I just wondered, what would be this IAS aspirant's reaction to the novel 'English,August' written by Upamanyu Chatterjee IAS, where the highly glorified and revered Indian Administrative Service, is de-romanticized by depicting it as drab, redundant and also as an object of ridicule,dark humour and satire.Well, it could be said that since it was narrated from the perspective of a person who has no interest in the IAS job(or for that matter, no interest in anything in life whatsoever), such a pale and stale picturisation was bound to happen.
But what is 'English,August' all about?Is it a satirical take on the pomposity and lethargy of the Great Indian Bureaucracy? Or is it the description of the soul-searching journey embarked upon by a young man, who has a mind riddled with dilemmas;thoughts marred with indifference and spirit afflicted with idleness? At one part of the novel, Augustya Sen(or August,his nick name) says that his ambition was to be 'a domesticated stray dog, because they lived the best life. They were assured of food, and because they were stray they didn't have to guard a house or beg or shake paws or fetch trifles or be clean or anything similarly meaningless to earn their food...A stray dog was free; he slept a lot, barked unexpectedly and only when he wanted to, and got a lot of free sex'(pg.35) This succinctly describes his character:-lazy, careless, aimless,free-spirited, and always bothered about food and sex. So when this english-speaking urban boy, gets posted in the district of Madna('a dot in the hinterland'), it was quite natural that he would feel alienated and lost. But it was not solely because of the fact that he could not relate to the mofussil milieu; he was also being tormented by his own problems.-'Not the soul-squashing problems of being poor;but the exhilarating abstract problems of one immersed wholly in his self'(pg.69)
Our protagonist, like every other young man, is confused about life and his identity. He does not know what he wants from it or how to live it. Why should one live? What is the meaning of life? August has to wrestle with these existential conundrums. For a while, he revels in the confrontation with these puzzles, as he was under the delusion that these problems were unique to him and he took that as a testimony to his intellectual prowess. But, again, like all men, he does not assail these puzzles .He escapes from them by diverting his mind to immediate and daily problems like, how to steal a dinner invitation from his superiors so that he can skip his horrible cook's terrible dinner,or which excuse should be given for bunking the drab revenue meeting, or how to get the frog out of his bathroom,or with whom to booze and so on. And when he is not pondering over the aforementioned existential issues, he would be lying on his bed to stare at lizards copulating on the ceiling, or smoking marijuana, or masturbating,or strolling along the railway lines,or doing work-outs at an odd time of 3 AM(which in fact is the only act giving him a sense of accomplishment).
So the novel is essentially a glimpse into the internal travails of Mr.Augustya Sen IAS. In its strictest sense, this rendition cannot be characterized as a satire. Because the character is not concerned about reforming the system or revolutionizing the society, for he is too self-obsessed with his own issues. The description of the system in which he is entangled, is purely dispassionate and objective. If it appears to be sarcastic and satirical, it is purely incidental. A matter-of-fact description of the system is bound to be like that, as it is inherently comic and absurd.
Thus, we get to see the ever-scowling Mr.Srivastava IAS, the district collector revelling in his feeling of self-importance; lecherous Mr.Kumar IPS, the SP, always making colorful jokes and watching porn videos; Govind Sathe, the cartoonist-journalist, always in pursuit of a spicy scoop;Mr.Bhatia, August's contemporarian who debunks August's delusion of uniqueness of his woes as he is also grappling with them; and Shankar, his neighbour and loyal booze partner.In one way it could be said that Shankar is the projection of August. He was able to see his own future image in Shankar. He is also aimless and disoriented and revels in his own indolence and has his ghazals and thumris providing him solace.Disillusioned with the impotence of reason in explaining the riddles and absurdities of life, he has taken resort to divine forces. "Everything around us is inexplicable, fundamentally inexplicable...My reason cannot cope with this world, so I pray to Jagadamba and say, here, please you arrange the world for me. Meanwhile I drink and sing"(pg.98)
Initially, our man is unable to digest this sense of fatalism evinced by Shanker, as he, like all young me, is an ardent worshipper of reason. "Problems-there were so many, and they are so totally vague. But analysis helped, and that was why it was good to be rational"(pg.70) But later own he also becomes skeptical about reason. He stops analyzing things and embraces the absurd without reluctance." Once he'd believed that it was good to be rational;but now it seemed that his reasons could never answer the overwhelming questions, or grasp the special providence in the fall of a sparrow. One way out was to turn like Shanker, to the extra-terrestrial, to Jagadamba, and like Vasant to believe in that special providence, even in the arrival of a frog; another was to slink away from having to think."(pg.113).His willingness to accommodate the frog in his bathroom and to regard it as a good omen is not a banal event but symbolic of his change of perception. This change also occasions his attempts to quit his prestigious job and consider joining a nondescript publishing firm.
