Part II English (Poetry - Semester I)

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“Upagupta”

Choose and Fill Ups:

• 1.      The poem “Upagupta” presents two moments in the life of the dancing girl.
• 2.      Upagupta is the disciple of Buddha.
• 3.      In “Upagupta” the dancing girl meets the ascetic again after a long time.
• 4.      Upagupta, a great ascetic appears in the life of a dancing girl.
• 5.      The seasons described in the poem are Monsoon and Spring.
• 6.      In “Upagupta” the dancing girl’s life is being stricken with black pestilence.
• 7.      In “Upagupta” the dancing girl is seen lying down on the same rampart.
• 8.      In “Upagupta” the dancing girl was proud of her youth and beauty.
• 9.      The poem, “Upagupta” establishes the importance of humanity.
• 10.   According to  Upagupta, the dancing girl’s life is being stricken with black pestilence.

Short Question and Answer:

• 1.      Who is Upagupta?

Upagupta is a disciple of Buddha. He is also an ascetic.

• 2.      What is the dancing girl proud of in the poem “Upagupta”?
  The dancing girl considers her youth and beauty and also her dancing profession as her pride.

The dancing girl considers her youth and beauty and also her dancing profession as her pride.

• 3.      What is the dancing girl stricken with?

The dancing girl is stricken with black pestilence.

• 4.      What are described as two cardinal moments in the life of the dancing girl?

In the beginning, the dancing girl is beautiful and young. Later she is stricken with black pestilence and red sores found all over body. Her beauty is gone. These are the two cardinal moments in her life.

• 5.      How does Upagupta comfort the dancing girl when she is ill?

The ascetic applies the sandal balm on the sores found on the body of the dancing girl.

 

“Refugee Mother and Child”

Choose and Fill Ups:

• 1.      “Refugee Mother and Child” is written by Chinua Achebe.
• 2.      The poem, “Refugee Mother and Child” is about a mother and a child who have no home.
• 3.      The hair on the skull of the child is sparse.
• 4.      The mothers have lost all hope saving their children.
• 5.      Motherly love has been drained away from the mother.
• 6.      The refugee mother holding her child is compared to Mother Mary cuddling Infant Jesus.
• 7.      The mother puts flowers on the skull of the child.
• 8.      The act of putting flowers indicates the last display of maternal love.
• 9.      Madonna is Mother Mary.
• 10.   The child of the refugee mother gradually moves towards the grave.

Short Questions and Answers:

• 1.      Who does the mother demonstrate her tenderness for in the poem “Refugee Mother and Child”?

  The mother shows her tenderness for her dying son who suffers from diarrhoea.

  2.      Give two phrases from the poem, they convey the economic death refugees.

  ‘washed-out ribs and dried-up bottoms’    and     ‘blown empty bellies’

  3.      What does the reference to Madonna signify in the poem?

  Madonna refers to Mother Mary cuddling Infant Jesus. In this poem the refugee mother  holding her dying son like Mother Mary.

  4.      What have you understood of the condition of the child in the poem?

  The child is slowly dying since it suffers from diarrhoea since the hygienic condition is very            poor in the refuge camp.

  5.      What have you understood of the poet’s attitude reflected in the poem?

  The poet shows his sympathy for the poor condition of the refuge camp. He is also angry at             the government is lethargic while treating the refugees. 

 

“Don’ts”

Choose and Fill Ups:

• 1.      The poem, “Don’ts” is written by D.H. Lawrence.
• 2.      D.H. Lawrence is educating his young little boy to be real.
• 3.      Lawrence in “Don’ts” does not want his son to do all the same mistakes.
• 4.      In “Don’ts” the poet has done, many things to fall into the good habits of the people in the society.
• 5.      Lawrence wants his little boy to follow his heart.
• 6.      In “Don’ts” the poet wants his son to give the same lesson to his children.
• 7.      D.H. Lawrence advises his son not to live up to the standards.
• 8.      In the poem “Don’ts” the word ‘mater’ means informal use of Latin word for ‘mother’
• 9.      According to Lawrence the phrase ‘an enclosure for pigs’ is sty.
• 10.   According to Lawrence the message of the poem “Don’ts” could be to connect and find meaning in our experiences.

Short Questions and Answers:

• 1.      What is the major advice of the poet to his son in the poem “Don’ts”?

The poet does not want his son to do all the same mistakes that he had done to fall into the good books of the people in the society. Instead he wants him to follow his heart.

• 2.      What does the poet educate his son to be?

He educate his son to be real

• 3.      What does the poet want his not to do?

The poet wants his son not to 1. fall to much to the good books of the people in the society, 2. life for the dear little girl, 3. earn too much of wealth, 4. swallow too much of culture, and 5. drink too much of beer.

• 4.      What does the poet want his son to follow?

He wants his son to follow his heart and to be as good as he can be.

• 5.      What lesson does the poet want his son to pass to his wards in future?

The poet wants his son to give the same message to his children in future that he is giving to him through the poem “Don’ts”.

