Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Mulk Raj Anand was known for his ability to express and depict the problems faced by common Indians under the burden of the colonial system in a tragic and heart-wrenching manner. However, he knew that the same could be done in a humorous, sarcastic manner too. The Two Lady Rams is one such short humorous story in which Anand excellently targeted some of the societal ills along with the oppressive nature of the British government that had nothing to do with the welfare of Indians but their only motive was to exploit the colony by hook or crook.
Summary and Analysis of The Two Lady Rams
The story is about Lala Jhinda Ram, a contractor of British India. Lalla Jhinda Ram practices dishonesty in his profession. He is a master in forgery and thus, is used by the foreign masters for deception, exploitation, and domination over native people as he cooperates with the white masters in corruption. However, the government cannot let Jhinda Ram and other people like him realize that they are being used as a tool to rob their nation and people. The British government achieves this by conferring meaningless titles and awards to the native Indians helping them in their goals. Lala Jhinda Ram has also attained such a meaningless title of knighthood and a celebratory party is arranged for him. The governor sends him an official invitation addressing him as Sir Lala Jhinda Ram and Lady Ram to the party. Sir Lala Jhinda Ram is very excited. He feels a sudden increase in worth as now he is almost equal to the English officers, his masters. However, this invitation creates a familial problem for Lala Jhinda Ram.
Mulk Raj Anand elaborates on this familial problem of Sir Lala Jhinda Ram in his story to explain the fraudulence of the knighthood that Lala Jhinda Ram attains. He becomes a ‘Sir’ not for his bravery, or skills in arts or crafts. He becomes a Sir for his expertise in corruption that helps the British government. Like many other rich Indians, Lala Jhinda Ram is too influenced by the British and tries to mimic their ways in his life while ridiculing his own roots and traditions. These people considered the British as superiors and hence, the desire for freedom never touched their hearts. Lala Jhinda Ram’s house is built in the famous Purdah style and mimics any ordinary British bungalow, with a verandah decorated by palm trees and hanging plants, leading through a narrow hall into a large living room. Like other rich Indians of British India, Jhinda Ram always seeks to copy the language, culture, and society of the colonizer, but in doing so, he often ignores his root and his identity.
The British government recently abolished polygamy for Hindus though maintained the Mitakshara Law according to which anyone who fails to have a child with his first wife, can marry multiple times until the birth of a child. Lala Jhinda Ram’s first wife Sukhi belonged to a rich family. She is beautiful too. She brought a huge dowry of 1 lakh for Lala Jhinda Ram. Obviously, she holds a financial worth in his life and she administers it by trying to control Jhinda Ram as a dominant wife. But Jhinda Ram is an expert trickster. As Sukhi fails to conceive a baby, he declares her infertile. Jhinda Ram then marries Shakuntala, a poor girl, to attain a baby. Shakuntala is very beautiful and young. She marries Jhinda Ram to attain financial stability. She too is dominant and tries to control Jhinda Ram as per her wishes through her beauty and youth. Thus he peacefully manages his both wives by dividing his house into two separate wings, one for each wife to manage. He used to sleep with each of his wives on alternate days and showered both with equal attention. While Lala Jhinda Ram himself treated his both wives justly, the British government that carved the Mitakshara Law doesn’t care if all the wives of a man get equal status and rights or not.
When Jhinda Ram gets the invitation for the celebratory part of his knighthood, he initially thinks to take Shakuntala, with whom he is romantically involved, to the party. However, one of his servants informed Sukhi about the garden party. She confronts Lala Jhinda Ram and declares that being the first wife, she will accompany him to the party. When Jhinda Ram meets Shakuntala, she insists that he should take her to the party instead. This creates a problem for Jhinda Ram. It is a huge confusion because the invitation card clearly states Sir Jhinda Ram and Lady Ram. But which of his two wives has been invited is not clear. He decides to meet the governor or A.D.C. to clarify this. He could think so because now, he is one of the Sirs, he is knighted. When he calls the A.D.C, who is busy preparing for the party and expresses his desire to meet the governor, he thinks that Lala Jhinda Ram has already given the share or commission from the shady negotiations to the governor, also, there is no new deal coming to the fore. Thus, he feels no need for the Governor to offer any time to Lala Jhinda Ram and he ignores his call. Lala Jhinda Ram is desperate to meet the Governor to get a solution to his problem. He tries to talk to A.D.C. again but fails. His newly attained knighthood is meaningless. He knows that he cannot directly meet the Governor as the quota of commission for the year has been submitted and there is no new deal for his business. So he decides to disguise himself as a manager of cutlery and meet the Governor with the fresh proposal for commission. Lala Jhinda Ram knows that the English officers will allow him to meet the Governor if he shows promise of extra commission. However, he fails to meet the Governor as he is taking a nap at that time. Lala Jhinda Ram has no time to wait as he has to attend the party in the evening with one of his wives. In his pensive mood, he gets a solution from his driver. The driver says that the Governor may not meet him, but the Governor cannot stop him from taking both his wives to the party. Sir Lala Jhinda Ram smiles at this. He sends a message to each of his wives separately to get ready for the party, while he goes to his workplace to mend some papers. At his office, he practices his expertise in forgery and cleverly changes the address on his invitation card from “Sir Lala Jhinda Ram and Lady Ram” to Sir Lala Jhinda Ram and Two Lady Rams.” Lala Jhinda Ram is so confident of his forgery skills that even if someone questions him why he brought both his wives to the party, he would show them the card. After all, he has been awarded the knighthood for forgery. He is confident about managing Sukhi and Shakuntala too to his solution as he is an expert in deception.
In the evening, right before the party, he reaches home and as both Sukhi and Shakuntala are ready, he takes them to the party. Sukhi and Shakuntala aren’t happy about this but they do accept it because it hurts the ego of none of them. At the party, Sir Lala Jhinda Ram introduces both his wives as The Two Lady Rams and both are equally acknowledged and praised for their beautiful saris. The title also suggests that despite being dominant women, both Sukhi and Shakuntala are dependent on Sir Lala Jhinda Ram for recognition as they have no individual identity of their own.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of Indian English literature. Please stay connected to the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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