Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchid by Kiran Desai | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchid by Kiran Desai | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchid is the first novel by Kiran Desai which was published in 1998. Kiran Desai is the daughter of renowned Indian novelist Anita Desai. Kiran Desai was born in Delhi. At 14, she left India to live in England where her mother got a teaching job. Later on, Kiran moved to the United States with her mother where she completed her studies.

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchid is in the genre of Magical Realism with themes including Nature vs Modernity, Traditions, Customs, Expectations, and Commercialization of Religion and Spirituality. The story of the novel is based upon the real-life incident of Kapila Pradhan, an Indian man living in Orissa who lived up a tree for 15 years. Kiran Desai took inspiration from his story and set her novel. The novel won the first prize in the Betty Trask Awards in 1998.

Characters of Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchid:

Sampath Chawla is the protagonist of the novel. He was born with rains after a long drought, so he is named Sampath, which means ‘good fortune.’ However, he doesn’t believe that he is lucky. He is a 20-year-old man who works at the local post office of the fictional village Shahakot. Sampath is highly imaginative and often fails to perceive the difference between reality and his imagination. He dislikes his boring job. Kulfi Chawla is Sampath’s mother. Like Sampath, she is also a bit strange and is known for her unusual behavior. When Kulfi’s father noticed her peculiar behavior, he was worried that it would be difficult to marry her and thus he arranged her marriage with Mr. Chawla in a hurry. Mr. Chawla loves Kulfi but fails to understand her unusual behavior and cravings for exotic food. Pinky Chawla is Samapth’s younger sister. She is a rather empty-headed teen Indian girl interested in clothes, appearances, and romance. She is embarrassed by her brother initially and only gradually feels sympathy for him. She is pretty and likes to get her own way; she is not afraid to ride the bus and stab aggressive men with her hairpin.

Mr. R. K. Chawla is the husband of Kufi and father of Sampath and Pinky. Unlike Kulfi and Sampath, he is a man of reason, a true bureaucrat and banker, he works at the Reserve Bank of Shahkot. Despite his love and lust for Kulfi, he gets disturbed by her nonchalance and strange behavior. Initially, he tries to change her but finds it impossible. When he sees that his son Sampath is also becoming like her mother, he tries his best to mold him but fails again. The C.M.O (Chief Medical Officer) of Shahkot is a corrupt man who is more worried about his own profits than the well-being of the public. The D.C. (District Collector) of Shahkot is a young, honest, hardworking man who tries to solve the crisis in Shahkot without enraging any of the involved communities. Mr. D.P.S. is the head of the post office and is Sampath's boss. He fires Sampath during his daughter's wedding when Sampath drops his pants in the fountain in front of the wedding guests. Mr. Gupta is a colleague of Sampath at the post office who is sympathetic towards him. Later on, he becomes the secretary to the new District Collector and advises him on the tense situation in Shahkot. Hungry Hop Icecream Boy is a young teen who sells Kwality ice cream from a cart in front of the cinema and rescues Pinky Chawla and her grandmother from the enraged monkey trapped in the cinema hall. Pinky gets infatuated by him but he fails to notice her romantic attention. Pinky begins writing letters to him and ultimately, he too begins growing feelings for her. Pinky plans to elope with him but he is not sure of doing such a daring task. Finally, he decides to elope but is caught by the forces who come to capture the monkeys in the guava orchard. Brother John was a missionary teacher of English literature at the school of Sampath during his school years. He was fired from his job for pinching the butt of a sweeper woman. Miss Jyotsna is a young beautiful woman working at the post office. Sampath loves her but fails to express his feelings. After Sampath accidentally comes to be viewed as a holy man, Miss Jyotsna grows to truly revere him and believe in his apparent holiness. Ammaji is Samapth’s grandmother. She is the kind of grandmother who is traditional and supportive to the younger generations, going along with her son, or granddaughter who wants to go to a movie—anything to keep the family together. The Atheist spy is a schoolteacher who hates his job in Shahkot and hopes to win fame as an undercover agent. Sampath Chawla is his first assignment from the Branch to Uncover Fraudulent Holy Men (BUFHM).

Summary of Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchid:

The novel is set in a fictional town Shahkot situated in the remotest part of northern India. The story begins during a strong heatwave during the insufferable summer that results in a long drought that turns the lives of the people of Shahkot miserable. Mr. R.K. Chawla is the head clerk of the Reserve Bank of Shahkot and his wife Kulfi is pregnant. She is known for her eccentric behavior and during her pregnancy she has been eating a lot of exotic food and fruits. Mr. Chawla tries to control her behavior but realizes that it is impossible and rather chooses to fulfill her demands. This makes Mr. Chawla and his family a topic of ridicule in the town. Kulfi is beautiful and Mr. Chawla loves her but she is not responsible enough to manage the homely duties. Thus, Ammaji, Mr. Chawla’s mother takes the responsibilities of home in her hands. The day when Kulfi gives birth to her child, everybody in the town rejoices because, on the same day, rains pour in the village streets. Right after his birth, the Swedish Red Cross makes a food drop right in front of Sampath's house.

The son of Mr. Chawla is celebrated as the harbinger of good fortune and rain by everyone. Not only does he bring on the much-needed rain, he causes the Red Cross, flying over Shahkot, to drop food for the hungry people. Thus, Mr. Chawla names his son Sampath which means good fortune.

