Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Waiting for a Mahatma is a novel by R. K. Narayan that was published in 1955. The novel is set in the fictional town of Malgudi. The story begins during the late 1930s and culminates in Independent India on the day that Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in 1948. In Waiting for the Mahatma, Narayan presented a fictional story with Mahatma Gandhi as a character. Obviously, the whole story revolves around Mahatma Gandhi and depicts that while Gandhi is leading a huge movement, most of the common Indians hardly comprehend his vision. Yet, they are attached to his movement for their own narrow ends. The novel is a light-hearted comic satire depicting the shallow realities of common men captured in the pre-independence rhetoric of freedom and independence and how the ambitious goals of Gandhi’s movement were forgotten or reduced to mere ideals following India’s independence on August 15, 1947. The novel is divided into five chapters in which R. K. Narayan offers a peek into the spirit of nationalism, the champion of nationalism, true and superficial followers of Bapu, and the pangs of Partition.
Characters of Waiting for the Mahatma :
Sriram is the protagonist of the novel. He is a young man in his early twenties belonging to a middle-class, upper-caste family in British India. Sriram is a reckless, lazy, and complacent high school graduate who declined the option of higher studies. He lives with his doting grandmother who is her guardian as he lost both his parents during his childhood. Sriram is an insipid gullible person. While Sriram is a wayward selfish modernist materialist person with no awareness of the freedom struggle, he falls in love with Bharti an orphan girl who was raised by Sevak Sangh, a Gandhian institute as a foster daughter of Mahatma Gandhi. Kanni is a shopkeeper in Malgudi. He is a greedy shopkeeper but doesn’t cheat on Sriram at the time of his nee. Natesh is the corrupt Municipal Chairman of Malgudi. Gorpad is an assistant of Mahatma Gandhi working with Bharti. Jagdish is a hypocrite pseudo-nationalist, a pseudo-Gandhian man who traps Sriram in his petty plans of destruction and robbery while using the name of Subhash Chandra Bose and pretending to be in touch with the Indian Nationalist Army.
Summary of Waiting for the Mahatma :
The novel begins as Sriram, is preparing for the celebration of his twentieth birthday. He is a careless, lazy person who lost his parents during his childhood. His father died as a soldier of the British Army and the regular pension received by his grandmother helped her raise him with love and care. On his twentieth birthday, his grandmother offers him control of the lumpsum cash that she saved in the bank in his name. Sriram is very excited about this money and he decides to withdraw a huge amount of Rs 250. His grandmother realizes that though he is an adult now, he still is reckless and irresponsible and thus, restricts the withdrawal limit to Rs 50 only.
Sriram continues to squander his dead father’s money while he ignores the chance of going to college for higher studies after completing his high school education. Four years pass by and one day, he learns that Mahatma Gandhi is visiting Malgudi. He decides to go and listen to Gandhi’s speech. Sriram fails to comprehend Mahatma Gandhi’s message. When Gandhi raises the issue of untouchability, Sriram remembers how his granny always kept the scavenger a good ten yards away by adopting a bullying tone and how he added fuel to the fire by taunting him; he also recollects that the scavenger went about with his work, unmoved.
During the meeting, he sees a beautiful young girl seeking donations. Sriramis unaware of the purpose of the donation but offers eight Annas (50 paise) in her box and tries to know her age, caste, eligibility for marriage, etc but doesn’t ask her name. The girl goes away after collecting money and Sriram makes it a goal to know everything about her.
A jaggery merchant informs him that the girl’s name is Bharati and she is a member of Sevak Sangh, an organization run by Mahatma Gandhi. Sriram comes to know that Bharati’s parents died during the Satyagrah movement during her childhood and she was adopted by Sevak Sangh as the foster child of Mahatma Gandhi. Sriram is in love with Bharti and thus, he decides to join Mahatma Gandhi’s movement. Bharti takes him to Gandhi who easily reads what kind of person Sriram is. Gandhi tells him, “Before you aspire to drive British from this country you must drive every vestige of violence from your system. You must train yourself to become a hundred percent ‘Ahimsa soldier’.” Gandhi advises him to leave his materialistic self behind and accept a spiritual life.
Sriram follows Gandhi during his visit to the the office of Municipal Chairman of Malgudi, who decorates his office walls with posters of Gandhian leaders to please Mahatma Gandhi and tries to host the Mahatma in his mansion but Gandhi declines. Mahatma Gandhi schedules a visit to the sweeper’s colony and Sriram tails him there too. Sriram notices that Natesh managed to prepare the sweeper’s colony well before Gnadhi’s visit as it appears well managed and free from all the garbage which is usually strewn all over.
