My primary research area is Migration Studies, with a focus on the underexplored literary representations of internal migration in India. While Indian English Literature has largely focused on international migration and diasporic experiences—typically urban, middle-class, English-educated immigrants—this leaves a significant gap in scholarship on internal migration. My doctoral study addresses this gap by foregrounding how internal migration appears as a recurring yet overlooked theme in post-independence Indian English novels. Using an intersectional lens of class, caste, and gender, my research analyzed four novels: Anita Desai’s Cry, the Peacock (1963), Upamanyu Chatterjee’s English, August (1988), Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance (1995), and Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger (2008). These texts reflect diverse migratory patterns: rural-to-urban migration for work, caste-based displacement, urban-to-rural relocations for government employees, and marriage-related migration. My study examined four key aspects: push factors from origin areas, pull factors at destinations, the socio-economic links between them, and migrant aspirations. However, I argued that these alone are insufficient. The fulfillment—or lack thereof—of migration’s promised outcomes is crucial, especially since many migrations are distressed, permanent or recurring, and intergenerational. Thus, I explored how structural forces often constrain the realization of migratory hopes. I aim to further develop this work into a monograph, incorporating topics such as associational child migration, displacement due to conflict or development, and the mass internal migration during the COVID-19 pandemic.