INFOKARA RESEARCH ISSN NO: 1021-9056
East West Encounter in Anita Desai’s Novels
Prakash Eknath Navgire Sir Vithaldas Thackersey College of Home Science (Autonomous) SNDT Women’s University Juhu Campus, Santacruz (w), Mumbai.
Abstract:
Anita Desai is the famous writer in the Indian writing in the English. She handles the feminist issue, identity crisis and postcolonial issues in her fictions. The postcolonialism is mostly based on the east west encounters. The natives due to the education or job migrates in the foreign country and faces the trauma of identity. The connection between east and west begins with migration. The east west encounters primly focus on the culture, tradition, politics and the social changes in the life of the people. The current research paper focuses on the issue of east west encounters in the Anita Desai’s most famous three work of arts. Anita Desai manages the issue of east west encounters very positively in the fiction. The prime concern of her in the fiction about the love for own nation and the feeling of nationality is always in the unconscious mind of migrants.
Keywords: - Anita Desai, east west encounter, postcolonialism, postmodernism
Anita Desai is the most eminent name in the Indian writing in English. She is famous in the world for her feminist views in the literature. She is born in the city of Mussoorie in 1937. Her life is the best example of the east west encounter where her father is Bengali Businessman and mother is a German citizen. Anita Desai is before the marriage called Anita Muzumdar and her father is D. N. Muzumdar as an engineer. The initial life of Anita Desai goes in the city of Delhi with her two elder sisters. The quality as a writer develops in her due to multilingual family. Her father is a Bengali person, mother is a German and at the same time her stay at Delhi give her command over more than four languages, they are English, German, Hindi and Bengali. The skill of languages gives the power to her, that she can express herself well in the language. This make her to publish first story of her life at the age of nine. This is the quality as a writer fascinates her towards the literature and she completes her Bachelor of Arts from Miranda House of the University of Delhi in the year of 1957. Anita Desai gives an ample of literature to the world and handles social, political, feminist, cultural, racial and postcolonial issues in her writing.
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The following novels and short stories she contributes in the field of literature, The Artist of Disappearance (2011), The Zigzag Way (2004), Diamond Dust and Other Stories (2000), Fasting, Feasting (1999), Journey to Ithaca (1995), Baumgartner's Bombay (1988), In Custody (1984), The Village by the Sea (1982), Clear Light of Day (1980), Games at Twilight (1978), Fire on the Mountain (1977), Cat on a Houseboat (1976), Where Shall We Go This Summer? (1975), The Peacock Garden (1974), The Peacock Garden (1974), Bye-Bye Blackbird (1971), Voices in the City (1965), Cry, The Peacock (1963). Many of her novels comes form the experience of her day today life. Anita Desai marries with the director of the computer software company Mr. Ashvin Desai. Her husband also has a good taste of literature and he writes a book in his life Between Eternities: Ideas on Life and the Cosmos. It is necessary to talk about her children, she is the proud mother of four children. Her daughter Kiran Desai make her mark as the great Indian novelist in the world. Kiran Desai’s most famous book ‘The Inheritance of Loss (2006) gives her most prestigious prize ‘Man Booker Prize’ in the year of 2006. Anita Desai gives her best teaching to her kids, so they raised well in the world and make their own identity.
Anita Desai’s in her life gets the best opportunity in the field of literature that, she receives the Sahitya Akademi Award for her most celebrated novel Fire on the Mountain (1977) in the year of 1978. As a writer her name is short listed for the Booker thrice in her life. The dream to get the booker prize is fulfilled by her daughter Kiran Desai. Anita Desai receives many prizes in her life for the literature she possesses. In that, Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize for Fire on the Mountain in the year of 1978, Sahitya Akademi Award (National Academy of Letters Award) Fire on the Mountain in 1978, Shortlisted, Booker Prize for Fiction – Clear Light of Day in 1980, Guardian Children's Fiction Prize – The Village by the Sea: an Indian family story 1983, Shortlisted, Booker Prize for Fiction – In Custody in 1984, Neil Gunn Prize1993, Shortlisted, Booker Prize for Fiction: Fasting, Feasting1999, Alberto Moravia Prize for Literature (Italy) 2000, Benson Medal of Royal Society of Literature in 2003, Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 2007 and the most prestigious national award Padma Bhushan receives in the 2014.