 

“Digging”

Choose and Fill Ups:

• 1.      Seamus Heaney is an Irish poet.
• 2.      Heaney reflects upon the rural history of his family in “Digging”.
• 3.      In “Digging” the speaker holds a pen like a spade.
• 4.      In the poem “Digging” the spade used by Heaney’s father is a thing of the past.
• 5.      Heaney  goes back to the memories of twenty years past.
• 6.      The poet used to involve in gathering of the potatoes in “Digging”.
• 7.      Heaney’s grandfather used to cut more turf in a day.
• 8.      The poet in “Digging” informs how he took a bottle of milk for his grandfather.
• 9.      The poet in “Digging” says that he has to follow the footsteps of his father and grandfather.
• 10.   The poets says the he too can dig with his squat pen in “Digging”.

Short Questions and Answers:

• 1.      How many generations are drawn to the picture in the poem “Digging”?

Three generations are drawn to the picture in the poem “Digging”

• 2.      What is the speaker originally engaged in?

The speaker of “Digging” originally engaged in ‘writing’.

• 3.      What has distracted the speaker from his work?

The digging of the ground with a spade by the speaker’s father has distracted him from his work.

• 4.      What does the act of digging signify metaphorically in the poem?

The act of digging metaphorically signifies the act of digging up of the past of the speaker’s life.

• 5.      What have you understood of the speaker’s grandfather in the poem “Digging”?

The speaker’s grandfather has possessed the skill of digging more turf than any other farmer in the village.

Postcoloniality and the Artifice of History: Who Speaks for 'Indians' Pasts? (Dipesh Chakrabarty)

 Introduction:

Dipesh Chakrabarty (born in 1948 in Kolkata) is an Indian historian and leading scholar of postcolonial theory and subaltern studies. He is the Lawrence A Kimpton Distinguished Service Professor in history at the University of Chicago, and is the recipient of the 2014 Tonybee Prize, named after Professor Arnold J. Tonybee, that recognizes social scientist for significant academic and public contributions to humanity.

 

Domination of European History:

Dipesh Chakrabarty in his essay, “Postcoloniality and the Artifice of History: Who Speaks for ‘Indian’ Pasts?” tries to analyze the history of the world and the position of Indians in it. the world history were mostly written by European writers who were totally unmindful of the eastern values. Their histories were mostly produced at the institutional level. Europe being a royal power influenced the entire world order in terms of politics, trade, commerce, defence and other aspects of an advanced society. The European history dominated the entire world order and engulfed the theoretical subject of all histories including “Indian, Chinese, Kenyan” and so on. Therefore, the European history became a master narrative. In this sense, the  Indian history itself in a position of subalternity and can only express subaltern position in the name of history. Thus arises the question of domination and subordination. The great phenomenon of orientalism is willfully sacrificed at the altar of European imperialism. Europe dominates the phenomenal world of everyday relationship of power. Europe works as a silent referent in all historical knowledge.

 

There is a compulsion for the third-world and non-western historians to refer to works in European history but the historians of Europe do not feel any need to reciprocate.  European historians produce their works in relative ignorance of non-western histories. Hence Chakrabarty states that the dominance of “Europe” as the subject of all histories is the theorical condition under which historical knowledge produced in the third-world. this condition expresses in a paradoxical manner. This is the blatant result of cultural arrogance on the part of European historians. Karl Marx views this paradox in terms of social conditions. He uses terms such as “Bourgeoise” and Pre-bourgeoise” are “Capital” and “Pre-capital”. Bourgeoises and capitalists according to Marx give rise for the first-time to a history that can be seen as philosophical and universal category. History becomes for the first-time theoretical knowledge.

 

Marx’s View of Transition:

According to Chakrabarty, Marx calls for “equal pay for equal work” is the first call to move to the main stream social order. Marxism paved the way for the historical narratives. These narratives turn around the theme of historical transitions. Most modern third-world histories are written within problematics posed by these transition narratives. This tendency forms the backdrop of subaltern studies. Peasants dream of mythical kingdom, the left’s ideal of social revolution constitute the history of modern India. The transition narratives celebrated the imperialists’ capacity for violence and conquests. Alexander Dow’s “History of Hindostan” is the best example for this conviction.

The British introduced the “Rule of Law” in the place of “arbitrary” and “despotic”. In 19^th and 20^th centuries nationalism became the subject of Indian transition narratives. Transition from imperialism to nationalism is the most notable trend in Indian literary and social contexts. Raja Rammohun Roy and Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay emerged as India’s most prominent nationalists’ intellectuals of the 19^th century. The peasants and the workers who formed the Indian subaltern classes were on the rise. Many Indians who were in London for education and livelihood returned to India to become nationalists which includes Mahatma Gandhi also. Many of the public and private subjects of modern individualism became visible in India in the 19^th century. This period also witnessed sudden development of four basic genres such as novel, biography, autobiography and history. Along with these developed modern industries, technology, medicine and legal system. Gandhi realized this as early as 1909. He remarked in his famous book, “Hind-Swaraj” “make India  English” or as he puts it otherwise to have “English rule without the English man”.

