Kalyani Inpakumar

Kalyani Inpakumar was born in 1959, in Inuvil, part of Tamil Eelam. She lived there, as well as in India and the United Kingdom, before migrating to Australia when she was 20. She and her mum moved to India in 1983, after a pogrom against Tamils, joining her brother there. Later, her family would join her in Sydney. Kalyani talked about her connections with the Tamil community in Sydney, particularly with those who are more recently arrived, and with whom she works through her community work.

She explained “So I think for you to feel a sense of belonging you have to feel a sense of safeness, and there’s a safety around you and people accepting your culture or your way of life as well. And if those things aren’t accepted, then you don't belong there. And if you don't belong, then you're stateless, I think.”