Contemplating issues of alienation and crisis of identity faced by immigrants in a milieu that is foreign to them, Diary of an Outsider is the story of an Indian immigrant student in the U.S., set against the backdrop of contemporary political narratives in those two countries. Based on real events and set against a backdrop of the rise of right-wing politics in the U.S. and India, Diary of an Outsider ponders upon the question of the United States as a nation of immigrants. This is juxtaposed with the politics of hate and exclusion in India where the Tagorean ideal of universal brotherhood has long been trumped by narrow definitions of virulent nationalism.