Page 62 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Indian Writings in Literature

Notes the places out on Bartholomew’s Atlas. This brings him in direct contrast to Ila who though
having visited a number of countries had not traveled at all except remembering worldwide string
of departure lounges and the location of ladies toilets.
The narrator is undoubtedly blessed with a sharp memory and surprises all by telling the way to
May’s house without anybody’s help and once inside; the location of the kitchen, staircase and the
Cherry tree. Nick takes him to be an Oriental mystic.
Narrator is in love with his cousin Ila and this love remains unconsummated throughout. He is
always admonished against relationship with her by his grandmother and at times even scolded.
But the fact remained that he remained that he remained enchanted by her to a very great extent
until her marriage with Nick Price. It was for this that Tha’mma wrote a letter to his Dean in Delhi
complaining that he had been visiting the whores and should be, as a punishment, sent home.
When the narrator learns Tridib’s nature of death and discusses the gruesome nature of the riots;
to his great dismay he finds that the riots had disappeared from the collective memory of the
public. They did remember the cricket match between India and England but nothing about the
riots. The people were reveling in the euphoria of the war with China in 1962. They felt that India
was going to teach the Chinese a lesson. To narrator’s utter disbelief riots paled into insignificance
in the wake of the greater evil-war. During the partition there were many Muslims who gave
shelter to Hindus and hid them in their houses for weeks together at the cost of their life and the
same thing happened on the other side as well. But they were ordinary people, soon forgotten.
There were no Martyr’s Memorials or Eternal flames for them. Both the Governments indulged in
issuing the press statements for peace and communal harmony and remained unsung than that of
butchery that lingered with ghastly memory. Narrator to his dismay finds that he is nothing but
a chronicler of the people around him.
6.1.4 Tridib
Son of a high official in the foreign office who held string of important offices in India and abroad,
he stayed in the big mansion along with his grandmother at Ballygungi in Calcutta as his father
mostly stated out on foreign assignments. He is fond of reading and is a voracious reader and the
room where he stays is full of files of them. His knowledge about snakes and circumcision rights
of some of the desert tribes surprises the narrator. He has an attractive personality and at Gole
bazaar adda which he frequents, he has a number of admirers who comprise the local lads. Though
he does not cultivate a long lasting friendship or companionship for that matter with them, still
whenever he visits, there is a big crowd of them around him. He is a versatile entertainer and
though he cannot get started on his own career, has a high influence on the lives around him.
People stick to him when he is around. He was pursuing a Ph.D. in Ancient Indian History on
Sena dynasty of Bengal. He is a wizard who has powerful imagination and penetrating eyes. He
has an uncanny ability to look beyond time and space. His imagination knows no boundaries. He
falls in love with May who stays in London and despite the distance separating them their love is
intense. Tridib’s ideal is the story of Tristen, “ a man without a country who fell in love with a
woman across the seas—“This however, is also one of the themes of The Shadow Lines which
Tridib covers with his love for May Price. He knows of no borders ad demarcations.
He has a shaping influence on the narrator who regards him as his mentor and guide. Narrator
states that Tridib has given him worlds to travel in and eyes to see them with. Tridib has given
him worlds to travel in and eyes to see them with. Tridib had often pointed out the places on the
map and told him the stories in his room so that even before he had actually moved out of
Calcutta, his world had expanded to include many places. He had already experienced and
traveled without actually moving out. Like Tridib, narrator too possesses a strong imagination.
His boyhood is filled with Tridib’s London memories and his own visit there later is a reliving of
the scenes and events of Tridib’s experiences there. Though Tridib has got a strong imagination,

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