Initial thoughts on Cracking India

I have read through a bit of Cracking India and I thought it has been a very funny, thought provoking novel which chronicled a very light and dark moment in India's history.

I was struck immediately by the contrasts in paragraphs, and even within some sentences themselves. On page 12, Bapsi Sidwa writes a quote which states, "He smiles down on me, his brown eyes screaming intolerance." Normally, one would think of smiling as a kind, nice gesture. Certainly someone that is four years old would think this. However, he seems to be smiling out of deceipt and maybe through refined thinking she would be able to think this. Another, more obvious example of a contrast is when she writes on page 13, "The bond that ties her strength to my weakness, my fierce demands to her nuturing, my trust to her capacity to contain that trust-and my lonliness to her compassion- is stronger than the bond of motherhood." I'm very interested in what the significance of this sentence is. Perhaps she is comparing India to England, or India to Pakistan, yet I can't shake the feeling that it is a metaphor that stands out for something, some aspect of independence. Finally, the last comparison that I have is a brief one, back on page 12, when the Englishman is dissappointed that his orders are not being obeyed by Lenny, "...the Englishmen quietly dissolves up the driveway from which he had enthusiastically sprung". This seems to be an obvious metaphor for the departure of the British. They had arrived in India, so enthusiastically, intent on continuing to build their large area and left in the mid-20th century as a wounded, dejected region.

Another topic that I found very interesting in the novel was the relations between men and women in this novel, particularly with respect to age. It seemed as if men were able to get away with more actions than females were able to. "Adi can swear and its a big joke. Rosy can curse and look cute. Papoo can let fly a string of invective sounds like a lullaby, and manages to appear roguish. And I cannot say a damned thing without being told it does not suit me (57)!" Though there is another female described in this paragraph, I believe the distinctions are quite clear. Lenny is not able to get away with the same actions that the rest of the characters, a large reason may be because of her gender and her "battle" with polio. This interaction was followed by brief bit about Imam Din. "Imam Din is tolerated because of his bristles in his closely cropped hair." Finally there was an incidence of domestic violence which caught my eye. They noted in a form of foreshadowing that, "Handling a woman not related to them [Muccho] would be an impropriety(54)." She proceeded to commit several acts of violence. Predictably, nobody intervened. This is probably a more modified form of violence, since women in other nations were allowed to be oppressed.

There is also excellent imagery that occurs in this novel. On page 12, Sidwa notes that, "The covetous glances Ayah draws educates me. Up and down, they look at her. Stub-handed twisted beggars and dusty old beggars on crutches drop their poses and stare at her with hard, alert eyes. Holy men, masked in piety, shove aside their pretenses to ogle her with lust. Hawkers, cart-drivers, cooks, coolies, and cyclists turn their heads as she passes, pushing my pram with the unconcern of the Hindu goddess she worships." There are a few implications that I believe may arise from this quote. One, is that ayah represented hope for the beggars; hope that they could find themselves in a better social situation in upcoming years. It also may be why thy suspend their pretenses; they would sacrifice their feelings in order to help themselves. I was also trying to figure out what the mention of a hindu goddess meant in the course of the novel. This is all for now. Over the course of the novel, I definitely will have more to say.