Sriram insists that he wishes to become a Gandhian volunteer but comes to know that there are certain requirements like truthfulness and discipline, to become one. Bharti tells him that he may become a volunteer provided his grandmother permits him. Sriram goes home and discusses his meeting with Mahatma Gandhi with his grandmother who is not in favor of the freedom movement and Mahatma’s doctrine of Ahimsa. Sriram realizes that he won’t get permission and thus, he decides to leave home without informing his grandmother. He leaves behind a note of farewell and goes into Gandhiji’s camp.
Soon Gandhi is arrested for raising the Quit India Movement. Sriram is given the task to inform common people and villagers in the nearby areas about the movement. Sriram must paint the words, “Quit India,” on every possible surface across all the villages around Malgudi. Sriram notices that not many people believe in Indians’ capabilities of self-governance. He notices that many people pretend to be supporters and donators of Gandhi’s movement but continue to indulge in deforestation and assistance to the British. He meets some British people too who claim that they are too attached to India and wouldn’t like to leave. Overall, people are confused and continue to follow their double standards to fulfill their needs. Sriram too faces confusion and wonders if wasting ink on other people’s walls will bring independence. Meanwhile, Bharti decides to join Gandhi in jail and asks Sriram to surrender to the police with her. However, Sriram rejects her request and says that he will continue to work for the movement from outside. He asks if she will marry him at the end of all this to which she says that if Gandhi permits, she will.
Now when Sriram is alone, he falls prey to his gullible nature. A pseudo-Gandhian named Jagdeesh starts influencing him. He is a photographer who wears a Khadi and pretends to be Gandhian but continues to say that Gandhi’s Ahimsa cannot bring independence and they need to fight and harm the British government. He takes Sriram to a temple in Mephi hills where he sets his bunker. Jagdish manages a secret radio and pretends to be in contact with Netaji’s Azad Hind Fauj. Sriram becomes a robotic slave of Jagdish and follows each of his whims. He engages Sriram in setting fire to the records of a few law courts, derailing a couple of trains, and paralyzing the work in some schools and colleges. He even teaches Sriram how to make a crude bomb. Soon Sriram becomes a ‘Wanted’ criminal while Bharti is in jail. Sriram knows that Gandhi won’t approve of whatever he is doing.
One day, he goes to meet Bharti who informs him that his grandmother is very ill and he must visit her before she passes away. Sriram goes to his home in disguise but Kanni, the shopkeeper recognizes him. Instead of reporting to the police and getting the reward for helping in catching the ‘Wanted’ criminal, Kanni helps him and informs him that his grandmother is dead. Sriram asks for some money to perform the last rites of her dead grandmother and Kanni offers him all the money needed for that. However, just before Sriram is about to light the pyre, his grandmother revives. He calls a doctor who declares that his grandmother is living and fine. He takes her home but the police get an inkling about his visit to Kabir Street and he gets arrested. Before leaving, Sriram requests Kanni to take care of their grandmother to which Kanni promises he will. Sriram is jailed for a rigorous punishment. His life in jail is difficult as his inmates bully him after knowing that he is a Gandhian. Meanwhile, his grandmother shifts and goes to Benaras while leaving his house in Kabir Street on rent. But Sriram is a criminal prisoner so he isn’t freed. After some days, he learns that India is now free. At last, Sriram is also released from jail as the regime changes. Sriram meets Jagdish who shows him his pictures assisting Gandhi and says that he did so much work for Gandhi but wasn’t recognized and he didn’t get any position of power. Sriram feels guilty for helping such a selfish ego-centric, corrupt person. Jagdish informs him that Bharti was released much earlier than him as she was recognized as a political prisoner while Sriram was a criminal prisoner. He informs that Bharti is in Noakhli in East Bengal where communal riots were on. Sriram writes a letter to her. Bharti answers his letter telling him to meet her on January 14th in New Delhi. Sriram takes a train to New Delhi. On meeting Bharti, Sriram asks if she has taken Gandhi’s permission to marry him. Bharti informs that she didn’t get a chance to talk about it because she and Gandhi were very busy first with the independence movement and then with the sudden break of violence among Hindus and Muslims that resulted in the partition of the nation. At last, she asks Gandhi’s permission for her marriage to Sriram and Gandhi consents to their marriage. Gandhi says that the next day is very auspicious for their marriage and tells them to marry on the very next day and offers to officiate and also give the bride away. After some thinking, he says that he may not be able to attend their marriage but even if he fails to attend, they must marry on the same day.
The night before they plan to be wed, Gandhi is shot and assassinated.
This is it for today. We will keep discussing the history of Indian English literature. Please stay connected with The Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
No comments:
Post a Comment