Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Village by The Sea is a novel by Anita Desai published in 1982. The novel tells the story of a family struggling against poverty and how they succeed in alleviating their condition. This ingenious, inspiring work of fiction has touched the hearts of millions. The story describes the lifestyle of the poor families living near the Indian Sea, their only hope of fishing and the palm trees and a family of poor people “of Thul, a village in India. Though the story begins with a sense of pessimism, aloneness, poverty, drunkardness rusticity, and alienation, the situation continues to improve and ends on a hopeful note. The novel's main theme is the strength of familial ties, the kindness of strangers, understanding between freedom and responsibilities, and change and adaptation.
Characters of The Village by the Sea:
Lila is a thirteen-year-old girl living in the seaside village of Thul in the Western Ghats of India near Mumbai. She belongs to a poor family. Her father is a fisherman who got addicted to alcohol and doesn’t earn anything to earn a living. Her mother is a responsible lady but she is sick and bedridden. Despite the hardships she is forced to endure, Lila remains optimistic and tries to help her family. She takes over her mother's responsibilities and takes care of her younger sisters while also cooking and cleaning around the house. She used to go to school but dropped out because she was needed at home. Hari is Lila’s younger brother. He is twelve years old. Like Lila, he too is responsible and cares for his family. He used to go to school but he stopped because his family is no longer in a position to afford it. He begins working in fields to earn some money. Bela and Kamal are two younger sisters of Lila and Hari. Hari insists that they must continue to go to school. The two little girls try their best to help Lila. Biju is a wealthy fisherman of the village who is engaged in smuggling and that’s how he made a huge fortune. He is boastful and arrogant but village people like him because he is one of their own who managed to make a lot of money. In addition, he also helps villagers at the time of their need. Hira Lal is the watchman of Mr. de Silva’s apartment in Mumbai. When Hari reaches there to get a job, Hira helps him and introduces him to Jagu, a restaurant owner who employs Hari and offers him a place to live at his own home. Mr. de Silva is a wealthy man from Bombay who sometimes visits the fishing village where Lila and Hari live. He is a kind man and offers to give Hari a job in Mumbai. After Hari leaves Thul, Mr. de Silva helps Lila in taking care of her sick mother. Mrs. de Silva is the kind-hearted wife of Mr. de Silva who visits the fishing village with him for a vacation. Mina is Lila’s friend from school. Mr. Panwallah is an old watchmaker and repairer who works at his shop near the restaurant of Jagu. Ramu, Bhola, and Mahesh are Hari’s friends from the village. They too are poor and hope for a new fertilizer factory to be initiated in the village so that they may get some jobs.
Summary of The Village by the Sea:
The novel begins at Thul, a fishing village near the sea in the Western Ghats of India. The people of the village are generally poor with their main source of income being fishing and farming. The story is about a young thirteen-year-old girl Lila and her younger brother, twelve-year-old Hari. Leela and Hari have two more younger sisters named Bela and Kamal. The kids also have a pet dog named Pinto. The family used to be economically sound as Lila’s father is a skilled fisherman. However, they suffered bad fortune when Hari’s father paid a large sum of money to a man who promised to get him a job in Mumbai. However, the man lied to him and disappeared with the money. After the incident, the father fell into deep despair and began drinking and neglecting the family. He does not earn a living but borrows money from the neighbors to buy alcohol. Their mother used to be a warm and loving lady but she fell sick of an unknown disease and is now completely bedridden. As the economic conditions dilapidated, Lila and Hari decided to drop out of their school. Lila began taking care of the kitchen and other homely duties while taking care of her sick mother, and three younger siblings. She also works as a housemaid in other houses to earn some money. Hari too begins trying his luck with fishing and he also works as a laborer in the fields of other villagers. Life is miserable for them. Lila has only a few days of work as a servant and Hari works a small plot of land to grow crops. The crops never yield enough food for them and his small fishing net never catches enough fish to fill the stomachs of his family. Hari is strong and wants to get a better job but he cannot tolerate the turmoil of his family. He is sad about dropping out of school and insists that his two younger sisters, Bela and Kamal must complete their education. Hari begins to think about better ways in which he could help his family and believes their prospects might get better when he hears that a factory will be built in their village. All of Hari’s friends are excited, but Hari tries to have a more realistic view of whether he will find work in the factory.
