February 23, 2003

Man is born in chains in societies which are divided by class hierarchy. Hatred, discrimination, exploitation and disregard for human dignity are the hallmarks of a caste-ridden society. With the passing of time, such systems have been strengthening themselves by joining hands with similar exploitative forces. This is the theme of Peeli Chhatri Wali Larki which on the face of it is a love story but is actually much more than that.

The book under review is the Urdu translation of what the author calls ‘a long short story’, originally written in Hindi in 2001. It was well received in India for its protest against the four millennia old caste system. The author, Udey Parkash, has won acclaim as a creative writer. Readers of Urdu are already familiar with his previous work.

The author asserts that the Indian society has not been through the various stages of renaissance, reformation, enlightenment and industrial revolution. At the start of the 21st century, the Indians are living in a pre-modern mediaeval culture, heavily loaded with religious cultural constructs. In a society of this nature, modernism and its culture, democracy and liberalism are received in a way totally different from how the west perceives them.

In our society the infusion of modern ideas creates confusion and is not tolerated since it challenges the hegemony of centuries old traditions and norms.

This is the story of Rahul, a Hindu young man of an unknown lower caste origin, who enters the Madhya Pradesh University for his Masters degree in anthropology, and switches to Hindi literature in order to remain close to the girl he loves, Angli. He had already obtained a Master’s degree in organic chemistry which he disliked intensely, because he refused to become an instrument of the global consumer culture.

An ugly, old, licentious, rich and famous man possessed with insatiable lust symbolizes the elite in Peeli Chhatri. This man is a product of the devil power of capitalism and sophisticated technology and he can discard all the moral codes and acts without any restraint.

On his entry to the university, Rahul is exposed to multifarious problems which his lower caste identity brings in its wake. He finds the Hindi Department a castle where Brahminism works in its most primitive and constrictive form. His hatred for such divisions and his love for a Brahmin girl put him in a dilemma for he believes that she is flirting with him and would never accept him as her life partner. In a society ruled by the mafias, local goondas loom large on the campus horizon. Their monthly raid on the boys’ hostel to loot money and torture and humiliate the non-local boys is a regular feature of campus life.

In these circumstances, Sapam’s suicide takes them aback and forces the hostel inmates to form a Special Militant Task Force, comprising Rahul and 24 other boys. Due to their links with the high-ups, including Angli’s father, a state minister, the toughs are protected by the university administration. Their handing over to the police by the hostel boys brought cases only against the boys and the goondas were spared. Rahul also found himself in trouble when he was caught in his room with Angli in an intimate position. She is put under strict supervision and house confinement. Finally, on her birthday, Angli is allowed to go out with her friends, and the two love birds manage to elope in the Rajdhani Express to an unknown destination.

The story is an attempt to synthesize two themes — one a very old one of caste differences, and the other a modern one of globalization. The author openly and vehemently criticizes the stranglehold of the Brahmins on the Indian society. They have managed to remain in a privileged position of power by monopolizing the intellectual capital and exploiting the labour of the lower castes. He also deconstructs the myth of their divine supremacy.

The author captures the dynamics of the caste-ridden society graphically, with extra hues added through an account of conflict, violence, bloodshed, hatred and the heinous tactics of the upper castes to humiliate the lower-caste Hindus. The interplay of caste consciousness with class consciousness in this story leaves the reader with the impression that it is next to impossible to remain free from the vagaries and excesses of a highly segmented society which is conceived, established and safeguarded by the upper classes, even in this age of globalization.

This phenomenon of globalization, as shown by Parkash, is replete with numerous retrogressive effects and immoralities. The author criticizes the new global culture which drives a person to chase money-making schemes such as lotteries and gambling in a bid to become a crorepati overnight. In their wake come drugs, sprawling multinationals, corruption, smuggling, prostitution, night clubs, beauty contests leading to commodification and humiliation of women.

He declares that the market has no dreams or high ideals and it cannot provide humanity any idealism. He talks about the pseudo middle-class culture portrayed by the TV, which fails to project the real condition of the majority of the Indians who are shackled to poverty. The global village culture is a threat to the indigenous cultures and the magnificent variety of Indian ethnicity.

The romance between Rahul and Angli enhances the impact of the friction between the castes. The theme of love, at times, seems to engulf the whole episode. Yet at other points, it appears to be superficial and melodramatic. Yet it conveys a message of emancipation. The affair also puts a very human face on the abstractions of philosophies and intellectual contents, which dominate the text.

Parkash alludes to destabilizing political factors such as the separatist movement in Manipur, Nagaland and Kashmir, exposing the insurgencies. He also mentions the corrupt practices of the university, which reminds us of the Pakistani universities. This situation invites a controlling mechanism from the government under the dictates of international institutions. This suits the ideals of the market economy which seeks to make universities an instrument for producing graduates to serve the consumerist society.

The author leaves it to the reader to decide which theme is the predominating one among the multitude of sub-themes which move side by side. Each of them reflects the multi-dimensional reality of the present day Indian society. This is equally applicable to Pakistan. We, too, are facing rapid decline of human dignity, modesty, tolerance and integrity. We are also living with the absurdities of a segmented social structure, strong ethnic prejudices, and the synergetic effect of globalization with an exploitative system. After posing many perplexing questions in such a context, Parkash tries to provide valid and cogent answers to a few of them.

The story is a smart piece of creative writing with a well-knit plot, and fast tempo. Both the setting and the events seem real, as the author himself has studied at the same university, around which he has built his plot. The translator has done his job remarkably well, but has left some of the words and the bhajans (hymns) un-translated, which defy comprehension. It also enhances the effect of the cultural setting, especially for the non-native Indian readers.

Peeli Chhatri Wali Larki
By Udey Parkash
Translated by Hyder Jafri Syed
Scheherzade, B-155, Block-5, Gulshan-i-Iqbal. Karachi 
Email: scheherzade@ahmedgraf.com
ISBN 969-8636-02-1
164pp. Rs70

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