Plotting the Story pp. 143-149

1970´s

Explain what taboo the narrator broke in the hospital.

In the hospital, there´s a poor man lying next to Chid. He has a broken leg and broken ribs what makes it unable for him to move. Sometimes hospital sweepers come and push a bedpan under him, but as he can not pay them, they often leave him for several hours not removing the bedpan. Of course this is very disgusting and uncomfortable not only for the man himself but also for those around him.

One day the narrator, who comes to the hospital and visits Chid every day, removes the bedpan under the old man, because she recognizes how much he suffers and commiserates with him. However, by doing so she brakes a big taboo. She describes the reactions like that: „Everyone looked at me as if I had committed some terrible act of pollution, and the fruit man himself alos shrnak from me…“ (p. 145, ll 20/21). This points again at the big fear of pollution and illness of the Indians. As it is already shown in the story of the old beggar woman, the Indians are very much afraid of touching an ill person, because the want to save themselves from the disease. This also explains, why no one helps the poor man and everyone is so much shocked as the narrator helps him. Another reason, why it´s a taboo to help ill people like the poo man maybe is the cast system and the Hindu religion. The Indians think that the ill people deserve their sufferings because of what they did in an earlier life and so they do not have compassion. They do not help because they think that the ill person doesn´t deserve help. Consequently the narrator´s behaviour contradicts the Indian opinion and religion. That´s why she brakes a taboo.

However, I don´t think that the narrator wanted to offend the Indian culture, but just had compassion as she is a very helpful person. One really can´t accuse her of her behaviour. 

Plotting the Story pp. 103-116

Explain the significance of the story of the old beggar woman!

The story of the old beggar woman has a strong influence on the narrator´s attitude towards the way the Indian treat the homeless people , but also towards the Indian way of life. 

When the narrator finds the old woman lying apart of the people and dying she is appalled that no one cares. She wants to save the old woman, however, she doesn´t really know how, because no one wants to help being afraid of pollution and touching an ill, dirty person. Also Inder Lal is not willing to touch the woman and warns the narrator not to do it as well. This is the first point where the changing of the narrator is shown as she suddenly understands the Hindu fear of pollution. (That this is not the only reason why the Indians do not help homeless people, can be read in my article about beggars and cripples in Indian life.)

In the totally overcrowded hospital the narrator cannot find help either. The English doctor is the only one who is interested in her problem, nevertheless he cannot do anything. After she has seen all the other ill people in the hospital, the narrator feels that no one would miss the old woman, that she is just one out of thousands.  The question, where the old woman should die is no longer important and once again it becomes clear that the narrator is changing. She becomes more like everyone else and adapts to the Indian world around her.

However, also in this Indian world there are some people who do care and who do have the question, where the old woman should die. This is shown in the last part of the old woman´s story, when Maji brings her to a quiet place where she can peacefully die. The narrator experiences, how lovely Maji cares for the old woman and finds out, that although most of the Indians do not care, some of them are different.

On the one hand the story of the old woman has shown the narrator, why so many people do not help and has made her understand the fear of getting ill, but on the other hand the narrator has seen the love and tenderness of Maji, which support her own compassion and help.

Plotting the Story pp. 77-90

Explain the role of beggars and cripples in Indian life.

Beggars and cripples are part of the daily Indian life. There are so many of them on the streets that people are used to them and do ignore them. Some of them have afflictions and suffer from bad diseases, but also that is ignored by the other people. The homeless and poor people always trie not to attract attention and be part of the crowd. To foreign or European people the conditions and circumstances under which the baggars are living often are very cruel and the ignorance seems to be very inhumane.

In my opinion the way the Indian treat those people shows that they still maintain the cast-system. It´s also part of their religion, that everything a person gets or doens´t get in life is what he/ she deserves, because of his earlier incarnations. That means that all the beggars and cripples are responsible for their own sufferings because they did something bad in an earlier life. I can imagine that this is the reason why they get no help or charity from anyone.

Outline Olivia´s daily routine

Every day of Olivias life in India is the same. After she has had breakfast with Douglas early in the morning, Harry arrives with a Nawab´s car to pick her up. Together they drive to Khatm to the Nawab´s palace, where they spend the day together. The three of them, Olivia, the Nawab and Harry, have become quite good friends and a good company for each other. 

However, Olivia always has to return to Satipur before Douglas arrives at home, because he doesn´t know about her daily trips to the Nawab´s palace. She doesn´t tell him, because she wants him to forget and leave behind all his problems when he comes back from work. She does everything to make him feel comfortable and they spend wonderful evenings and nights together, which make Douglas love her even more.

The Suttee: Comment

“Being in favour of a barbaric ritual like the suttee reveals Olivia to be unreasonable, naive and disloyal. Her infatuation with the Indian culture makes her ignore that oppression, barbarism and cruelty are rife in this country.”

I wouldn´t say that Olivia is infatuated withthe Indian culture because she doesn´t really konw it. Althouch she´s living in India, exept for the Nawab everything around her is English: the friends, the language, the food…As Douglas doesn´t talk a lot about his work Olivia has no contact with the real Indian world and I guess she doesn´t think about all the cruel things happening around her. They´re no part of her life as it is the whole Indian culture.