 

Inadequacy of Indian Transition Narratives: 

All Indians have now become “citizens’. They are well protected by the constitutions. The modern individual whose political life is lived in citizenship. They also supposed to have an interiorized “private-self”. Their private lives are not properly represented in this narrative. Since the middle of the 19^th century, there have been Indian novels, diaries, letters and autobiographies but they seldom yield pictures of an endlessly interiorized subject. Chakrabarty argues that all our autobiographies are fully public. Women writers just tell the stories of the extended family life. Nirad Chaudhury’s “autobiographies” are largely public than personal. Thus, the transition narrative situates the modern individual at the very end of history. literature produced in Bengal between 1850 and 1920 mostly deal with Bengali middle-class Hindu life. they are full of “domestic science”. The condition of women in 19^th century India was not well-presented in these  narratives. The idea of the “modern” individual, “freedom”, “equality”, and “rights” are all highlighted. Bengali literature have often become the subject of ridicule and scorn. Bengali women writers like Kundamala Devi and Indra Devi have expressed their views on the conditions of women in the family and society: “Unaffected by nature, of pleasant speech, untiring in their service (to others) oblivious of their own pleasures (while) moved easily by the suffering of others and capable of being content with very little”.

 

Women are the Lakshmis of the community. If they undertake to impose themselves in the sphere of dharma and knowledge, then there will be an automatic amusement in the quality of social life. Hindu woman should be united in complete harmony with husband through mutual submission, loyalty, devotion, and chastity. If they are not so, the entire family is destroyed by the spirit of Alakshmi (not-Lakshmi). Thus, the Indian transition narratives focus much on making the family a site where the sacred and the secular blended   in a permanent principle that was heavenly and divine. Thus these voices combining the constituting theme of nationalism, class-based ideology, women struggle against men and the friendship between husband and wife are the deep ambivalence that marked these narratives.

 

There is a strong difference between European history and Indian history. Indian history, culture and tradition accord more importance to community and individual relationship, whereas the European history give smore importance to the nation and not the individual. This is the sharp difference between the European imperialism and the third-world nationalism which constitute the basic layers of subaltern studies. Therefore, there is continuous struggle and inherent confrontation between these cultures and histories. Third-world domain represents the rejection of modernity, historical values, individualism, science, and grand-narratives. These struggles include coercion of politically instituted symbolic violence. The Europe like the west is notably an imaginary entity. But third-world nationalism and modernizing ideologies are par-excellence. The strength of India lies with grand-narratives of “rights, citizenship, the nation-state, public and private spheres”

 

Conclusion:

Chakrabarty in this essay has effectively defended against the third-world counties being labelled as subaltern in the European context. he argues that the term subaltern has been created by the western thinkers who are totally ignorant of non-western narratives, cultural and traditional achievements. He concludes that Europe may be termed in the context of science and legal system but not in the sphere of literature, architecture and other traditional values of the third-world nations.  

 

 

 

 

EPIC

 Epic:

Definition: An epic is a long narrative in verse on a great and serious subject related in an elevated style.

 Dryden: According to Dryden “An Epic is a heroic poem, truly such, is undoubtedly the greatest work which the soul of man is capable to perform.”

 Characteristics:

·       An epic tells a generally well-known story and is centred round a heroic or semi-divine figure on whose actions depends on fate.

·       The action of an epic is serious

·       There is a good deal of physical and spiritual conflicts.

·       The characters and events are portrayed in detail and descriptions are in elevated style and the language is also ornate.

 

Types of Epics:

 

Historically there are two types of epic – 1. the primitive epic or the epic of growth  and the epic of art or the literary epic.

 

The epic of growth is not entirely the work by a single author but it evolved from pre-existing legends, folk poems and sagas. The epic of growth contains supernatural or religious elements. The style of such epic is marked by directness and simplicity. Example: Homer’s “Iliad” and Odyssey”; Valmiki’s “The Ramayana” and Vyasa’s “The Mahabharata”.

 

The epic of art or literary epic is the product of individual poet. It is the scholarly research of the poet. Most traits of the epic of growth are found in the literary epic also. Example: Virgil’s “Aenid”; Milton’s “Paradise Lost”: Spenser’s “Faerie Queene”.

 

The man traits of an epic:

 

1.     The subject matter of an epic is heroic or mythical kind. The hero is a figure of national or even cosmic importance.

2.     The setting of an epic is vast and comprises several worlds.

3.     The action of an epic involves superhuman deeds. The action of an epic is often controlled by supernatural agents. Gods and goddesses mingle with the humans and fight on both sides.

4.     The pic contains a number of thrilling episodes like battles, duels, wanderings, ordeals and the like.

5.     In most epics there is a moral purpose. The hero represents a cause and the victory of good over evil is ensured.

6.     Epic is narrated in an ornate, ceremonial and grand style. Epic similes, figures of speech, classical allusions and references and repetitions are used.

7.     The epic is usually divided into 12 books through “Iliad and “Odyssey” have 24 books.

The Mock-Epic

The mock-epic is a narrative poem in which the conventions of the regular epic are employed in connection with trivial things. Thus, it becomes a parody. The finest example of a mock-epic poem in English is Pope’s “Rape of the Lock” published in 1712. Swift’s “Battle of the Books” also contains some traits of a mock-epic.