East west encounter is the prime feature of postmodern literature. This is the technique mostly observes in the postmodern literature in context to Indian writing in English. Many of the Indian writers are the part of western families in that Anita Desai herself is a child of east and west relationship. East west encounter is very closely observed in her writing. The east west encounter takes the literature at the different level where the social, cultural and religious rules gets dismantles. The east west encounter makes many concepts clear for east countries in
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relation with religion and social life. In the east many of the social rules are so stringent, in that woman is not allowed to get education, woman can’t drink, the equality is the issue. In the east west encounters, east get a lot of different knowledge from the west and implement it in their life. The day todays life is become happier and smoother with the help of learning west. The mouthpiece of the fiction is a cosmopolitan character and not a typical native in the fiction. It is observed in the world that many of the natives are settled at abroad and get mingle with western culture. The many of the diasporic writer are the first-generation writers settled in foreign land. The permanent stay at western country gives the insight to native writers and they give the best picture of east west encounters. Though Anita Desai is most famous to writer the east west encounters in her fiction but at the same time her contemporaries Ruth Prawar Jhabwala, Nayantara Sehgal and Bharati Mukherjee writes about east west encounters in their fictions.
Anita Desai’s many famous novels carry the east west encounter themes and they are Bye-Bye Blackbird (1971), Voices in the City (1965), Baumgartner's Bombay (1988).
Anita Desai’s Voices in the City (1965) deals with the story of three sibling who try to find out the meaning in the life. This is the time when all of them stays at the capital of India Calcutta. The novel represents the social change is happening in the modern India. The young modern Indians accept the western ways of life and a drastic change they feel in the life is narrated in the fiction. This novel is the creation of Anita Desai’s own experiences when she stays at the capital of India Calcutta in the year of 1960. The city of Calcutta is narrated throughout the novel everywhere even it is used as a background to narrate the life of three protagonist. All of the protagonists are not happy in the city due to the pressure of the work, and tries to find out the happiness in the life. She narrates the city as most crowed, most noisy, frenzied and even people do not get the place to think. The three siblings presented in the novels are Monisha, Nirode and Amla. The eldest Monisha is very sensitive, anxious and prone to overthinking in her life. She thinks a lot about herself in the novel that she wants the baby but unable to bear it. So she curses herself that as a woman she can’t give the another life.
The marriage of hers is a traditional affair and throughout the life she plays the role of dutiful wife. Throughout the life nobody understands the real self of Monisha. It makes her to take the drastic step in her life and she set herself on fire. Monisha’s dairy plays the important role to understands the real life of hers to others. The entire inside thoughts she writes in her dairy, it is very clear in the fiction that she is not able to find out the best listener in her life. The another
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most important character Nirode, he also adjusts in his entire life in the city of Calcutta. His job at the news paper make him weaker when his wings of self-expression are cut down and makes more dependant. The nature of self-dependency forces him not to take any help from his mother. Nirode in the feat of self-creation starts his various business and fails each time. He starts his own magazine to prove himself but fails at the beginning and it gets fold. Another opportunity he gets to write the play. His all plays are rejected by the theatre groups to perform. The thoughts of Nirode makes him negative in his entire decision of life and he compares the city of Calcutta and his imagination with the goddesses of Kali, who kills and dismantles the creative life. Nirode is unable to understand the wise words of Dharma the painter. The dream of his changes his life when he sees the goddesses Kali as the representative of the power the person has. In his dream he sees him mother as the goddesses Kali. The last protagonist of the novel is Amla, a youngest one. She is a little hopeful in the life at the initial stage when she encounters with painter Dharma. The painter also thinks Amla is the best model for his painting. Amla finds the Dharma painter a cynical one due to his behaviour with his own daughter. Amla changes her life after the death of her sister. The creative nature of Amla forces her to translate the Panchatantra and get influenced with the stories. The meaningful and purposeful message she gets from the work of Panchatantra. Shyam M. Asnani writes in ‘Anita Desai's Fiction: A New Dimension." Indian Literature (1981) that turning inwards her fiction gripples with the intangible realities of life. Plunges into the innermost depths of the human psyche to fathom it mysteries, the inner turmoil, the chaos inside the mind (44).
