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  • Essay / Effects of Colonialism in The Books

    Tamas by Bhisham Sahni and The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai deal with the repercussions of the period of subjugation by the British and the depth to which the partition affected people's lives. The partition of India and Pakistan was not just a geographical division but also divided people in their hearts; their thoughts tuned into a different wavelength and culminated in hatred for each other. The book Tamas shows a realistic representation of the nation, of India divided into Pakistan and India, whose majority population is Muslim and Hindu respectively. The peace maintained between the two religions was disrupted and led to a series of violence, in which hundreds of innocent people fell prey to this inhumane activity. Novels act as a medium to decipher the silent decadence of a nation, when it is polluted by irrational principles and logic seems to be lacking, it is to understand that communal clashes and hierarchical division eat away the nation like mites. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get Sahni's original essay in his novel, stream a first-hand experience of the chaotic period of the horrors of Partition and how politics entered into all of that, manipulating people and snatching away their innocence and their guilt, sending them into a murderous frenzy. The novel also talks about the association of animals with a religion which fueled so much hatred within the Muslim community that they revolted against killing a pig and keeping it at the gates of a mosque, the doors that lead to heaven and help people. by maintaining contact with the divine. "Say (O Muhammad): I do not find in what has been revealed to me anything forbidden to be eaten by one who wishes to eat it, unless it is Maytah (a dead animal) or blood shed (by slaughter or the like), or the flesh of swine (pork); For this certainly constitutes unclean or unholy (unlawful) meat (of an animal) which is slaughtered as a sacrifice for others than Allah ( or which was slaughtered for idols, or on which the name of Allah was not mentioned in the slaughter)” (al-An'aam 6:145) These lines from the Quran clearly state that killing pig or eating pork is "haram" and anyone who follows the Islamic religion should think so too, so this incited the people of the Muslim community and resulted in a revolt which led to the destruction of peace and property, broke through the harmony between the communities We see that, the novel begins with the scene which remains the cosmos of the whole novel, it tells a story, gives an overview of the unfolding of the consequences. Tamas resembles the manner, Samskara by UR Ananthamurthy is written where the main scene is introduced at the beginning and the story begins around the act which is constructed for the readers. The title itself proposes the darkness and ignorance, embedded in a human being, considered as an element of nature in Vedanta. Tamas, in the literal sense, means a property inhibited by an individual who is not positive, ignorant, gloomy and lethargic, which can be deduced by reading the novel, where we see the dark sides of humanity and the innocence torn apart, altered their sense of being. Bhisham Sahni celebrates the vibrancy of culture, religion and the diversity of their approaches. Tamas, is a story of chaos and heartbreak, it takes us on a journey of reality that has withstood the elements. Sahni's book is contemporary in nature, it can be felt by an individual who builds his identity on his actions but not by the religion hewas born to follow. The book is about the horrors of the riots in Pakistan and India after independence in 1947. People were massacred, women were raped, children were kidnapped and all this happened in the name of peace. The irony of this partition situation is also shown in the play Toba tek Singh, written by Saadat Hasan Manto, published in 1955. The story's portrait is a strong satire depicting the relationship between India and Pakistan. The play depicts the inmates held at the Lahore asylum, some of whom were transferred to India after Pakistan's independence in 1947. Tamas is also a period television film, written by Govind Nihalani in 1988. Sahni also won the Sahitya Akademi award in 1975 and also received the Padma Bhushan for literature in 1998. Sahni uses a fictional channel to create a story so that he can visit the past when the riot took place. The story features the character of Nathu who is a sweeper, bright and hardworking. Nathu was asked to leave all his work unattended and exterminate a pig by another character, Thekedar. After a series of statements of denial and an act of corruption on the latter's part, Nathu killed the pig. The body of the dead animal was found outside a local mosque the next morning. The story is not woven from fiction and fantasy but from the ink of seen reality and the unheard cries of many. The riot left a deep scar in the hearts of the people, so much so that they could not undo this cursed path, which haunted their future and never allowed themselves to believe in the other community. We see that the novel speaks of a place, created by his poetic imagination, which goes beyond borders, territories and indifferences. Writers like Khushwant Singh and Radhika Swaroop have written soul-crushing novels like A Train to Pakistan and Where the River Parts, depicting the intensifying violence and bloodshed that devastated the village harmony. Also in the novel Where the River Parts, Swaroop introduces us to the contaminated love story where the protagonist, Asha, has to leave her husband and suffer the terrifying pain of losing her entire family. Sahni astutely paints a picture of corpses of people belonging to various communities, including Sikhs, while Muslims demanded ransom in exchange for their lives. In case of disagreement on the terms mentioned, a fight breaks out between the two communities and the Sikh men leave their shelter to unite, gathering weapons, leaving in fear their wives and children, who decide to give their lives by jumping in a well, carrying their children. on their backs. The story shows fractured and fragmented relationships and communications between neighbors where doors and windows were mostly closed, all public activities were stopped, and beautiful neighborhoods and villages were transformed into Hell. The air around the square was filled with suspicion and fear. In all this, the fire of communal hatred is being fanned by pretentious religious extremists, for example Devrat. The decisive moment of this situation is represented by an episode where the grains of the grain market turn into ashes where the writer constructs an image of the city broken and on the verge of riots. The book explores physical violence as a motive but projects psychological violence as a means of breaking reason. The game of political mind then, as now, was the origin of countless causalities where human life was considered nothing to get what they wanted. The British did not pay attention to the problems of the people, even Deputy Commissioner Richard remained. insensitive and considered the problems faced by people of a subordinate nature. Although for