 

“Rape of the Lock” celebrates an absurdly trivial theme – the theft of a lock of hair from a girl’s head by her lover – in an epic manner. As in serious epic Pope invokes the Muse at the beginning. He introduces the supernatural elements as in all serious epics. The poem is full of fanciful concepts, expressions and images that remind the reader of a regular epic. The poet uses irony, satire, understatements, anticlimax, balanced sentences and similar devices to emphasise the mocking tone without spoiling the epic structure.

 

My Ancestor's House (Bina Sharif)

 About the Author: Bina Sharif is an American playwright, actress, director, performer and a visual artist. She has written, directed and performed over30 plays produced in USA, Pakistan and Europe. Her full-length lay “My Ancestor’s House” published by Ruttledge Press and taught in many universities all over the world.

Sharif holds an MD degree from Pakistan and a master’s degree in Public health from Johns Hopkins University.

Sharif has been a theatre critic for the last 20 years, co-hosting HI DRAMA and is the editor and publisher for the blog, Arts International and maintains a website with her writing titled “Stream of Consciousness of Singing Birds”. Her work has been exhibited in group shows at Theater for the New City Art Gallery. Her 31st play was staged in New York at The Theater for the New City in November 2016. She recently completed her 32nd play, which is a one-woman play titled "Sorrow in the Time of Isis" and is being considered for production.

 

Characters in the Play:

Begum Hajira – Mother, aged 50-70.

Sahid – Begum’s elder son, aged 45-50; he is a brigadier in the Pakistani army. 

Nazo -Begum’s eldest daughter (in forties)

Bindia – Begum’s second daughter (in late thirties)

Roona – Begum’s third daughter (two/three years younger to Bindia)

Deedi – Begum’s youngest daughter (in late twenties)

Ali Buksh – a family servant, aged 40-50

Moazzan – a Muslim man, knows how to recite Aazan (a call to prayer in Arabic)

 

 

“My Ancestor’s House” is a memory play. It was first performed in 1992. Bina Sharif calls it a ‘memory play’ as it deals with her own past life, of her siblings and of her parents in Pakistan that she left behind decades age before moving to America. Basically, it is written in the memory of her elder sister called, Deedi, who was cruelly boycotted by the family because she chose her husband without their consent. The husband also proved cruel as he did not support his family; he remained idle till her death.  It is one of the plays in the anthology called “Contemporary Plays by Women of Color”. It focuses on the pathetic conditions of women in Muslim community. The culture, religion and patriarchy are responsible to suppress and dominate the females. The females mentioned in the play are not allowed to live the life according to their wish, rather they have to move according to the desire and interest of their families. They are not even allowed to choose their life partner. If they marry according to their will, they are punished by their society, religion, fate and her husband too. The play, My Ancestor’s House excavates how Muslim women are suppressed by their culture, religion and patriarchy.  In the play, “My Ancestor’s House” we follow the return of Bindia, a Pakistani woman who has chosen to marry and live in the west. But for the sake of her native land and the world of her sisters and dying mother, she returns to Pakistan. It is on this journey that she confronts with jealousy and family strife that question her very existence. There is the picture of female characters like Begum, Nazo, Bindia, Roona and Deedi. The bonding and the relationship of sisters are presented beautifully to resist patriarchal domination in the play.

 

Bindia leaves the male chauvinist country Pakistan for the sake of freedoms and liberties in America. But her problems do not subside there. She remains the metaphor of a weaver's shuttle between America and Pakistan. The liminality of life that is the result of the hybrid self keeps her entrenched in homelessness. Bindia dots upon ‘The jasmines, the daffodils, the beautiful birch trees’ and ‘the best rosebuds’ in the garden of Nazo. She cannot help crying, ‘oh! the lovely roses'; 'you could never have a garden in New York .'Nazo, fond of the garden, asks Roona to ‘let her (Bindia) stay in the garden. It is so lovely out there. In comparison with Roona’s 'smaller garden,' the garden of Sahid is just 'huge .'And like others, he is also very fond and proud of his garden. It is the symbol of joys, luxuries and happiness that a character in “My Ancestor’s House” provides to his/ her own family.

 

Bindia has no children as she has no familial life. She does not own her garden rather. There is a lot of concrete and cement around her house in America. That is the reason she is more fond of a garden than other characters. She is passing a lonely life in America. Nazo’s big garden signifies the worldly success and luxuries that she, along with her life partner, brings to the children. Deedi has no garden at all. Roona’s smaller garden stands for the little material advancement she made for her family. To yearn passionately for the garden is reinforced by the unaffordable miseries of practical life that the unchanging, cruel, and constantly repeated actions occasion them. Nazo’s hollowing unrest due to materialist hunger, Roona’s apprehensions and worries to arrange money for her daughters, Sahid’s unjust moral compass that is the result of modern vicious circles of life and Bindia’s rootlessness in the American ambiance all sharpen their desire for the carefree childhood implicated in the lexical item 'garden.' Bindia committed a one-time important act of leaving Pakistan for America. It brought a big turn plus a boost in her life but then she lost her energies to further struggle for adjustment to the new environment. Deedi proved her dynamism by choosing a husband of her own choice, but she also failed to replenish her forces and courage to overcome her miserable marriage at the hands of her worthless life partner. Sahid, Nazo and Roona, who could not make any one-time extraordinary action, are fully exhausted in terms of peace, contentment, and self-actualization.