The characters are set in the city of London and Mexico City and many of the time little upset with nature of life. Anita Desai’s character finds the hope in their life throughout the novel. The characters are intermingled with the western people and the comparison of the western ways of life comes at many of the places. Anita Desai narrates many of the characters in the novel who are totally merge in the western culture. The character Sonny and his old Papa are the representative of who rejects own tradition and culture. They both think that Indians make the great progress under the British rule. The thinking of those two people is reveals in the fiction that the British Raj is the best period in the Indian history. They accepted the free life of western culture. These characters represent those all Indians who neglects the Indian culture and adopts the western traditions.
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The novel presents another character Arun, he is the victim of western dilemma. In his life he gets more influenced with the American girl and marries with her. The decision to get marry with western girl shatters his life and he never becomes the good husband what his wife expects. Arun tries to become the good son but his disturb marriage interferes in his life and he never becomes he dutiful son. The entire novel Voices in the City is the presentation of broken life in relation with east west encounters. All the characters are not able to stay happy in the different nation due to cultural differences. The life of east and west is not at all happy and enjoyable in the other countries and those show it off like Sonny are the real hypocrite in the society.
Bye-Bye Blackbird (1971) is the best example of east west encounters. The novel is a representative of the diaspora literature and the east west encounters are the prime feature of postcolonial literature. The diaspora of the life of people in the novel makes best example of diasporic communities who are not happy in the foreign culture. The diasporic study even becomes the major subject in the postmodern studies from the historical point of view. The migration is the prominent issue in the above novel. This is so much associates with author Anita Desai because she represents the community as the child of mixed race. In the novel Anita Desai points out subject like the treatment to Indian’s in the England. Adit a Bengali man gets fascinated with the life of England and marries with western girl and settled in England. The most important part of England is the free life style that attracts Adit so much that he forgot to think that he has to go back to his own country.
The word ‘blackbird’ is associated with the all Asians those settles in the London. Dev is the good friend of Adit comes to London for the studies but ended up in search of Job. The truth author gives in the fiction that the westerners are not accepts Indian’s at the job. The Indian’s get the ill treatment at the most of the workplaces in London. With the help of these two characters Anita Desai touches all the major problems that Indian faces in the foreign land. Adit get merges with western life and find the social and economic freedom so attractive which he may not get in the India. Adit enjoys his life in the London, though Dev is not happy with the ways of western culture. The description of making different lavatories for Indians and westerns makes no sense to Adit, that he is discriminated as the Indian. Adit expresses his love for London in his words, “here the rain falls so softly and evenly never too much and never too short. The sun is mild. The earth is fertile. The rivers are full…Everything so wealthy, so luxuriant- so fortunate” (6). Adit loves his western wife Sarah and express the same love for his new nation in the novel. This is another part of east west encounter in the fiction. Adit
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represents the east west psyche of the migrants who gets mingle in the western atmosphere. His thinking is totally changed in relation with London and narrates that, “it was the magic of England- her grace, her peace, her abundance, and the embroidery of her history and tradition- and susceptibility of the Indian mind to” (7). His love for London stays same but the people form London are not ready to accept him as the part of them though he marries with British girl.
Anita Desai at the end of the text narrates the nature of Adit changes and he accepts the fact that he is not loved by the British people. Dev his friend makes fun on his life due to his acceptance to western thoughts. The nature of Dev is different in relation with Adit because he comments on the reality of society. The habits of Indian sometimes irritates Adit but another side he accepts them as the true feeling of human being. The British checks watch every time and wants manged life in all field and Indian’s are moody their all acts depend on the mood of person. This moody nature sometimes perturbs Adit in his day todays life. This is the behavioural change is possible due to the good salary in the country England. Throughout the novel diaspora of the Adit’s life narrates with different incidents of missing own homeland. Adit after the continuous taunt by Dev realises that he is the outsider in the country and they will never accept him as the part of Britisher. Adit even says realises the black sensation of Asian person. The love of Adit for his country remains the same though he becomes the part of England. Many of the places in the novel he is more conscious about his own nation. The war between India and Pakistan make him realises that his mother land is Indian country and he feels love for it. The dilemma of the identity and belongingness towards the nation makes Adit the true representative of the east west encounters. Though he merges with the England’s culture then also he decides to leave the country and plans to go back. He becomes the real representative of the diasporic people who wants to come back to their own native and lead the natural life. Adit talks with his wife Sarah and decides to go back his own native land and wants to give the same learning to his new born child as the Indian.
