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Unit 29: Mahesh Dattani: Final Solution—Detailed Study

The details of stage given in the play help the audience to experience the shifts in time, Dattani Notes
keeps shuffling the frames:-
"Within the confines of the ramp is a structure suggesting the house of Gandhi’s with just wooden
blocks for furniture. However upstage perhaps as an elevation is a detailed kitchen and a Pooja
room. On another level is a room with the roll top desk and an oil lamp converted to an electric
one, suggesting that the period is late 1940's. This belongs to the young Daksha, who is in fact the
grandmother, also sometimes seen as a girl of fifteen…. Hardika should be positioned and lit in
such way that entire action of the play is seen through her eyes".
When the curtain rises, we find Daksha, the newly wed bride, going through her diary dated
March 31, 1948. Considering her diary as her sole friend in the new environment of her in-laws,
she is sharing her secrets, experiences and views with her diary. The diary begins with the shattered
dreams of a young girl who wanted to be a singer like Noor Jahan, but who has been married and
confined to four walls of her in-laws house. This suggests how most of us have to live a life of
unfulfilled desires. This is a very lengthy monologue of Daksha but is written in the style of a
spoken dialogue. She is narrating the horrible incidents of the Partition, which are still haunting
her mind ever after one year.
"We… gained independence… My father had fought for that hour. He said he was happy we were
rid of the Britishers… He said that before leaving, they had let loose the dogs. I hated to think that
he was talking about my friends' fathers… But that night in Hussainabad in our ancestor's house…
When I heard then outside--- I knew that they were thinking the same of us. And I knew that I was
thinking the same, like my father".
The young girl immediately changes into the old Hardika:
"I opened my diary again. And I wrote. A dozen pages before. A dozen pages now. A young girl's
childish scribble. And an old woman's shaky scrawl. Yes, things have not changed much".
After fifty year of marriage, Hardika is advising Aruna her daughter-in-law: "Be careful I said.
The dogs have been let loose". There seems to be no change even after so much education and
development. It is sad that over after fifty years of Independence, the same things are happening,
the whole story is presented in a series of scenes and memories, dialogues, images and sudden
shifts in time.
Hardika's wounds caused by the killing of her father in communal frenzy during Partition become
fresh again. She is terrorized when she finds two Muslims boys in her house. She does not like her
son Ramnik giving them shelter from the mob outside. When she is alone with the boys, she asks
them to leave India and go to Pakistan for good, as she still doubts the commitment of Muslims to
the nation.
Hardika : Have you ever thought of going to Pakistan?
Bobby : No
Hardika : Why not?
Javed : I prefer Dubai
Hardika : There you can live the way you want without blaming other people for your
failure like we did many year ago.
Her problems have no meaning for Bobby and Javed and their problems have no meaning for her.
Hardika and Javed are easily excited and are kept in dark about the reality of the things. The death
of Hardika's father at the hands of Muslims is of no concern for Bobby and Javed, and Javed's
sister's safety has no meaning for Hardika. Their experiences are their own. Each of them is
trapped in his/her own experiences.

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