Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Coffer Dams was the sixth novel by Kamala Markandaya that was published in 1969. Set in the tribal parts of South India, the novel tells the story of the clash of modernism versus traditionalism in post-independence India. It is a novel that tackles issues – among them racism, colonialism, the British class system, indigenous rights, clash of values, environmental issues, and the homogenizing forces of modernity. The story is about the dispossessed tribal people who are forced to leave the land they have been living on for centuries because of the construction of a dam that is supposed to bring prosperity to the nation. The novel discusses the issue of marginality in a brilliant manner.
Characters of The Coffer Dams:
Howard Clinton a British engineer and businessman gets a contract to build a dam on a river at Malad, an Indian village in South India. He is an extremely arrogant person with a racist mentality. Being an engineer, Clinton values technological advancement much more than the environment, nature, and Indians. Helen is the protagonist of the novel. She is the newly-married wife of Clinton who accompanies him to India. Unlike Clinton, Helen is more sympathetic and she starts caring for the tribals and laborers whose life gets dangerously affected by the construction of the dam. Mackendrick is another British engineer and partner of Clinton. Unlike Clinton, he is sympathetic to the tribals. Bob Rowling is the assistant engineer with a good heart who values nature and human beings, Henderson is the turbine specialist, and Lefevre and his team are construction specialists. There are not many women in the British camp because only a few British men brought their wives along with them. Millie Rowling is the wife of Bob Rowling who accompanies him to India. Like Clinton, Minnie hates Indians and especially the tribal Indians. Krishnan is the leader and spokesperson of the Indian laborers working at the dam sight. Bashiam is an Indian young man belonging to the tribal society of Malnad. He is an educated, skilled technician and chief crane operator. Like Clinton, Bashiam loves machines and technology but being a tribal himself, Bashiam doesn’t hate traditional ways. He is sympathetic, humane, and humble. While Clinton ridicules Bashiam as a black ape, Helen starts liking him. Wilkins and Bailey are two British technicians who die due to an accident while working on the construction site. The old village chief is the head of tribals who opposes the construction of the dam.
Summary of The Coffer Dams:
The novel is set in independent India struggling to modernize its ways. The story begins as Helen, recently married to Howard Clinton comes from England to India along with her husband who has to complete the construction of the dam on a south Indian river as per the contract made with the Government of India. The British Engineers and their families are not comfortable with Indian conditions and lack of amenities in that remote tribal area. Thus, Clinton and Mackenderick decide to complete the project within a year, so that they may return to their homeland.
Before the work of dam construction begins at the site, the tribals are ordered to shift to some other place so that the area occupied by them may be used for the construction of grand bungalows for the British technocrats. Tensions arise as tribals are displaced from the site where they have been dwelling for centuries. Along with the colonies, Mackendrick also makes some tin shades where the local laborers and home servants could live.
Employing Indian laborers on a priority basis is one of the conditions of the contract signed by Clinton with the Govt. of India. To fulfill this condition, Mackendrick recruits technicians from among those who live in the surrounding jungles. The old village head of Malnad opposes the construction of the dam but nobody listens to him. While the older generation of Malnad is supportive of the old system of their dependence on forests for their sustenance, the young generation believes in speedy growth and prosperity by way of earning money through jobs in private or state-run firms.
The British technocrats are excessively arrogant and callous towards the Indian technicians and laborers. Krishnan is the leader of the labor union of these tribesmen. Despite holding a dominant position due to being a leader of a labor union Krishnan often feels humiliated. The British Engineers hold him in low esteem on account of his identity as an Indian. His suggestions and warnings about the impact of North East monsoons, cyclones, and labor troubles are not taken seriously by Clinton and Mackendrick.
Meanwhile, Helen finds that Clinton is too obsessed with the building of the dam and he hardly pays any attention to her. He is completely absorbed in the completion of the dams as early as possible. On the other hand, Mrs. Millie Rowlings, like Clinton, treats the Indian laborers as people worth hatred. She organizes the parties to keep the British families united to successfully face the problems and challenges in the Indian tribal area where the local people are living life in total ignorance. Helen tries to amalgamate with these British women but fails to appreciate their sense of superiority over the Indian people. Appalled by her husband’s concern with structures rather than with men, she turns to local Indian tribesmen and finds in them the human values she lacked in the British camp. This creates tension between Clinton and Helen but he ignores her while concentrating on his work on the dam.