The life of Dev and Adit is so different in the fiction that, Dev is totally different in the nature and accepts the reality of England’s people. Dev is so rebellious that he never accepts the humiliation from white people and reacts on the spot. The thinking of the Dev takes the reader in the colonised period when they treat Indians as the slave. This imperialism is still existing in the blood of westerns and they treat Indians as marginalised in their nation. The wife of Adit plays important role in mending the east west relationship. Her love for India takes the rigid decision and she marries with Indian boy Adit. She is also representing the east west encounters
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in the fiction. Emma Maffit plays the important role to connect the east and west with the help of Sarah. Anita Desai presents the east as spiritual and west as material in the nature. The entire novel Bye-Bye Blackbird (1971) is the perfect example of east west encounters, that is reflect with the behaviour all prominent characters in the fiction.
Baumgartner's Bombay (1988) is the apt example of the east west encounters. This novel consists seven chapters. The quality of author Anita Desai that she makes one past and alternatively present chapters in the fiction. This the one journey to the reader to take from past to presents. The life story of the Hugo Baumgartner and lady Lotte goes in the parallel line in the text. The novel presents the search of Identity from the protagonist. They both are failed to achieve the connectedness and becomes the victim of loneliness. Both the protagonist stays in the India and plans to lead the happy life in the country. They have no connections with their own nations and Baumgartner stays with his cat in the city of Bombay. When he looks back at his own nation, he realises that there is nothing remain for him in his own Germany. When the fights broke between Nazi and Jew many of the Jew left the own country and settled down in the other countries. He remembers that his father is killed by the Nazi people, later he has to leave the house and business of his father migrates to India. The shifting to India makes him to suffer in loneliness and the Indian culture and tradition are novel to him. At the initial many of the years he is unable to adjust with the ways of India and unable to start his own business. Baumgartner’s friendship with Chamanlal give him a good chance to start his business in the Indian continent. He starts the business in the many parts of India, and in his travel, he meets Lotto, his childhood from Berlin. Both the characters are in the foreign land suffers more due to isolation. The happy movements touch his life in the city of Calcutta and the tables are turned immediately after that and he goes to jail in Ahmednagar. This detention camp make his life hell and he kept as the prisoner in the jail for next six years. The dream to start the good business shatters and only loneliness gets acquainted in his life. In his decantation period he tries to prove the Indian nation that he is only a refugee who come from Germany to do the business. The torture is worst in the camp because the British in India helps Nazis to get the Jew. This entire unhappy atmosphere makes him more depressed in the life. After the war comes to it end and all the prisoners are freed from the jail. Baumgartner life again takes the good turn after the jail term and he starts his own business again.
The situation in the India constantly changes due to its multicultural nationality. The riots of Hindu and Muslim becomes the common phenomena in the country. He leaves the Calcutta and goes to Bombay after his friend Habibullah’s advice. In this all situation even, nature plays
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the cruel role and the entire city faces the great famine. The business of the Timber goes down as the there is no rain. The city of Bombay gives him a new hope and he starts his new business in the field of transport. His life again coincidently meets to Lotte. The detention of in the India makes all foreigners fright about the identity. Lotte becomes the cleaver lady and get the Indian nationality with the help of Kanti Sethi. The life of both the protagonist is not at all happy in the Indian soil. In the old age conversation among the two Lotte reminds him that both should go back to their own nation and there is no point to stay in the foreign land. Baumgartner in search of good friend in the life, a day meets a German young boy at cafe. The talk of the two make to lose the life of Baumgartner. This makes again more unhappy and lonely life for Lotte. The up rootedness is the best example in relation with both the characters Baumgartner and Lotte. Both becomes the lonely foreigners in the Indian soil. The encounters of east and west is presented with the help of Jew and Nazi’s war. Many times, it is observed in the literature that it is not necessary that Indians to go abroad for the dilemma but many of foreigner come to India and becomes the victim of east west encounters.
Anita Desai handles the most prominent issue of east west encounters in her novels. The selected novel presents the issue and that is described in the paper. The east west encounter is the transition of two culture when one accepts and one try to resists. The dominant culture is sometimes become more authoritative and try to exploit the minor one. The learning process of the both culture, politics, religion and nature of the people happen in the east west encounters. The author very carefully narrates the issue in her most famous three artefacts.
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