robin Sloan - Sourdough

We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter
Follow
  • Apple Podcasts
  • Podcast RSS

show archive

Podcast Archive

  • 2021   
    • December   
      • Five books worth checking out from CapRadio Reads 2021
    • November   
      • Radical Empathy – Terri E. Givens
    • September   
      • All We Can Save - Abigail Dillen
    • August   
      • The Sentinel – Andrew Child
      • Already Toast - Kate Washington
    • July   
      • Hook, Line, and Supper – Hank Shaw
    • June   
      • Why To These Rocks - Community of Writers
      • The Body Papers - Grace Talusan
    • March   
      • Family in Six Tones – Lan Cao & Harlan Margaret Van Cao
    • February   
      • The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X – Tamara Payne
    • January   
      • The Lager Queen of Minnesota – J. Ryan Stradal
  • 2020   
    • December   
      • Celebrating The Gift Of Reading
    • November   
      • The Shame Game – Mary O’Hara
    • October   
      • Gretchen Sorin - Driving While Black
      • Ruchika Tomar – A Prayer for Travelers
    • August   
      • Alka Joshi - The Henna Artist
    • July   
      • Devi Laskar - The Atlas of Reds and Blues
    • June   
      • Irene Butter - Shores Beyond Shores
      • Virtual Author Interview With Irene Butter
      • Julia Flynn Siler - The White Devil's Daughters
    • May   
      • Former Secretary Of State Madeleine Albright Shares Her Perspective On International Politics With CapRadio’s Donna Apidone
      • What to Read - Finding Compassion
      • What to Read - Inspired By Simplicity
      • What to Read - When You're Ready to Listen
      • What to Read - Fictional Favorites
    • April   
      • What to Read-Go South
      • What to Read - Painting With Words
      • What to Read - Dreaming of Travel
      • Staying Informed While Staying at Home
    • February   
      • RO Kwon — The Incendiaries
    • January   
      • Tommy Orange — There There
  • 2019   
    • September   
      • Mark Arax - The Dreamt Land
    • April   
      • Jonathan Kauffman – Hippie Food
    • February   
      • John Lescroart - The Rule Of Law
    • January   
      • Vanessa Hua – A River of Stars
  • 2018   
    • December   
      • Michael David Lukas - The Last Watchman of Old Cairo
    • August   
      • Lauren Markham - The Far Away Brothers
    • June   
      • Robin Sloan - Sourdough
      • Shanthi Sekaran - Lucky Boy
      • John Lescroart - Fatal
      • Elizabeth Rynecki - Chasing Portraits
      • Trailer: Introducing The CapRadio Reads Podcast With Donna Apidone

Back to Top

  • CapRadio

    7055 Folsom Boulevard
    Sacramento, CA 95826-2625

    •  
      (916) 278-8900
    •  
      (877) 480-5900
    •  Contact / Feedback
    •  Submit a Tip / Story Idea
  • About

    • Mission / Vision / Core Values
    • Stations & Coverage Map
    • Careers & Internships
    • Staff Directory
    • Board of Directors
    • Press
  • Listening Options

    • Mobile Apps
    • Smart Speakers
    • Podcasts & Shows
    • On-Air Schedules
    • Daily Playlist
    • Signal Status
  • Connect

    •  Facebook
    •  Twitter
    •  Instagram
    •  YouTube
  • Donate

  • Listen Live

  • Newsletters

CapRadio stations are licensed to California State University, Sacramento. © 2023, Capital Public Radio. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Website Feedback FCC Public Files: KXJZ KKTO KUOP KQNC KXPR KXSR KXJS. For assistance accessing our public files, please call 916-278-8900 or email us.