Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Two Leaves and a Bud was a novel by Mulk Raj Anand that was published in the year 1937. It was his third novel after the huge success of Untouchable, and Coolie in which he depicted the oppression of the poor section of India under the British government. Mulk Raj Anand was a lifelong socialist and in this novel, he raised the issue of Indian indentured labor. It is a proletariat novel that ends in a tragic clash of interests and destinies while exploring the extent of exploitation and oppression of Indian common people under the burden of colonialism.
Characters of Two Leaves and a Bud
The title Two Leaves and a Bud represents Gangu, a Punjabi farmer, forced to work in a tea plantation in Assam as an indentured laborer, his wife Sajani (the two leaves), and their young, adolescent daughter, Leila (the bud). The fourth member of the family is Budhu, the young son of Gangu who is a little kid. Gangu is a farmer in Hoshiyarpur, Punjab. Because of drought and illnesses in the family, he is burdened with the debt of Seth Badri Das, a corrupt money lender. A tout barber named Buta traps him in false promises. Buta is the Sardar who transfers ill-fated Indians to Tea Plantations in Assam as indentured laborers. Buta suggests Gangu move to a tea plantation in Assam to work there as life is much easier and more prosperous. He further says that if he goes to Assam, he will be offered nice accommodation, high wages, and free land of his own to farm. Narain and Neogi Gurkha are other workers among many. Babu Shashi Bhushan Bhattacharya is the supervisor of the tea plantation and works under Mr. Croft Cooke, the manager of the Macpherson Tea Estate. Croft Cooke doesn’t even consider Indian indentured laborers as human beings. Mrs. Croft Cooke is no better in her attitude toward the native Indians and considers them born liars. Barbara is the daughter of Croft Cooke who is the same age as Leila. Unlike her parents, she is humble and soft towards Indian laborers. Reggie Hunt is the assistant manager of the tea plantation who is much more vicious and cruel than Croft Cooke. He prefers to be addressed as ‘Raja-Sahib’ by the laborers. Reggie is a sadist who is always drunk. He represents untamed animality and unmitigated evil. He treats all Indian indentured laborers as inferior and flogs them at his will. But his preferred prey are women, wives, daughters, and mothers of indentured laborers at the plantation. Reggie keeps three Indian women forcibly at his bungalow. Reggie exercises illegal power and cast his lustful eyes on the young coolie’s women’s half-naked body—vaguely covered with tattered clothes. Doctor John de la Havre is the physician at the tea plantation who is the only philanthropist who remains ready to help Indian laborers at difficult times.
Summary of Two Leaves and a Bud
The novel begins with the philosophic note “Life is like a journey.” The tragic journey of a hapless peasant Gangu – the protagonist, starts with the naturally beautiful Assam from a village near Hoshiarpur in Punjab. At Hoshiyarpur, Gangu had some farmland. However, drought and illnesses in the family forced him to take debts from local moneylender Seth Badri Das who had an eye on Gangu’s land. The interest on loans is continually increasing and Gangu has no way to pay it back. A barber named Buta approaches Gangu with a helping hand and suggests he try his luck in Assam at some tea plantation. He says that Assam is a land of plenty where he will be paid high wages and good accommodation. Buta has taken many other people to Assam as laborers in past. He says that Gangu will get some free land as a gift to farm if he agrees to work at the tea plantation. Gangu knows that the tea plantations of Assam are managed and controlled by the British people, so he asks whether the Sahibs of the estate are kind, Buta replies, “Just like mai-bap (mother and father)”. Gangu decides to move to Assam with his wife Sajani, young adolescent daughter Leila, and son Buddhu.
Gangu finds himself at Macpherson Tea Plantation in Assam and soon he realizes that his life is doomed forever. From the exploitative clutches of Seth Bari Das, he takes his family to the iron grip of the British imperialist machinery of Tea Plantation. Buta introduces Gangu to Shashi Bhushan, the supervisor who appears greedy and corrupt. Soon he sees Croft Cooke, the manager of the tea plantation who rudely shouts at the laborers. However, the tension erupts as assistant manager Reggie Hunt arrives at the plantation as every worker becomes extra cautious and alert. Gangu sees Reggie beating a plantation worker mercilessly for a minor mistake. Gangu is offered a hut on the plantation which has been constructed without any heed to the hygienic requirements of the occupants. He meets Narain, his neighbor who tells him about life on the plantation. Narain was brought to Assam on a three-month contract but he failed to return to his home for the last 12 years. Narain tells Gangu that it is like a prison with no bars, but is unbreakable. Gangu learns more when after working for the whole week along with his wife and daughter Leila, he is offered eight annas, which is not even enough to manage two-time meals for a family of four. Excessive heat, lack of fresh air in the hut, inadequate food, scarcity of drinking water, and filthy living start breaking Gangu and Sajani but they decide to fight back.
Doctor John de La Havre meets Croft Cooke and informs him about the increasing mosquitoes and unhygienic conditions in the coolie’s lanes and huts and asks him to provide mosquito nets for the coolies so that they may avoid malaria that may turn into a pandemic. But Croft Cooke isn’t ready to spend even a penny for the Indian coolies, who for him, are no more than animals. Mrs. Croft Cooke retorts to John de La Harve’s sympathy towards Indian laborers and says that Indians are born liars and thieves. She informs how a girl of laborers tried to steal a flower from her garden. Doctor John informs Cooke about the contaminated water and asks him to arrange for the supply of clean water in coolie’s lane. He offers a researched survey for the expenditure and says that it would cost around one and a half lakh for the provision of clean and healthy water but Cooke ignores him. Doctor John warns him of impending cholera in the coolie quarters.
