R.K.Narayan surprised me with this
novel. Set during the period when the Family Control propagation came into
focus, this novel can shock a person as well as realize the depth of the Indian
soul. Narayan in this novel tries to go with the times & is very bold in
his writing. Infact, the novel involves many themes of the 1970′s Indian
scenario like birth control, Bollywood, dare devil women etc. Narayan also
breaks his initial way of presenting his characters & uses a new technique
which is refreshing. The tongue in cheek way in which Narayan analyses the
‘birth control’ issue is hilarious.
The author has broken down a way of
thinking for us which we have to comprehend as citizens of a nation with a lot
of population related issues as well as a nation which is steeped in what one
would call skepticism against modern science. Also, through the eyes of the
author, one realises how serious the problem of population explosion was (&
is), the drastic & almost weird attempts to rid the masses of the ‘evil’ of
producing more children is taken up very well by the author. He may have gone
into more uncomfortable details if it were not for the fact that he was writing
a novel in an India which was not yet all that fine with bold literature,
though, foreign readers accepted him well. The zeal of the government workers
to sterilize the whole of India may seem funny in the novel…..but the dangerous
side of the way things turned out is also underlined subtly here in the story
via the character of Daisy, the love of Raman who is the actual ‘painter of
signs’….especially the painter of the popular Family Planning Sign, the red
triangle…..we two, our two !
Raman is shown as a person rooted in
sexuality & intense passion, quite opposite to his lady love whose only aim
in life seems to be, the sterilization of the Indian population. the author
even ventures to state the various methods involved in this process, especially
forced vasectomy which became very popular during that period of time. The
author seems rather preoccupied with this part of Indian history as I’ve read
about a similar story related to forced sterilization in the book ‘Malgudi
Days’. The author even discloses certain delicate topics in this novel which is
quite commendable.
Sexuality is a main ingredient in
this modern Narayan book which is presented in a very humorous way, without any
hint of hesitation. The comic sexual drive of Raman for Daisy in part 2 of the
novel is very comic….a novelty of the ‘Grand Old Man of Malgudi’.
In all, the book is a great read
& enjoyable to the core.
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