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Indian Writings in Literature

Notes willing to compensate by offering them jobs. But it never occurs to him that killing of Hardika's
father could have happened to revenge. He praises Bobby for helping Javed, in doing away with
his false pride and faith in his religion. Ramnik tells Bobby. "You are brave. Not every one can get
off. For some of us, it is not ever possible to escape".
This goes on in Ramnik's mind and he wants to make penitence for it. No one in the house is
familiar with this truth. The question raised by the young Muslim boys forces Ramnik to confess
and lose his mind. In the end he tells Hardika that her husband had burnt his Muslim friend's
shop because Ramnik knows that she had only few year to live now so they would not have to
suffer long for it. Ramnik tells Hardika:
"I just can't enter that shop any more… I didn't have to face to tell anyone. For me there is no
getting off. No escape. It is their shop. It is the same burnt shop we bought from them, at half its
value. And we burnt it. You husband. My father. And his father. They had burnt it in the name of
communal hatred… You have to live with the shame only for a few years now".
Ramnik finds it hard to keep all the secrets burning in his mind. His agony is with him only since
he does not want his wife, Aruna, to suffer from the agony of this sin. That is why Aruna is busy
with her daily rituals as usual, even after a fight with Smita over the rituals. She is shocked by the
rude behavior of her daughter who is not willing to change her ways. She is very proud of her
ancestral past and Ramnik does not want to shelter it. When she wants to know about Ramnik's
anxiety, he simply says, "there are things, that are better left unsaid". He desperately wishes the
boys to accept a job so that he can liberate himself from his pain and also absolve himself from a
feeling of guilt.
In the character of Javed, Dattani has portrayed the pathetic life of a terrorist who is never at peace
with himself or with others. Javed has an outrageous nature; his emotions are his revulsions make
him a puppet in the hands of politicians. He used to be like a hero in his school; good in studies
and cricket; 'smart and cocksure'. A minor incident changes his life and old fanatic Hindu man
picks up the letter kept in his house by Javed, with the help of a cloth and also wiped the gate
touched by Javed and that leads him to terrorism. The incident irritates and agitates him and the
next day he threw pieces of cow meat in the backyard of the old man. Suddenly, his friends
stopped talking to him, "And for Javed he was - in his own eyes no longer the neighbourhood
hero" (FS Act III, 201). Such persons easily catch the eyes of selfish men who lure them towards
more and more repulsive acts. Even his parents disown him. Smita tells her father: "They threw
him out. He did not leave them, His father threw him out".
Still Javed has a warm heart. Such allegations about him make him sob and remorseful. Babban,
a sincere friend of his, is always there to bring him back to normal life. But it is very difficult to
rebuild the image of such persons in the society. When Bobby tells Ramnik, "He did not do it for
money… They did not hire him. He volunteered". Ramnik says, "Doesn't that make him even
more repulsive". Javed's own parents do not understand him let alone the outsiders. Hardika
does not like him, though she does not have any complaints against any of the two yet for Javed
she says, "I don't like the one called Javed, I hated him". It is a tragedy that people like Javed who
once fall victim to terrorism cannot lead a normal life. Society refuses to accept them. And often
they end their lives either in a fight or become target of police firing or commit suicide. In the 21st
century they are rather prepared to die with their target like the suicide bombers. Javed tells
Ramnik that no one from the police would come to arrest him and that he becomes a victim of
mob's fury only because the trouble shooters along with him were not paid for overtime.
"May be they are not paid over time…. And they attacked us! They are not very systematic. Next
time they should have a sound of introductions so that we don't end up killing each other. At least
not unintentionally".
Abandoned by the family, discarded by the society, he resorts to violence. Smita again tells her
father about them.

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