As the novel proceeds, we could see the character's escapist mentality getting stronger. He becomes relatively more focussed and responsible, when he gets appointed as the Block Development Officer of Jompanna. But that was not caused by any new found sense of duty, but was imposed by the need to escape the monotony of inactivity.Another reason for liking the job is that it involves a lot of travelling. Why does he love travelling? "In a jeep, he would smile and argue with himself, you can do nothing about your future or thoughts, until the journey is over. In a moving jeep, he was not vexed with the onus of thoughts"(pg.196). Thus in an attempt to escape the 'onus of thoughts', he embarks upon new paths.
Although the novel is essentially addressing the existential puzzles that are troubling a young mind, its not like a repulsive philosophical treatise that you would find in the dust smeared corner of any library. The narrative is fast-paced, cheeky and brimming with a unique humour which is at times vivid and mischievous. A sense of youthful irreverence is very much evident throughout the work, which manages to demolish the concepts and ideas that are deemed sacred in the popular culture, by subjecting them to an avalanche of witty sarcasm. Though some may frown upon it as blasphemous, it is just the manifestation of the characters' casual attitude and it fits in aptly with the ambience of the novel. This work will appeal to any person, who is intrigued by the enigma of life;and August can endear himself to anyone with his 'I am a confused young man' demeanor. This book does not provide any solutions to the conundrum of life; but one will attain a feeling of catharsis on reading this, from the familiarity one feels with the character. So grab a copy and take a plunge into August's mind.
N.B:-All page references are taken from the edition of 'English,August' published by Faber&Faber in association with Penguin Books India in 2002.
Initially, our man is unable to digest this sense of fatalism evinced by Shanker, as he, like all young me, is an ardent worshipper of reason. "Problems-there were so many, and they are so totally vague. But analysis helped, and that was why it was good to be rational"(pg.70) But later own he also becomes skeptical about reason. He stops analyzing things and embraces the absurd without reluctance." Once he'd believed that it was good to be rational;but now it seemed that his reasons could never answer the overwhelming questions, or grasp the special providence in the fall of a sparrow. One way out was to turn like Shanker, to the extra-terrestrial, to Jagadamba, and like Vasant to believe in that special providence, even in the arrival of a frog; another was to slink away from having to think."(pg.113).His willingness to accommodate the frog in his bathroom and to regard it as a good omen is not a banal event but symbolic of his change of perception. This change also occasions his attempts to quit his prestigious job and consider joining a nondescript publishing firm.
As the novel proceeds, we could see the character's escapist mentality getting stronger. He becomes relatively more focussed and responsible, when he gets appointed as the Block Development Officer of Jompanna. But that was not caused by any new found sense of duty, but was imposed by the need to escape the monotony of inactivity.Another reason for liking the job is that it involves a lot of travelling. Why does he love travelling? "In a jeep, he would smile and argue with himself, you can do nothing about your future or thoughts, until the journey is over. In a moving jeep, he was not vexed with the onus of thoughts"(pg.196). Thus in an attempt to escape the 'onus of thoughts', he embarks upon new paths.
Although the novel is essentially addressing the existential puzzles that are troubling a young mind, its not like a repulsive philosophical treatise that you would find in the dust smeared corner of any library. The narrative is fast-paced, cheeky and brimming with a unique humour which is at times vivid and mischievous. A sense of youthful irreverence is very much evident throughout the work, which manages to demolish the concepts and ideas that are deemed sacred in the popular culture, by subjecting them to an avalanche of witty sarcasm. Though some may frown upon it as blasphemous, it is just the manifestation of the characters' casual attitude and it fits in aptly with the ambience of the novel. This work will appeal to any person, who is intrigued by the enigma of life;and August can endear himself to anyone with his 'I am a confused young man' demeanor. This book does not provide any solutions to the conundrum of life; but one will attain a feeling of catharsis on reading this, from the familiarity one feels with the character. So grab a copy and take a plunge into August's mind.
N.B:-All page references are taken from the edition of 'English,August' published by Faber&Faber in association with Penguin Books India in 2002.
1 comment:
Hey,nice piece of work.
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