In fact I think Olivia doesn´t really want to judge about the Indian culture when she supports the `suttee-idea`at the dinner party.  She only wants to make another stand to get attention and to have a different opinion from the others. By doing so she makes herself interesting and suddenly is the centre of the conversation. She get´s the advertence that Douglas doens´t give her.

In my opinion this is the main reason why she is in favour of the suttee. However, the ritual itself is not important in this situation, but having a different opinion. For Olivia it´s like a challenge and she enjoys it very much.

Plotting the Story pp.49-61

Analyse the relationship betwenn the narrator and Inder Lal

As the narrator says on page 50, she and Inder Lal make a strange couple: she is a tall and self-confindent English woman and he is a tradionally small Indian man who is not used to the emancipated western world. Nonetheless they have become good friends and both of them like to talk to and spend time with the each other. In the first time Inder Lal only liked to talk to the narrator so much because he wanted to practise his English. However, his attitude has changed during the time. This is shown as he now tells her lots of personal things and also his feelings, e.g. abpout his wife or his mother.

In opposite to Ritu, his wife, the narrator, who is educated and open-minded, is able to understand him and can answer or give advices. She seems to be everything for him Ritu isn´t and that´s why he spends so much time with her.

Also the narrator´s view in Inder Lal has changed. By talking about his feelings and dreams he has shown her that he is not the quiet, boring Indian man he seems to be, but full of live and energy. Also for her he is a trustful friend.

Task to the diary entry „28 February“

Imagine you re one of the ´odd trio`. Write a letter in which you wrote to a friend before you went to India, setting down what your hopes and expectations are.

Then write to the same person now expressing how your time in India has affected you.

First letter:

Dear Susan!

I´m so excited! Tom and I are going to India! You may not believe it, but we´re not only going there, but staying and living in this country, that seems to be made for us. India offers everything we have searched for for so long, you know, it´s full of peace, freedom and spirituality!

Maybe you wonder how I should know this… Well, yesterday Tom and I went to a swami, a Hindu religious teacher, and he has really cast a spell on us. Since I´ve met him and got an idea of the Hindu religion I see the world through different eyes. Both of us, Tom and I, are no longer the same, as we now are full of love and peace. I can still feel the spirituality of the Universal Love, which seems to be the ´thing` I´ve always dreamed of. Just imagine: an ocean of sweetness!! The atmosphere and the feelings the swami created were so strong, that Tom and I weren´t able to speak until this morning. And still it´s hard to find word that can describe what I feel. At this moment I´m only sure about one thing: I want to go o India to find peace and finally ´swim` in the Universal Love! Since I´ve experienced what I did yesterday I know that I won´t be happy anywhere else than in India! You can only find yourself and the true peace and freedom by going there. As the Hindu lecture was just a foretaste of life and atmosphere in India, I expect it to be even stronger there. I think everything is filled with music, colours and good smells that open your mind and soul! Finally, my life is going to be great!

Tom and I have already broken up with everything here and are ready to leave soon. I do not care about matierial things anymore, so we won´t have much lugage to complicate the journay!!

Although I will never return to England, I hope to see you again! We will always be connected by the spirit of friendship and love!

Love and peace to you,

Rebecca

Second letter:

Dear Susan!

I´m so sorry that you didn´t here from me for such a long time. To tell the truth, I´ve totally failed. My dream of India has died and I there´s nothing in this world I want more than coming home to you and my familiy. I know, that I´ve hurt you a lot and I can really understand if you don´t want to hear from me again, but please give me a chance to explain myself!

In the beginning everything was great! As I wrote in my farewell letter, we were full of spirituality and peace. The poverty and hopelessness we saw on the streets couldn´t shock us being sure to make it better. I didn´t even feel sorry for those poor, often homeless Europeans as I thought their situation was their own fault and they just didn´t try hard enough to be successful! However, today I know that I was absolutely wrong, because there´s nothing to find and no success anywhere in this country! Who can find spirituality or even peace when he needs all his energy to survive? We have no money and no place to live. Every day is just a new search for food and a corner to lay down and rest…

Ohh, I can´t tell you how much I hate everything here. The food, the heat, the language and mostly the people. They are all the same, dishonest and dirty. I even don´t know anymore how often we have been robbed. You can´t trust anybody.

When I said India would change me, before I came here, I was defenitely right. It has changed me and I´m no longer the same as I lost almost all my happiness and optimism. My lust for life is gone as it is my faith in other people.

I really don´t like to do that, but asking you is our only chance to come out of this terrible life. Please help us!