Mother is the symbol of the sap of life for all the characters in this play. Bindia says, ‘mother is dying’; her ‘vacant stare…is almost frightening’. The routine-based habitual life has squeezed their prospects to nourish and flourish vigorously. The attitudinal and existential trajectory of all the siblings snakes into the undynamic mother image. Bindia says that she wanted to help Deedi even at the cost of her own self. She wanted to tell her, ‘Deedi, you are not alone’. The other example of the act of omission is Bindia’s regrets. She is sorry for not having reached out earlier when the mother was able to speak and recognize her family members. She says, 'I just wish I came back a little bit earlier'.

 Nazo, her husband, and Sahid have already pooled their selfish and cruel plan to expel Deedi along with her children and the worthless husband from her mother's house. Being elders among the siblings, they are bent on occupying the house cleverly. First, they try to pave the ground against Deedi, in front of Roona and Bindia, by finding faults with the former. They condemn the husband of Deedi. They also show their apprehensions about that worthless man who, they think, might occupy, along with his wife, the mother's house. Then they further exercise their pressure against the subaltern Deedi: Sahid says that her sinister husband wants that the former should bring up his children. Sahid very clearly announces that he will not do this job. Bindia and Roona have discerned the plan of Sahid and Nazo very well.

Encouraged by Nazo, Sahid, advises Roona and Bindia to construct a commercial market in the location of the ancestral house. It would every month fetch a lot of rent from the banks to be built there. He also announces, along with Nazo, that the latter's husband has voluntarily agreed to supervise the construction work. For this purpose, Sahid requests a power of attorney from his siblings. As these women do not trust their elder brother and elder sister, therefore, they decline the request. When the dissenting group advises selling the house, Sahid disagrees with it. Then all of a sudden, he changes his strategy. He begins to say that all of them are 'empty souls'; all the children of the family are 'emotionally crippled monsters incapable of having a healthy conversation .'To dispel the effect of his younger sister's doubts about him, he spreads a new trap before them. He says, 'I am trying to save our children. He elevates himself to their father's position and says, 'I promised myself to prevent further decay of my family .'He announces to 'get Deedi out of this mess .'He even offers his own house for Deedi. When the group of his younger sisters does not show agreement, he begins the self-pitying process. He curses his career in the army. He also belittles his value before others saying that he is not happy with his institution as it usually destabilizes the governments.

There is a causal relationship between madness and meaningless activities. The same formulation is spotted in My Ancestor House. The characters are mercilessly and cruelly involved in 'an unending quarrel . Everyone claims that his/her love for the mother is greater than those of others. Bindia states she served the mother during her stay in Pakistan better than others. Nazo also takes pride in caring for her mother more than others. Roona also claims to have visits to look after the mother. Sahid says that he will protect Deedi and his mother. All these characters have empty claims of love and care for the mother. There is another form of madness found in these characters. Every character tries to have a father figure for others. Nazo positions herself as the mother and Sahid calls himself the father. The reality is that no one cares about others. Everyone is selfish in each way.

Bindia wants her share of the house immediately to settle somewhere comfortably. Roona wants her share because she wants to arrange for the dowery of her daughters. Nazo wants to construct a commercial building there as it would bring a healthy income for her household. Sahid also wants a power of attorney from her siblings as he is desirous of fleecing all of them. The excess of all these works shows that they are without any pleasant colour in their acts of commission.

Conclusion

The investigation of My Ancestor’s House produced very significant results. It can be announced humbly that the habitual actions left dangerous impacts on the life of all the characters. Of course, some characters like Deedi and Bindia showed courage to bring a big change in their lives via one-time actions. But after some time, they became the victims of patriarchy, tradition and religious culture. Consequently, their existence was as faded as that of the other ones with routine action. Unable to come outside of the unhealthy orbit, they fall flat on sinister practices like bragging, double-crossing, dishonesty, an exhibition of false emotions, levelling allegations against others, and self-projection. These immobile individuals behave like a robot in terms of their lust, instinct, and material thirst. They are all ready to cheat each other to bring more and more luxuries and pleasures to their own families. Their acts of commission are directly related to their routinized activities. Their acts of omission are so many. For instance, Bindia has a wish to comfort Deedi, to bring toys for her nephews and nieces, to come earlier to see her ailing mother and to shift Deedi and other family members to America. But these are just desires and whimsical materials. Most of the time, their actions, behaviours, and discourses are ridiculous and ironic. They often signify the meaninglessness of life.

Rootless but Green are the Boulevard Trees (Uma Parameswaran)

 Note on the Author:

Uma Parameswaran is a poet, playwright and a short story writer. She was born in Madras, in 1938 and grew up in Japalpur, India. She moved to USA to do MA in American Literature at Indiana University. She Received Ph.D. in English from Michigan State University in 1972. Then she worked as a Professor of English at the University of Winnipeg. Now she is a retired professor living in Canada as an Indo-Canadian diaspora. Green are the Boulevard Trees (1987), Trishanku (1988) Sons must Die and Other Plays (1998), What was always Hers (1999), Mangoes on the Maple Tree (2002), A Cycle of the Moon: A Novel (2010), and  C. V. Raman: A Biography (2011) are some of her famous literary works.