the sake of hispost, Richard implemented certain measures to bring together some leaders and appointed them Aman Committee to send a message of peace. The writer showed characters like Harnam Singh and his wife Banto who lived their entire lives in the place they called home, which gives a subtle allusion to the poem Postcard from Kashmir, written by Agha Shahid Ali, where Shahid Ali also talks about a place. who marked his heart and marked his soul forever. For Harnam Singh, it is difficult to be transferred to a new place where he does not feel at home. But being a targeted recipient of violence, he had to make a difficult choice among the two offered to him by fate. The novel shows the well-established power politics and community politics. This exposes the strategy of community leaders to incite religious hatred and communal strife. Politics is considered to influence people into a dark path and narrow mentality. But the novel also draws glimmers of hope during these crucial days of independence. Preface to the novel, it is shown how violence was generated by its roots. From the moment the leader gives hope of violence and people follow him like cattle in a herd, this serves the cruel intentions of the communitarian. Tamas illuminates the lack of illumination in the crevices of the bloated soul. The book speaks in depth about the disorders residing in the community during the days leading up to the partition and the depth with which the madness of indifference and pity created ridges difficult to overcome. The novelist showed the three communities respectively Hindu, Muslim and Sikh, in a stereotypical manner, filling the gaps in the line drawn by society. Thus, Tamas, as a novel, brings out different shades of humanity, blurring the lines between humanity and cruelty. The novel, The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, deals with the sensitive subject of migration and fragmented and doubtful self-identity. The construction of identity is very broad, it is what an individual associates himself with. Even in contemporary times, people have been mutilated by the upper upper classes who exploited the simple exploited. Existentialism is a concept stated and defined in philosophical books, but people are afraid to implement existentialism, it states that woman, man or any other gender is free. exist in their individuality. The book focuses on the characters Sai and Biju, building an identity for them. The novel is primarily based on the Kalimpong district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Kalimpong has a history and a name for its institutions, most of which were established during the colonial period run by the British colony. We can see in history that there is a sense of colonialism and postcolonialism. The characters are shown flitting between classes, trapped in the vicious cycle of the Indian class system. The story can be read between the lines and the emotional baggage of the characters comes out through the words of the novelist Desai. The story is told in the 1980s, when Sai, a 17-year-old girl, arrived. living with his grandfather, an educated judge and alumnus of Cambridge University. The story is also about the unrequited love between Sai and her mathematics teacher, Gyan. Desai, in his writing style, brought out each character's story and gave them a distinct life. There are even instances in the book where “masculinity” is shown to be brutal and unforgiving, also achieved through having sex. Blissful dreams and hope are conveyed in the story where everyone wants to escape the rigid caste system established in their home country.Just like in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman where the protagonist believes in American dreams and sincerely hopes that America will provide opportunities. to all those who deserve it. So, in this novel also, Biju, the cook's son, dreams of an opportunity which will be given to him only when he emigrates to America. Even after migrating to America, Biju's caste remains with him like a shadow. The popular belief in India is that the lower social class is not trustworthy and the upper social class treats them as their slaves. On the other hand, the lower caste expects betrayal to be a key part of the upper class. And thus the binary is created where the two social classes have kept their lives separate. There is a dissection in the identities of the three characters Judge, Sai and Biju, who have seemingly hidden their roots and accepted the Western world, to be more progressive and welcoming. The judge is a complex character who has been so influenced by colonialism that there have been instances in the form of dialogue where he gets angry at his mother for being "Indian". He wants to camouflage himself in the Western world. From a very young age, the judge learned all the mannerisms of Westerners. The identities of the three characters are therefore a compromise and are disjointed. And that’s the hangover from colonialism. The novel written by Desai contains cynicism towards globalization, viewing it as a product of colonialism. Isolation is also a recurring theme in the novel where Biju, among the city of thousands of others, also feels alone and misses his childhood with his father and grandfather. The judge seemed to reflect on his past actions and live in the shadow of his past sins. There is a sense of colonialism even after the colonies were no longer under the rule of India, people at their core were colonized and considered socially attractive only when they knew English manners like the English. By imitating the style of the British, we created a self removed from the individual themselves, which created a fission in their acceptance of identity. We find that there is a permanent crisis in the minds of the people because they had been immersed in the The English were so foreign to their own culture, to their own people, to their own land and also to themselves. We see characters like that of Justice Sai and Biju playing with their marked national identity, imperialism had shaken their truth and made them see a fog of lies that only the English are powerful and sophisticated, civilized and focused beings. This psychological domination was achieved by introducing the concept of self and others, where the self is the European discourse while on the periphery remained the less educated and less civilized “other” people. The concept of self and other was stabilized because third world countries believed that it was true, that it is easy to control someone's mind if that individual allows themselves to do so, without compromising its integrity. Not only did the colonizers rule for so many years, but even in contemporary times, the imprint of the binary between self and others still remains in the minds of people, to whom we have generalized our thinking. We see it in the novel, the cook is proud of the fact that his son is abroad and therefore a great man, who is not fighting for his survival. The cook did not seem bothered by the difference in distance and the fact that his son, Biju, does menial jobs with extremely low wages and is in the country illegally. Biju, on the other hand, thinks of the day when he will be at home, in the land he knew. European discourses have created a..