While everyone believes that Sampath is destined to become a highly successful influential man, his eccentric mother and demanding father are not so sure about him. As he grows, Mr. Chawla realizes that just like her mother, Sampath too is a bit eccentric. He fails to concentrate on real subjects and often drifts in his own imagination. His father tries to discipline him so that he may attain a better education and become a successful person but he fails.

At the age of twenty, Sampath is a restless and absent-minded young man who works at the Shahkot post office. He still lives in the same house where he was born, with his mother Kulfi (whose odd behavior and cravings have persisted), his demanding father Mr. Chawla, and his kindly grandmother Ammaji. Pinki is Samapth’s younger fourteen-year-old headstrong sister who remains occupied with beautifying herself.

Sampath never did good in his studies and got a mediocre job at the post office. His father tries to counsel him on how he can get a better job or at least a raise in salary at the Post Office where he works. Sampath pays no attention to his father's advice. At the Post Office, Sampath spends hours alone, steaming open letters written to and from neighbors, and by so doing, he learns a great deal about their personal lives and their secrets. Sampath is fired from his job one night at the wedding of his boss's daughter, where he gets drunk and makes a fool of himself by stripping and dancing in a fountain. Disgraced Sampath returns home in distress. Kulfi feels sorry for Sampath, with whom she feels a great connection, and gives him a fresh guava. After he eats it, he immediately feels energized and transformed. With no job and no prospects of one, his father is frantic and orders his son to immediately go job hunting.

Sampath decides to run away from his house and the next morning, he takes a bus to the outskirts of town. The epiphany of the taste of guava that he ate last night still lingers in his mind. He notices a dense guava orchard and enters. He searches for the tallest guava tree. Atop this tree, he feels comfortable and at peace for the first time. He embraces the sweetness of the fruit and the tranquillity of the view. He begins imagining himself as a guava belonging to the tree. Alarmed by how much time Sampath begins spending in the guava tree, his family decides to arrange a marriage for him. However, Sampath has no interest in girls. He was infatuated by Miss Jyotsna who was his colleague at the post office but never dared to express his feelings. He dismisses the girl suggested by his father. This results in the growing curiosity of the townspeople who pass by him every day. Sampath used to read their postcards during his stint at the post office and thus he already knows a great deal of secrets about these people. When he begins questioning these passers-by about their daily lives, they imagine he is a holy man with psychic powers as he knows so much about them.

Mr. Chawla sees a business opportunity in this and allows Sampath to live atop the guava tree. Ammaji also helps her son and begins a tea stall near the guava orchard. Kulfi and Pinky begin caring for Sampath’s needs while he stays at the Guava tree. Soon Sampath begins offering sermons to the visitors who believe he is a holy man.

A schoolteacher of Shahkot daily notices this crowd gathering. He is an atheist and a member of the Branch to Uncover Fraudulent Holy Men (BUFHM). BUFHM appoints him as a spy to gather evidence against Sampath to expose his fraud. He begins to visit the guava orchard to listen to Sampath’s sermons. He notes down every dubious thing that Sampath says. But he fails to attain any clue against Sampath’s fraud while Sampath’s fame grows along with Mr. Chawla’s fortune. Soon local newspapers and TV channels begin featuring programmes and news items about Sampath.

As Sampath’s fate as a prophet is sealed, he lives entirely atop the tree, receiving food, clothes, supplies, and medicine from those below. Sampath hasn’t changed as a character, but people now revere him like a god – his previous laziness and drunken behavior are forgotten. His family moves into the orchard, and the economy benefits from this new-found prophet – buses make frequent visits to the site, merchants ply their trade, and those building the family’s new home at the orchard secure work. One day, a group of monkeys appears in Sampath’s orchard and takes a liking to him. But before long, they discover alcoholic beverages brought to the orchard by one of Sampath’s visitors. The monkeys become drunk and violent, and they’re soon hooked on alcohol, seeking it out wherever they can find it. Soon enough, the monkeys begin terrorizing the town of Shahkot in their unruly search for alcohol.

As the townspeople suffer the menace of monkeys, the inept government officials try to control them but fail. Meanwhile, some of the devotees of Sampath begin praying for the monkeys and giving them gifts as they feel they deserve respect. On the other hand, another group of people feel harassed by the monkeys and want to get rid of them. The monkey crisis becomes a huge controversy. Sampath feels sick and overwhelmed as his visitors argue furiously about the monkeys. He ran away and started living in this tree to escape from his responsibilities, but now he’s being forced to face new, more stressful expectations. He realizes that the peace and simplicity of the grove has been ruined, and he longs to escape before he’s trapped in this life forever.

He begins planning to run away again but finds no way. He decides to pretend as if he has been changed into a guava. The monkeys help him as they carry him further upward towards the top of the tree. Thus, the people and the atheist spy cannot see or catch him. Meanwhile, Kulfi makes a pot of stew beneath the tree. The spy tries to climb up and catch Sampath but Sampath disappears and after some time, something falls into the pot of stew. People notice that the branch on which the spy was standing had snapped and he fell down into the pot of stew. The novel ends here leaving the reader wondering if Sampath is still alive or not.

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!