Introduction: “Rootless but Green are the Boulevard Tress” is a three-act play set in Winnipeg in the late seventies. It is about an Indian immigrant, Bhave’s family. When the play opens, the family is found in Fort Richmond. The members of the family suffer because they feel as if they are torn apart. This is due to their metal trauma resulted from the cultural shock that they experience in their host land, Canada. The cultural differences existing in the land make the members of the family alienated from the main Canadian culture. Yet they look ‘green’ but they are rootless in the alien land as said by Sharad, “And if an Ontario poplar can’t grow and survive in Manitoba soil, what chance do we have?”

Discussion: Sharad is the father in the Bhave’s family. He once worked as a scientist in India but migrated to Canada in order to find better future. However, he turned into a real estate agent in Canada. He insists strict adherence to the principles of Indian culture and tries to establish his cultural roots in Canada by making his family to follow the same Indian tradition and culture.

Savitri is the wife of Sharad and the mother of three children namely Jayant, Jyoti and Krish. She is a typical Indian wife and works as a teacher in a school in Canada. She is in diasporic angst and so she strictly adopts the Indian culture at home though she looks Canadian outside of it. For example, after reaching home from work, she wears saree and prefers to make Indian food for the family members.  She plays a vital role to preserve the relationship intact with all the members of the family and friends.

The eldest son Jayant, a nineteen-year-old guy is frustrated with his father’s principles. He is unable to come to terms with the current reality partly because of his lack of confidence in himself and lack of courage to face reality. He decides to leave Canada with his friend, Jim in search of a better profession and life outside the nation, but lack the determination to proceed further. He does not like Jim who wants to come with his girlfriend. So, he aborts the trip and becomes dejected.

Jayant’s sister Jyothi is twenty-year-old girl. She is in love with her Canadian boyfriend, Andre.  In fact, Jayant and Jyoti keep remembering their life in India when they were little kids before Sharad moved to Canada. They nostalgically talk about the house of their grandmother and the ripe mangoes that they plucked from the neighbouring house. However, in Canada, Jyoti does not prefer to marry Sridhar who shows interest in marrying her. She loves Andre who always wants Jyoti to come for dating with him. The cultural conflicts between them lead to doubts and disappointments. Their cultural background plays a vital role in their perception of life and the mental anguish suffered by Jyothi reveals the difficulties in acclimatizing the foreign culture.

Veejala is Sharad’s sister. She is a frustrated scientist, an assistant professor of astronomy at the university. She does not like the professional competency existing in the university which keeps professor like her as lifeless robots. She painfully recalls to Jyoti how she lost her first daughter in the foetus when it was five-month-old, while in her attempt to produce articles on her research. Yet she does not receive any recognition at the university like the other professors who are Canadians. So, she decides to leave her husband and children and go back to India in her attempt to realise her dream. She thinks that her son Vithal and daughter Priti no longer depend on her. Anant, her husband understands her quest for self-actualisation. Hence, she has taken a decision to go back to India though she is not certain about the consequences and result of her decision. This is a shocking news to Sharad, her brother who finds it difficult to digest this act of his sister. Though Savitri understands and appreciates Veejala Moghe’s individuality, she remains neutral. She neither supports her decision nor oppose it.

Savithri knows that there are so many questions the immigrants have in their life, especially in the new country.  They are aware of the truth that there can be no satisfiable answer for all those questions. They try to keep themselves busy in order to avoid the situations that demands such introspection or contemplations. Therefore, she loves her daughter and pities her for her inability to understand the need to hold on the cultural roots which may minimise the mental anguish.

Jayant’s friends Arun, Dilip, Rajan, and Sridhar are the Indian students pursuing higher studies in Canada. They also like other immigrants give an account of their hopes, desires, disappointments, longing for the Indian food and Indian cultural ambience, and also their challenges in Canada and their need to be acknowledged and recognised as ‘equal’ with the other citizens of the nation.

Vithal, son of Anant and Veejala, is an ideal student with active participation in the community activities. He is only twenty-one, but he works for the possibility for better social status and political rights for the immigrants, especially Indian immigrants in Canada. However, the shattered family atmosphere, distorts him from his noble ideal pursuit. His failure in love affair, and his inability to look at changes in a broader perspective show the dilemma in the minds of youth like Vithal. In fact, Vithal like young immigrants are not able to accept and adopt the foreign culture and at the same time they cannot come to terms with the native culture. The cultural dilemma keeps them in a state of a mind where they strongly experience cultural shock and the resultant diasporic angst.

Conclusion: The play ends with the message that those who live in foreign countries can be happy and at peace like the Boulevard Trees which remain green as long as it lives irrespective of the time-span of its life. Similarly in this age of globalisation, establishing cultural roots of one’s native country in the host land may results in mental anguish. Thus, the play brings out the importance of acclimatization of the immigrants in the land of their adoption.   