During such a dire period, Hari feels a ray of hope when a wealthy man Mr. de Silva visits Thul with his wife for a vacation. Mr. de Silva is a rich businessman from Mumbai who likes the nascent, natural, and serene environment of Thul. He has bought some land and has made a nice cottage where he and his wife often visit to spend their holidays. Whenever they visit the village, they always employ small kids to accompany them and help them with some house chores, and pay them handsomely. Lila and Hari start helping them and become their servants. After finding out about their situation, Mr. de Silva offers Hari a job in Bombay as a car washer. The proposal excites Hari but he is not willing to leave his family in the village. Furthermore, he also has some suspicions about this offer as his father was also lured into a similar job proposal and was then fooled. After thinking over it, Hari realizes that his situation is no better in the village. He thinks about Lila who is growing fast and thinks that without money, he will never be able to find a good groom for her. During the same time, one of Hari’s neighbors poisons his dog Pinto as revenge for his father not being able to pay back money that he borrowed to buy alcohol. This further saddens him.
Some men from Mumbai arrive at the village to talk about the changes that the new fertilizer factory may bring about in the village. He talks about jobs for skilled workers but also says that some land will be acquired for the establishment of the factory and for making hundreds of homes for the factory workers. This will require the removal of rice and other crops from the government land that the farmers have been tilling for many years. Some of the villagers, headed by Adrakar oppose this. Biju, a wealthy fisherman suggests, they should go to Mumbai and protest against this move.
Hari is roused by the words of Adarkar and decides to go to Bombay to stand up for his people. He does not tell his sisters.
When Hari arrives in Mumbai, he is stunned by the busy environment of the buzzing city. He sees hugely high buildings and a crowd of four-wheelers on the roads. He follows Adrakar and Biju for a while but soon realizes that he has nothing to do with them. He remembers Mr. de Silva’s offer and manages to find the residence, but the rude servant tells him that Mr. de Silvas is not in town. A kindly watchman Hari offers him some water and listens to him. When Hari says that Mr. de Silva promised him a job, Hari tells him that he will take him to his friend Jagu who will arrange for his job. Jagu runs a small restaurant and he agrees to let Hari work at his restaurant. He offers him a salary of Rupee 1 per day along with food and shelter at his own home. Jagu’s wife is a poor, weary, and troubled woman, she is initially hostile to Hari when Jagu brings the boy home, but she turns kind to him when he confides in her that his father drinks and beats his mother. Hari sends home a postcard letting his sisters know where he is and that he is going to bring his earnings to them. Life is hard for Hari in Bombay but he works hard. While working for Jagu, Hari meets Mr. Panwallah, a watchmaker and repairer who runs his shop near the restaurant. Mr. Panwallah is touched by Hari’s hard work and honesty. He requests Jagu to let Hari work at his shop for an hour every day so that he may teach some watch repairing skills to Hari. Jagu agrees to this and Hari begins training under Mr. Panwallah. Soon he learns most of the techniques and tricks of watch repairing.
Meanwhile, Lila is facing troubles in the village. Her mother gets sicker and she needs immediate help. At such time, Lila remembers Mr. de Silva who could help her. When she visits his home, she finds that Mr. de Silva and his wife are going back to the city. She requests them to take her mother to the hospital. Mr. de Silva immediately agrees and says he will take care of everything. When Lila’s father hears of this, he yells at her in a drunken rage, but he goes to the hospital and remains at his wife’s side. He also gives up drinking and is much more subdued. Lila visits every week, and her mother improves more and more. Mr. de Silva departs soon but another guest appears at his cottage. He is an old politician who loves bird-watching. He also continues to help Lila and pays her dearly for homely chores.
Hari continues to learn new skills in Mumbai. When Monsoon arrives, he hears the news of some fishermen's boats being caught in the storm. This reminds him of his village and he begins missing his sister. He decides that he will go back to the village to celebrate Diwali with his family. He begins taking more interest in learning the watchmaking trade from Mr. Panwallah.
Near the season of the Deewali festival, he decided to return back to Thul. When he gets home, he finds that his mother’s condition has improved and that his father is slowly beginning to recover from his alcoholism. He starts a small business raising animals and thinks about using what he learned from Mr. Panwallah to open his own watch repair shop in the village.
The novel ends with the family contentedly celebrating, grateful for the positive changes in their lives.
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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