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Elective English–II

Notes politics, people of that era and, of course, humanity, which according to the author is what
the book is all about.
Ruskin Bond in 2002 introduced the book thus:
“In retelling the tale for today’s reader I attempted to bring out the common humanity of most
of the people involved—for in times of conflict and inter-religious or racial hatred, there are
always a few (just a few) who are prepared to come to the aid of those unable to defend
themselves.”

“It was Pascal who wrote: ‘Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do
it from religious conviction.’ Fortunately for civilization, there are exceptions.”

As promised, the main theme in the book is how the defenseless members of an English family
is protected by Hindu and Muslim families and later Sikh soldiers from the Indian rebels as
they move from one house to another, one village to another till they reach their English
relatives.
Some passages of the book make humorous reading and also give an insight to the people of
that time, especially their creativity uninfluenced by western education and Bollywood:
‘O thou who hast vanished like mustard oil which, when absorbed by the skin, leaves only its
odor behind; thou with the rotund form dancing before my eyes which were wont to stare at
me vacantly; wilt thou still snap thy fingers at me when this letter is evidence of my unceasing
thoughts of thee? Why did you call me your lado, your loved one, when you had no love for
me? And why have you left me to the taunts of that stick of a woman whom you in your
perversity used to call a precious stone, your Ratna? Who has proved untrue, you or I? Why
have you sported thus with my feelings? Drown yourself in a handful of water, or return and
make my hated rival an ornament for your neck, or wear her effigy nine times around your
arm as a charm against my longings for you.’

A vivid account of the battle of Bichpuri goes like this:
‘And who was it who got the worst of the fight?’
‘Why, the Kafirs, of course, Chachi. We made a clean sweep of them,’
‘There was not one man left, Chachi, so do you know what they did? They sent their women
out to fight us!’
‘This becomes more intriguing,’ said Kothiwali. ‘You are a gifted boy, Faisullah—you have a
wonderful imagination! Tell us, what did their women look like?’
‘Well, they were rather big for women. Some of them wore false beards and moustaches. But
each one of them had a high skirt with a metal disc hanging down in front.’ (It suddenly
dawned on me that Faisullah was describing a Scots regiment of Highlanders.) ‘Such horrid-
looking women, I assure you. Of course, there was no question of fighting them. I don’t lift
my hand against women and out of sheer disgust I left the camp and came away.’

This story provides for more such dialogues and situations of quaint humor.
“While most of the British wives in the cantonment thought it beneath their dignity to gossip
with servants, Mariam Labadoor, who made few social calls, enjoyed these conversations of
hers. Often they enlivened her day by reporting the juiciest scandals on which they were
always well-informed. But from what Mariam had heard recently, she was convinced that it
was only a matter of hours before rioting broke out in the city.”

It is this wisdom of hers which helps Mariam save her family and herself from rebels time and
again. It brought to mind how advantageous it is to mingle with sections beyond your social

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