Final Solutions (Mahesh Dattani)

Introduction: India has long history of socio-political dramatic theatre. Broadly speaking a number of playwrights have given a new turn in writing plays with social and political relevance. Prominent dramatists in the post independence Indian theatre such as Girish Karnad, Vijay Tendulkar, Rakesh Mohan, Mahesh Dattani and many others have used themes related to the contemporary social scenario to bring about the need to renovate the present social structure and to generate a renewed and better social system. They present complex issues of the contemporary society to address important social ills and prejudices

Mahesh Dattani: Out of the above notable playwrights, Mahesh Dattani is considered to be one of the most comprehensive dramatists in the modern Indian theatre. He was born (1958) in the city of Bangalore, though his parents originally belonged to Porbander in Gujarat. They had migrated to Bombay for business purpose and eventually settled in Bangalore where he found an opportunity of watching Gujarati and Kannada plays in the company of his parents and sisters. Dattani took his education from Baldwin High School and St. Joseph College of Arts and Sciences, Bangalore. Dattani has a very strong passion for theatrical art. He longs to present multicoloured Indian life and sensibility. It is because of this he had set his eyes on the art of play writing and stage performance. So, his academic career has no direct connection with his career as a dramatist. He started his own theatre group named Play Pen in 1984. His plays are performed at his studios. His plays are originally written in English. He has written a good number of dramas which are diverse in themes, techniques and devices. He has greatly expanded new horizons in Indian Drama by not only focusing on the themes of conflict between tradition and modernity, communal tensions, identity crisis and inequality but also touching up radical themes ranging gay, child abuse, transgender, HIV positives and physically challenged. The plays written by Dattani were “Where There’s a Will” (1988), “Dance Like a Man” (1989), “Tara” (1990), “Bravely Fought the Queen” (1991) and “Final Solutions” (1992) for which he won the prestigious Sahitya Academy Award in 1998. He even wrote plays such as “Do the Needful” (1997), “Seven Steps Around the Fire” (1998), “Clearing the Rubble” (1998), “On a Muggy Night in Mumbai” (1998), “30 Days in September” (2001) and “Brief Candle” (2009).

Final Solutions: The play “Final Solutions” by Mahesh Dattani  critically intervenes the post-independence era which has a communally vitiated socio-political scenario. The main character, Dakhsa also known as Hardika in the play fuses past and present. The theme of communal tension is given historical depth through flashbacks featuring Hardika at the age of fifteen in 1948 and her experience in the aftermath of the partition returns to her memory at different points of the play. The play explores the theme of communalism.

The political climate of the Ramjanmabhoomi movement of the Hindu Right during which the play, “Final Solutions” was written and produced adds a layer of significance to the play. During the early nineties the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) was supporting the demolition of Babri Masjid with religious processions known as Rath Yatras. The context of these Rath Yatras contributes to the play because they are the communal riots which form the background of the play. And in the play it is brought out by the disruption of a Rath Yatra while passing through  a Muslim neighbourhood.

Final Solutions opens with the image of five masked individuals dressed in black. Dattani has named them as Mob/Chorus. Each member has two masks one is of Hindu and other of Muslim. They remain on the top of a large crescent shaped ramp for most of the time in the play. Below the ramp is the home of Gandhis, a middle class family, in present day, Amargaon, Gujarat. The Gandhi family comprises of an elderly survivor of the partition of India and Pakistan, Hardika, who was earlier known as Daksha, her son Ramnik, her daughter in law, Aruna and her granddaughter, Smita.

The action of the play is set in motion by the recent destruction of the chariot and images of Hindu deities of a Rath Yatra while travelling through a Muslim neighbourhood of the city. Riots had broken out in Amargaon and so curfew has been imposed in the city. The local Hindu and Muslim communities, represented by the Mob/Chorus are blowing each other for the riots. The communal violence between these groups brings back Hardika’s memories of partition and her life as a new bride in 1948. Her memories are expressed through the character of Daksha who is shown reading from her diary. The Gandhi family is safe within the home and although Smita is worried about the safety of her Muslim friend, Tasneem.

The family is having a peaceful evening but it is disrupted when Bobby and Javed two young Muslim men arrive at their doorstep begging to take them inside. The Mob/Chorus with Hindu masks are after Bobby and Javed and are threatening to kill them. Despite the objection of his mother Ramnik opens the door of his house to protect the two. An interaction occurs between the Ramnik and Bobby and Javed throughout the course of the night. Hardika still has resentment against Muslims due to the events that had happened in her life following the partition and thus she protests against Bobby and Javed’s presence in her home. Through the character of Daksha the audience is slowly able to know the two factors that are the source of Hardika’s animosity. The first was the murder of her father in hometown, Hussainabad, which became a part of Pakistan during the partition.

The second reason was that the physical and mental abuse she had to endure when her husband Hari and her in laws found out about her friendship with her Muslim neighbour, Zarine. Her son Ramnik is a secular Hindu and much more hospitable to the boys who have come to the home for their safety. But Ramnik’s kindness is partly driven by the guilt he feels over running the business his father established by cheating Zarine’s family after partition. Ramnik’s wife Aruna is a deeply devout woman who feels extremely uncomfortable with Muslims sitting in her home and drinking water from the same glasses. She believes that their touching is polluting.

