Page 243 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Unit 29: Mahesh Dattani: Final Solution—Detailed Study

Bobby seems to be wise enough to understand both Aruna and Javed's view points well. He reads Notes
out Javed's feelings to Ramnik and tries to convince Aruna that God is not biased by picking up
the idol and grasp it in his hands: "you can not remove my smell with sandel paste and attars and
fragrant flowers because it belongs to human being who believes, tolerates, and respects what
other human beings believe that is the strongest fragrance in the world" by doing so, Bobby at the
same time hurts the sentiments of Aruna, a Hindu woman, when, infact, the Muslim religion does
not allow any women to ever enter their Mosques, showing open disrespect towards women;
however, hurting Aruna's feelings can be a small offence on Bobby's part when Aruna, perturbed
over this action cries "Oh! Is there nothing left that is sacred in this world". He tries to calm her by
the logic of fraternity and forgiveness: "The tragedy is that there is too much that is sacred. But if
we understand and believe in one another nothing can be destroyed… And if you are willing to
forget. I'm willing to tolerate". Later on Aruna herself admits to god's oneness. Through dialogues
and reflections like these, Dattani makes a strong plea for humanism, love and understanding.
Smita, Aruna's daughter, is a young college student. She is content with whatever her mother has
taught her at home, she follows her directions and obeys her by performing all the rituals, till she
meets Bobby, a Muslim boy and for a short while, falls in love with him. When she comes to know
that Bobby is engaged to Tasneem, she is disappointed, her own experience forces her to introspect
and question the rituals she has been blindly performing. Aruna, the mother, is shocked at the
queer behavior of her daughter, she declares that she respects all the religions:
"Please try to understand. We have nothing against you. It is only that we have our own customs
and - And… we are equal… All religion is one. Only the ways to God are many."
But Smita is ignorant of the rituals in Muslim religion so she ridicules her mother for not allowing
the Muslim boys to be fed along with them or to let them fill water from the holy pitcher. And she
shouts at her, "… you have to admit you are wrong". When Aruan asks her, 'Does being a Hindu
stifle you? Smita bluntly replies. "No living with one does… Because you know they don't believe
in all the things that you feel are true. Doesn't that make your belief that much more weak? Do two
young boys make you so insecure ? Come on mummy. This is a time for strength! I am so glad that
these two dropped in. We have never spoken about what makes us too different from each other.
We would have gone on living our lives with our petty similarities?
Aruna feels hurt and asks her daughter not to be so cruel "you can stop being so cruel… . Smita
replies, "I am not sorry. I said it… I am glad". She feels elated in saying so in the presence of two
Muslim boys because she is having an inferiority complex. Here, her religious education seems to
be shallow because she has not been advised on the necessity of the rituals. On the other hand,
Bobby is so impressed with the fact that Smita enjoys more freedom with her mother than he
does:
I never could express my feelings as well as you do. May be my religion oppressed me for more.
For Javed, religion is more stifling as Bobby says, "Javed finds the whole world stifling". Ramnik,
who is not able to understand Javed and Babban's indulgence in acts of violence and sabotage,
tries to teach the Muslim boys a lesson and gives them a good piece of his mind. And through this
discourse, comes to light the hard facts of their lives. In the end, he praises the boys for their
courage in fighting and questioning things.
Dattani is trying to show, probably how fundamentalism is born out of fear of marginality. He
endeavors to show that it may turn towards closures and how closures do not facilitate or permit
authentic debate.
Bobby has changed his name to Bobby from Babban simply because he does not like to expose his
identity as a minority member. Ramnik, who seems to be quite liberal, intelligent and understanding
stands exposed for his hypocrisy in the end. Ramnik knows it very well that his father and his
grandfather had burnt the shops of their Muslim friends. He suffers from the complex and is

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 237