In the story, I feel that Anita Desai described more vividly the rural Thul compared to life in the city. I can almost see her description of the village when I watched the show ‘Vel’ which shows the life of a brother in the village and one in the city. Her description of Bombay is mostly about life in the cheap restaurant and seen through Hari’s eyes.
In the story, there were rich and poor people in both Thul and Bombay. The richest person described in Thul was Biju, a fisherman who was able to afford a big boat with engines and deep-freeze. In his home, he could also afford a television set, servants, bullock carts, poultry, piles of firewood. The rich person from the city was depicted in the family of the deSilvas. They own properties in both Bombay and Thul – an expensive apartment in Bombay, and a holiday bungalow in Thul. Instead of bullock carts, they own modern transport-at least a car. I would think that instead of piles of firewood , they would probably have heater in every room. They are surrounded with servants to who specialised in different chores such as cooking, washing and shopping for groceries.
Although Biju was wealthier than the other fishermen, in many ways the villagers could still identify with him for he was like them, a fisherman living amongst them but only wealthier. And I do not think Biju would go off for a few weeks out of the village on a holiday. However, not only did the deSilvas go on holiday to Thul at least twice, they even travelled overseas by air. Their lifestyle was such that I do not think the poor in the city could comprehend. They live on Malabar Hill in southern Bombay in an extremely upmarket residential area, well away from the poor.
As for the poor, it would seemed that the social problems of the poor in the rural and the urban settings seemed similar. The men would drink toddy, got drunk and beat up their wives and children. Perhaps this was because they had no other means of occupying their time. Lack of money was a constant problem. At least in the rural, the poor could still avoid complete empty stomachs by getting coconuts and seafood from nature. In the city, even coconuts were expensive. The poor in the rural village could also build and repair their homes from palm leaves and earth found around them but to me, it seemed the shacks of the poor in Mumbai were in a worse condition.
The book also depicted the scorn city-folk and the villagers had on each other, the city people saw the villagers as ignorant and lazy. This was clearly demonstrated by the attitude of the watchman of the new fertiliser factory who thought the villagers were such pumpkin heads, they knew nothing and considered the farmers in the village poor and owning such meagre lands as farmers. He looked down on the fishermen and Biju’s motorised boat. The policemen in Bombay mocked the villagers as fools who had never seen traffic lights. Mahe on the other hand, call the Bombay-wallahs as the rudest people on earth. From the story, we can also see that the villagers thought that the city people were too arrogant and cared about all the wrong things. For example, they could not understand why preserving an old observatory was so important when there were more important issues to them such as their farms, their crops and their boats.
At the same time, the book also indicates that though generally, the general shortcomings of the city people were their arrogance, there was still kindness in the city. Some examples would be when Hari went to Bombay, he met Hira Lal, a watchman of the condominium where the deSilvas stayed. Hira Lal brought the homeless Hari to his friend, Jagu. Jagu in turn, gave Hira some food and allowed Hira to stay in the cheap restaurant as well as worked in the restaurant. Finally, he was befriended by an Mr Panwallah, an old watchmaker in the next shop who provided him with sound advices and whom he can confide his worries to. Mr Panwallah was also instrumental in giving Hari hope for his future in advising him that he could find work anywhere as long as he could use his hands, even in his own village. Mr Panwallah taught Hari how to repair watches and clocks thus equipping Hira with a trade and skills that he can use to earn a living with.
For Lila, Mr deSilvas was kind to drive her mother and her to the hospital when he found out that she needed help to get her mother to the hospital. He even generously paid for the medical bills. He also let Lila do chores for him as well as his friend so that she continued to earn some money for her family.
Finally, because life in the rural village was simple, there was less opportunity of a job in a village than in the city, unless one worked as a farmer or a fisherman. Therefore, the villagers also had no high ambition other than what they had at hand. However, they had a more relaxed lifestyle than the people in the city. Moreover, I would think that the people living in the slums of Mumbai would feel the frustrations of seeing all the modern things around them which they could not afford.
No comments:
Post a Comment