Helen approaches Krishnan and asks for his help in learning the language and ways of the tribal people but Krishnan refuses to help her. She starts visiting the tin shades of the local labourers and technicians where she meets Bashiam, a young Indian skilled technician belonging to the tribal society of Malnad. Bashiam gladly accepts to help Helen in learning local ways and takes her to the village. When Clinton comes to know about this, he starts feeling envious of Bashiam whom he considers a lowly uncivilized tribal. Helen enjoys her time with the tribesmen. She played with the children, watched the crops grow, watched women at work, and she talked to them. The presence of an English woman in a tribal village is a matter of great happiness for the entire tribal community. Children, men, and women of the tribal village are extremely happy to think that a representative of the British who ruled over India for a long is among them to boost their importance in the eyes of the people who belong to the civilized world. She meets the old head of the village who tells her that Bashiam and other young people of his tribe are becoming as money-mad as you foreigners are. The old tribal chief apprehends that the consequences of young tribals’ hunger for money will cause them immense loss later or sooner. Helen realizes that the tribal people are not as ignorant as others feel they are. She starts liking them. She develops a gradual awareness of the need for bridging the gaps and developing an understanding between the natives and the Britishers. She understands the tribal connections. For her, they were sensitive people and not black apes. She continues to spend more time with Bashiam and gradually starts liking him. Bashiam teaches her about various species of birds, reptiles, and other animals commonly found in the Jungles near Malnad. Helen starts taking an interest in birds and snakes. Clinton observes these changes in Helen and ridicules her. One day, when Clinton notes that Bashiam had been to the jungle for bird trapping, he gets suspicious that Helen developed an interest in birds because of her intimacy with Bashiam.
Bashiam reveals to her that the tribals were forced to leave their homes so that the British colony could be made. The fact that tribals were forcefully displaced by Mackendrick at the behest of Clinton hurts Helen deeply. She questions Bashiam why he and other tribal people accepted to leave their home without any protest to which Bashiam fails to offer any answer. However, her question encourages Bashiam to change himself. He dismantles the tin shade provided by the company to him and in place of it, he creates a hut by employing the local tribal techniques at the same place.
One night when he comes back to his but after working throughout the day, he is astonished to find Helen in the darkness of the hut. She had come here at such time to taste the coarse flavors of a burly tribesman like Bashiam. As they enter the hut, Helen hugs him and they make love.
As the work continues, Clinton decides to make two coffer dams that could support the main body of the dam to be built on the river. Clinton realizes the urgency of the work that should be completed before the arrival of the monsoon. Krishnan warns him of the possibilities of early monsoon or pre-monsoon cyclonic rains but Clinton humiliates him and ignores those warnings. During all these tensions, an accident further escalates conflicts between the British technocrats and local tribal laborers. The dispute between the two groups arises over an accident. First, two Christians Wilkins and Bailey die and the company decides to suspend the work to give them a proper burial. Then forty-two tribal workers fell into the river because of a premature blast and their bodies got jammed in the boulders. One English engineer Mackendrick discusses the possibilities of recovery but Clinton asserts that the work must go on and the “bodies can be incorporated into the structure.” Having heard about the fatal accident, a large number of tribal people reach the accident site to inspect the extent of the loss. Thirty-eight dead bodies are evacuated with the help of the crane but then the crane malfunctions. Baisham tries to repair the crane but it takes time. Despite all possible efforts, the two dead bodies remain irretrievable. While the tribals are anxious about whether missing the dead bodies will be restored so that they may be cremated with tribal rites and rituals, the British engineers are not serious about locating them. Lefevre says, “In time, the currents will free them.” Handerson says “In time the fish will have them.”
Krishnan protests against this discriminatory attitude and says that While Wilkins & Bailey are cremated by them with Christian rites & rituals, the dead tribal are ordered to be incorporated into the structure. When Helen comes to know about it, she strongly stands with the tribals while opposing the inhuman attitude of her husband. However, Mr. Rowling supports Clinton and says that there is no time to bring up the bodies. The rains are due, and the Dam is at risk. Makendrick is sympathetic towards the tribals and suggests that they must trust their crane operator. He says that the problem can be solved if with the help of Bashiam”s expertise “the boulders were lifted whole.” Although Clinton is very well aware of the fact that the crane has developed a serious fault and that the one who lifts the boulder in this condition is sure to lose his life, he allows Bashiam to lift the boulder. Helen notices Clinton's cunning attitude and tries to stop Bashiam from going to the river bed. But Bashiam takes the challenge. Exuding his self-confidence and showing his sense of belongingness to his community he victoriously utters, “I must do it since they are my people whom I cannot shed.” Bashiam tries his best and succeeds in retrieving the two bodies. Clinton, who always felt that Bashiam is no better than other uneducated, unskilled tribals grows highly appreciative of him and accepts that he is entirely reliable.
After that incident, Clinton with Bashiam, and all workers dedicate themselves to the construction work to complete it before the arrival of monsoon so that he may leave India for his country before the rainfall obstruct the execution of his plans. But pre-monsoon heavy rainfall upsets his plans. It not only disrupts his construction work but also creates a state of flood. The rain continues for many days. The British colony and bungalows get surrounded by water forcing them to get “marooned on top of a ruddy hill.” The engineers warn that if the coffer dams are not broken, the whole landmass will drown in water causing the deaths of hundreds of tribals in the surrounding area.
But Clinton is not willing to allow destruction of the coffer dams which are essential for the completion of his project. Mackendrick tries to convince him but he refuses. Helen then takes Mackendrick to the old tribal chief who is now on the verge of death. Before dying, he says that the rain will stop when "the ridges rise clear." A few moments after his death the ridges rise clear and the rain stops as predicted by him. The water starts receding gradually and after some days, the laborers start working for the completion of the dam. All the members of the tribal village and the British staff are extremely happy for the reason that the tribals are now free from the fear of inundation and the British engineers and technicians may now leave for their country along with their families and assistants.
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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