Page 255 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Unit 30: Mahesh Dattani: Final Solution—Plot Construction

symbolic paraphernalia used by the activists of Hinduism to reinforce their authority, the coercive Notes
authority of a power hungry 'majority' as Javed (and surely he is only a representative of his
community, perceives it. Again, the 'bell' used by a neighbor for prayers in the incident narrated
by Bobby that changed Javed life and transformed him from a have to a rebel out caste, the prayer
bell used by Aruna towards the end of the play, the vessel that Aruna has earmarked for filling
water to bathe the Gods - all these objects have an ingrained value to their possessors.
Thus Dattani underlines that though the power of a movement is ultimately the power of its
collective of activists, the creation of that power is accomplished in no small measure by the use of
ritual devices. But Dattani does not aim to be only descriptive on perspective. For he reveals how
fragile are there 'paraphernalia' how easily they can be crushed and thus under mine the so-called
power of the mighty. Because, the procession through forty years old can be easily disrupted - the
chariots and the idols cab be broken.
The bell that is like a signal of sacredness sent out by Javed's Hindu neighbor cab be easily made
perform by the meat and bones the own by Javed into his backyard. The poojari singing the bell
loses his life to a knife wound. Smita offers the water vessel for the Gods to Javed - challenging her
mother's contention (and this when she is an obedient daughter) that outsides contaminate the
purity of the water used for such a holy purpose. And of course Bobby is daring move at the end
when he picks up the Hindu idol to prove. Yours God! My flesh is holding does not mind. He does
not burn me to the ashes! He does not cry out from the heavens saying. He was been contaminated.
A little later, he continues…. I hold him who is sacred to them, but I do not commit sacrilege (to
Aruna) you can bathe him day and night, you can splash holy waters on Him but you can not
remove my touch from his form. You can not remove my smell with fragrant flowers because it
belongs to a human being who believes, and tolerates, and respects what other human beings
believe. That is the strongest fragrance in the world. One of the most surviving way in which
Dattani subverts the kind of rustic elements that are used by a body/an organization to garner
legitimacy as well as to built loyalties is the way he contests the commemoration of Independence
day. Dattani choruses the path of demy deification and so Daksha wants with cold and devastating
clarity in her dairy. May be I should talk about more important things. Like last year in August a
most terrible thing happened to our country. We - (trying hard to read her hand writing) -gained
independence. You should have seen it. Everyone was awake wanting for midnight - like children
on the last day of school, wanting for the last bell of the last class before vacation. And then
rushing out and screaming and shouting and fighting". Not only this Daksha consider it 'a most
terrible thing. Through Javed's long narrative. Dattani carefully details the haws and whys of
recruitment into a movement that sought to vanquish the Hindu night, by erasing? Its symbolic
devices of power. Most political organizations indulge in the common practice of a ritual evocation
of an emotional response within its initiates, to socialize them to the values and expectations that
constitute the culture of organization. When Bobby tells Javed that it was only too evident to
anyone that the people whom Javed had joined forces with were hired hood lumps. Javed unravels
the process that snared him and blinded him to this fact. He says : "It is so clear, isn't it? Anyone
sitting at home, sipping tea and reading the newspapers, a minority would never start a riot, we
are too afraid, that it had to be politically motivated. Try telling it to a thousand devotees swayed
by their own religious forever. United of their fantasies of persecution, constantly reassuring
themselves that this is their land by taking out procession (looking at Bobby). Anyone could tell
not what he has his delusion as well.
Delusions of velour and heroism. Of finding, a cause to give purpose to his existence 'The time has
come' somebody would say 'This is jehad - the holy war! It is written! 'Yes! I would say 'I am
ready. I am prepared". He speaks about his sense of belonging induced by the corentry liquor he
consumes with his comrades and about how after sunset. Javed's experience is not exceptional as
'in the vans I was with several other youths like me'. It is this collective experience in fact, this

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 249