Narain realizes that Gangu is finding it difficult to stay at the plantation but he informs him that there is no escape. He says that more than 3000 Indians are waiting at the station but no train will take them. He informs how chowkidars check every hut at night to ascertain that no laborer is missing. Gangu observes a pandamonium among the working women at the plantation. Two women were arguing and started to fight. Gangu learns that Reggie Hunt abducted an Indian woman and took her to his bungalow. When her husband NeogiGurkha approached the bungalow to take his wife back, Reggie denied letting his wife go back and offered him five acres of land and some money for his wife. Neogi Gurkha had no other option but to take the money as he couldn’t fight Reggie, nor he could complain to anybody about it as the police and plantation management work together. However, this caused other women of coolies to feel jealous and they are arguing now. Earlier that day, Gangu saw Reggie chasing a woman who was feeding her baby, she was later raped by bim. Narain informs him that the coolies get land from Reggie Hunt to farm for offering their wives to him. This reminds Gangu of Buta who promised free land as a gift from Sahib and his heart fills with hatred for Buta. He promises himself to save his wife Sajani and daughter Leila against any such onslaught. Meanwhile, the argument between women turns into a quarrel. Reggie decides to end the argument by directing the chowkidars to beat the women laborers. Some of them run to Doctor John’s clinic to save themselves who intervenes and stops chowkidars from beating the laborers. He asks the coolies to go to Croft Cooke to ask for justice. Reggie isn’t very happy about this interference in his work and he decides to complain against Doctor John to higher officials. Doctor John is soon dismissed from his job.
Meanwhile, there is a burst of cholera among the coolies and Gangu finds his wife Sajani terminally ill. He tries to find some help but Doctor John has been dismissed and transferred somewhere else. Gangu himself suffers from high fever as he is a victim of malaria. Gangu roams in the whirlpool of his destiny and passes through various moods from theism to atheism, godlessness to a god-fearing attitude, acceptance to realization, selfishness to sacrifice, and from illusion to reality. He sees his beloved wife Sajani dying in her arms as he fails to find any help to cure her cholera. He is ill but he has the burden of responsibility for his daughter Leila and son Buddhu, and he has to arrange for the cremation of his dead wife whose body is lying in the small hut. He has no money for the red cloth and wood for cremation. He tries to get money from Narain and other workers but nobody has any money as they hardly earn anything. This reminds Gangu of Buta and he goes to him to ask for help. Buta says that Gangu may get a loan from Croft Cooke if Babu Shashi Bhushan requests him to help Gangu. Gangu promises to give a part of the loan to Buta, Shashi Bhushan, and the Sikh chowkidar of Croft Cooke if they help him in getting a loan from Croft Cooke. However, when Gangu goes to Croft Cooke’s bungalow to demand money, he orders his chowkidars to throw him away as he fears Gangu will spread cholera as his wife died of cholera. Gangu then goes to a local Bania to ask for money on interest to complete the last rites of Sajani and does so.
Meanwhile, Leila finds it difficult to see Buddhu crying for food and decides to go and work on the plantation while others are still suffering the attack of cholera and malaria. She starts collecting tea leaves to get some money. Reggie sees the young beautiful adolescent girl plucking leaves alone and he feels extreme lust. He goes to Leila and tries to seduce her and asks her to come to his bungalow. Leila is still a kid but knows the worth of the beauty and sanctity of her body. She saves herself and runs towards her hut. Reggie fails to control his lust and decides to chase her and rape her. As Leila enters her hut, Reggie tries to breach the hut. Buddhu, the young brother tries to stop Reggie but he is no match. Buddhu runs to find his father to save his sister. Reggie enters the hut but finds it unhygienic. He drags Leila out to rape her. Meanwhile, Buddhu finds Gangu and informs him about Reggie. Gangu runs with all his might and despite his illness and weak body, he faces Reggie, implores him, and begs him to let his daughter go. Leila too resists Reggie strongly. But Reggie is mad with his lust. He takes his pistol out and shoots Gangu, and he dies. Gangu's death brings Reggie to his senses. He leaves Leila and runs away. Gangu is no more, but his daughter is out of the clutches of the hawk. Murder is a greater crime, so, the police are forced to investigate. This follows the three-day trial. A jury of seven European and two Indian members finds Reggie not guilty on the charge of murder of Gangu despite the statements of Narain, Leila, and Buddhu as witnesses and he is discharged.
Mulk Raj Anand expressed the drastic situations of Indian indentured laborers, the coolies in a heart-wrenching manner. The novel shows colonizers exploiting the colonized. However, some of the colonized are no less exploiters. Seth Badrinath first robs illiterate Gangu and then Buta deceives him to get some profits. Later on, Gangu is even forced to offer bribes to Buta, Shashi Bhushan, and the Sikh Chowkidar for the loan that he needs to perform the last rite of his dead wife. Gangu gets some relief in the company of Narain. Doctor John tries to help coolies and he is dismissed by High Excellence while Reggie and Cooke keep robbing the coolies of their labor.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of Indian English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
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