Love,

Rebecca

Task 3: Research in the Internet

Unfortunately, I didn´t find any useful information on the Internet or any links on the other blogs that could help (maybe, because the others didn´t find anything, too ). Thus, I have to wirte my comment based on what I´ve read in „Heat and Dust“ and on the ideas I had in my biography.

task 4: Comment on the text „My life in India“

The text „My life in India“ fits very well with the ideas most of us had in there biographies and also with the picture we get from European immigrants by reading the first pages of „Heat and Dust“. Before 1947 the narrator of the next, a young English man living in India, was a member of the Indian upper-class. As his father had a high position in politics and his family was very rich he had always been someone special and lived a luxurious life. However, when India was declared independence all this was suddenly over and he had to flee to England. When he returned to India in1965 he was part of a big international movement. Like many other people from all over the world, most of them Hippies, he followed his idols, the Beatles, to find spirituality and freedom. However, during the period of almost 20 years he hadn´t been there, India and especially the status of the European had changed. He got to know a different India , where all the European languages he spoke weren´t useful anymore. Because he didn´t speak Hindi he couldn´t comunicate and after a while he had to realize that his dream of India was dead. He had expected it to be a better country than England, maybe because his childhood had been that great over there. But although he was living in India his childhood was very British as he had no contact with any Indian people. The British living in India at that time had never really adapt to the country they were living in. They kept on living the English way of live without caring about the natives and their culture or language. They just brought England to India. There was no need for them to care about the Indian people. They had a great life without doing so.

However, this is why the country in which he had spent so many of his life was suddenly that much strange to the narrator of the story. When he came back, he saw what India was really like. And in the end this reality was nothing but the poverty, that Ruth Prawer Jhabvala describes in her book,too. The European immigrants to which the narrator belonged now, were living on the streets and at least also dying there. It was hard for him to accept that the English had no special status anymore, but had adapt to the Indian culture. They did no longer live apart their society but among it. The indecision of the young man whether he should stay in India or go back to England shows that he hasn´t accept the new circumstances yet and also that it´s hard for him to see his picture of India was wrong.

Homework for Thursday, April 3rd

Task 2: Biography of the unkempt European

Hello!

My name is Thomas Schütte and I´m 28 years old. I was born in Münster, a little town in Germany, but today I´m living in India. Well, maybe I shouldn´t say I´m living there, because, actually, I´m just there. Life is something different. However, I will start  from the beginning:

I can remember the day I came to Bombay for the first time very well. It was my 25th birthday and I came from Mexico, where I had just failed my attempt to make money in the car-washing industry. It wasn´t the first time I had to build up a new life. Since I was 17 I´ve never lived anywhere longer than 2 years and I´ve seen almost every part of the world. India was one of  the countries I didn´t know, so I was curious and excited what life would offer there. A friend of mine had told me India was a paradise. Perfect weather, good food and lots of jobs seemed to be the perfect circumstances for the beginning of my new life. Was that my chance to get rich? Was that the country I had always dreamed of?

Today I know how stupid and naive I was. The perfect weather turned out to be an unbearable heat, the food makes you sick and the good job was never found. In the first weeks I still had the hope that everything would become better if I just didn´t give up. However, when I finally realized, that everything would only become worse, it was to late to go back or anywhere else. I had no money and noone to help me. I even couldn´t pay the cheapest hostel anymore. Since that day I´ve been living on the streets. Here in Bombay, there are many Europeans living in the same poverty. We´re all sharing the same sorrow and everyday some of us die.

Maybe you wonder why I do not leave this city and try to find a job in the inner part of India. Well, I don´t know, but maybe it´s the hope that keeps me here. The hope that one day an empty ship will come that takes us all back to Europe. I know that sounds stupid, but the thought of leaving this damned country is the only thing that keeps me alive.

Heat and Dust

HEAT

Who do you think Olivia and Douglas are?

I Think they are an English couple. They seem to be rich, because they have servants.

Where are they?

They seem to be in India as words like Sahib or Memsahib point. Maybe Douglas has already lived there for a longer time and Olivia followed just a few month ago.

What are they arguing about?

I think it´s not only the smoking they are arguing about, but more that Olivia doesn´t feel comfortable in India. She cannot stand the heat and doesn´t know what to do in her free-time while her husband is working. I can imagine him always telling her to go to Simla when they have arguements like that and that´s why she reacts over.

How is the quarrel resolved?

There´s not really a solution. Douglas just blames the heat for his wife´s overreaction and her bad mood.

Do you fell that unpleasant heat can have an effect on emotions? Have you ever experienced anything like that?

Actually, I can imagine this very well. Heat makes you feel tired, slack and more sensitive. You just want to relax in the shadow an do as less as possible.

I haven´t ever expierienced heat as strong as I expect it do be in India. However, temperatures of 35 or more degrees have an effect on my emotions, so I can imagine how to feel when it´s even hoter…

DUST

What are you´re feelings when you are confronted with the description of such a landscape?

Describtions like that make me feel quite uncomfortable. A landscape like that doesn´t stand for freedom, but loneliness and sadness. It´s also depressing and lifeless, I guess.

Explain why you would or would not like to travel or live there.

Actually, I would not like to live there in the middle of no-where. I need to have people and green plants around my place not only sand and dust which give the world a sad and dull (=trist) look. Nevertheless I would like to travel to this kind of place to find out if my feelings are right or if I´d probably even like the landscape. On top of that, it´s always interesting to learn about other cultures and to meet people who live in a very different world and maybe do not have as much comfort as we do.

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