Smita, Ramnik’s daughter is also very uncomfortable with Bobby and Javed’s presence but for other reasons. Prior to the action of the play, Smita and Bobby had a brief romantic love affair with each other which they later decided not to pursue. Now Bobby is engaged to Javed’s sister and Smita’s friend Tasneem. Smita also struggles with her relationship with her mother, who she describes “stifling” her with religious rituals. Bobby whose real name is Babban is also a secular Muslim who tries to hide religious identity. Javed on the other hand is a Muslim Youth with a strong sense of identity. After becoming a victim of religious prejudice during his childhood, Javed had started working as a hired hoodlum, who is paid to start riots. He even reveals that he was the one who disrupted the Rath Yatra. Bobby has been trying to persuade Javed to give up his profession.

The struggle of these six characters to spend one night under the same roof creates a tense situation. The play reaches its end in the early hours of the morning when Bobby enters the prayer room and picks up the idol of Krishna to Aruna’s great distress. Bobby proclaims that he is touching god and nothing is happening to him. Upon seeing Aruna’s horror he tells Aruna that if there is understanding and faith in each other nothing can be destroyed. He then turns to Hardika and claims that if she is willing to forget everything, he is willing to tolerate everything done to him on communal basis. Bobby and Javed leave. Then Ramnik tells Hardika that her husband and her father-in-law had destroyed her friend Zarine’s family business. Hearing this Hardika realizes the real reason for why her in laws forbidden her to keep friendship with Zarine was not because Zarine was a Muslim but they were trying to hide their crime. Crushed Hardika asks Ramnik about why had not he told this to her before. Ramnik replies that he did not want her mother to live with guilt. The play ends with the image of Javed and Bobby standing among the Mob/Chorus.

Analysis: “Final Solutions” is situated with a long history as it deals with religious communalism, which is also one of the very important national concerns which have problematized the peace of nation for over a century. The religious conflicts and its consequence such as hatred, animosity and anger are often referred to be as religious communalism. The religious communalism results due to the ideological differences between the members of different religions and in fact it emerges out of the political manipulation of social issues.  Ever since the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, a communal tension between the Hindu and Muslim communities in India has been pervasive.  In fact, India has a long history of communal violence and Final Solutions is a kind plea for the end of the communal violence, with one of the worst examples that is Ayodhya dispute. The past incidents and events like the partition in 1947, Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 and Godhra incident in 2002 have created a huge gap between the Hindus and Muslims. The play opens when there has been curfew in the city because of the disturbance in the Rath Yatra resulting in communal violence. The play starts itself with a curfew in the city because of the communal conflicts. The central character Hardika had sorrowful past which had made herself averse to the religious sect of Muslims.

Hardika cannot forgive the people of that community who brutally killed her father even if the murderers did not have any relations with the boys who had come to their house to protect themselves. In most of the cases the matter of dispute is very simple but due to involvement of some anti-social elements it takes shape of communal riots as Bobby reveals to Ramnik the reason of Javed’s turning point from a common Muslim guy to a riot rouser or a hoodlum: Booby explained that Javed and his other friends were shocked to see when Javed was ill-treated as untouchable when he held a letter addressed to a Brahmin guy.

Javed and Bobby felt equally angry about the man’s behaviour which created a deep and vast difference. Like this, many such incidents had happened in Javed’s life and so he became a hoodlum by attaching himself with a terrorist group. Javed then confesses about the riots which broke-out because of the disturbance in the Rath Yatra was initiated by him, as he threw stone on the idol of deity in the procession. One can find the animosity and hatred of Javed towards the Hindus is not for some particular individual or a group but for the community as whole.

Aruna is a character which responds in most staunch and devout ways. She even risks her own family members for the sake of maintaining her religious identity. She also forcibly tries to make her daughter to believe the same in what she does. The three characters Bobby, Ramnik and Smita despite the outer layers of secularism remain acutely aware of the roots of religious identity that they are trying hard to supress through their own identities.

Finally, when Bobby and Javed are about to leave, Bobby breaks all norms by lifting the tiny image of Lord Krishna from Aruna‟s prayer room and declaring in front of all that nothing has happened to Lord Krishna when a Muslim like him touched it. However Aruna screams against the sacrilege that Bobby has done. Through Bobby, Dattani voices out the solution to get rid of social problem such as religious division existing in the society. Through Bobby Datani conveys that if the two communities understand and believe in each other then nothing can be destroyed. But probably the only suggestion is that it needs practice and immediate implementation of brotherhood forgetting the past and the stereotyped notions of each other.

Conclusion: From an in-depth study and analysis of the dramatic text “Final Solutions” one comprehends three things. Firstly, theatre always has directly or indirectly presented the utter truth of life through language which is destined to survive, move and rule man’s mind and heart forever. Secondly, although it portrays reality, theatre has brought hope, courage, awareness and understanding to man about what he is and what he should do to stand against anything with a vision towards a better future to come and determination to fight against all the social evils and odds. And finally, theatre is a key educational device which informs and demonstrates the perception of class, religion, caste and ethnicity prevailing in the society by conceptualizing the identities. Its main purpose is to delight with instruction which will be helpful to the society.