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MEG-07: INDIAN ENGLISH LITERATURE

ASSIGNMENT
(Based on Blocks 1-8)
Programme: MEG
Assignment Code: MEG-7/TMA/2014-2015
Maximum Marks: 100

1. From among the following non-fiction passages enunciate Two writers ideas
(10)
that have influenced you. (250 words each)
(i) Swami Vivekanandas addresses at the Parliament of Religions Response
to Welcome.
(ii) Sri Aurobindos, Is India Civilized?
(iii) The Dance of Shiva.
2. Discuss the plot of Untouchable. (300 words)
(10)
3. Discuss Midnights Childrens contribution to Indian Novel in English. (300 words)
(10)
4. Critique any one short story of a woman writer prescribed in your course. (300 words)
(10)
5. Discuss any two poets of the Indian English Poetry in your course justifying
(10)
your liking for them. (300 words)
6. Discuss the issue of gender in Dattanis Tara. (300 words)
(10)
7. Annotate the following in 150 words each.
(55 = 25)
i)
Silence hath bound thee with her fatal chain;
Neglected, mute, and desolate art thou,
Like ruined monument on desert plain:
ii)
But not because of its magnificence
Dear is the Casuarina to my soul;
Beneath it we have played; though years may roll,
O sweet companions, loved with love intense,
For your sakes shall the tree be ever dear!
iii)
In her youth she hath comforted lover and son,
In her weary old age, O dear god, is there none
To bless her tired eyelids to rest?
iv)
My womanliness. Dress in sarees, be girl
Be wife, they said. Be embroiderer, be cook,
Be a quarreller with servants. Fit in. Oh,
Belong, cried the categorizers. Dont sit
On walls or peep in through our lace-draped windows.
v)
Really what keeps us apart
at the end of years is unshared
childhood. You cannot, for instance,
meet my father. He is some years
dead. neither can I meet yours:
he has lately lost his temper
and mellowed.
8.
Write short notes (250 words each) on the following:
(15)
i)
Bim and Tara relationship in Clear Light of Day.
ii)
Language in the modern English poetry.
iii)
Tara as a contemporary play.

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ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS GUIDE (2014-2015)

M.E.G-7
Indian English Literature
Disclaimer/Special Note: These are just the sample of the Answers/Solutions to some of the Questions given in the
Assignments. These Sample Answers/Solutions are prepared by Private Teachers/Tutors/Auhtors for the help and guidance
of the student to get an idea of how he/she can answer the Questions of the Assignments. We do not claim 100% Accuracy
of these sample answers as these are based on the knowledge and capability of Private Teacher/Tutor. Sample answers
may be seen as the Guide/Help Book for the reference to prepare the answers of the Questions given in the assignment. As
these solutions and answers are prepared by the private teacher/tutor so the chances of error or mistake cannot be denied.
Any Omission or Error is highly regretted though every care has been taken while preparing these Sample Answers/
Solutions. Please consult your own Teacher/Tutor before you prepare a Particular Answer and for uptodate and exact
information, data and solution. Student should must read and refer the official study material provided by the university.

Q. 1. From among the following non-fiction passages enunciate Two writers ideas that have influenced
you. (250 words each)
(i) Swami Vivekanandas addresses at the Parliament of Religions Response to Welcome.
Ans. Vivekananda made this speech in response to the welcome he received, in the foreign land as a delegate
from India. He was not the only Hindu present there, but he was only Hindu who represented ancient Hinduism
completely.
This speech was made not only in response to the welcome he received but in response to his order of monks and
millions of Indians. He labelled his order of monks as the most ancient in the world. But the question is why? We are
aware of the fact that it was formed after the death of Ramakrishnas death. The reason is simple enough. Vivekananda
considered his order of monks related to the ancient tradition of monkhood in India, which indeed is one of the most
ancient tradition in the world.
He also called Hinduism the mother of all religion, which might not be true when taken literally as there are
religions which evolved outside the ambit of Hinduisms influence. It seems that he meant Sanatan Dharma, for it is
eternal with not beginning and no end. And in the sense of the word it also included every single religion of the
world.
He also rendered thanks on behalf of millions of Indians, irrespective of the communal diversity of the nation.
The next thing he focused on the tolerance of India, which allowed other religions to evolve and flourish like Parsi
and Jew, unlike other nations of the world.
In his speech Vivekananda emphasized his views against dogmatism, intolerance and bigotry. He spoke against
fanaticism, which unfortunately is still a part of our culture and nation. He was wise enough to see the futility of this
fanaticism and therefore he warned his audience against such a fanatic attitude, but most of the people did not pay
any heed to his words.
(ii) Sri Aurobindos, Is India Civilized?
Ans. This is one of three which exhibits the Sri Aurobindos idea of Indian culture. It was serialized from Dec.
1918 till Feb. 1919 in the quarterly Arya. In the year 1953, this essay was published in the collection of essays
entitled Foundation of Indian Culture by Sri Aurobindo Library, New York.
In way it was a response to the attack on Indian culture by British critic William Archer. Sir JohnWoodroffe had
already written a response to Archers attack on Indian culture in a book entitled Is India Civilized? The use of same
title by Aurobindo was supposed to be provocative. At first he emphasizes the gist of Woodroffes argument.

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Aurobindo starts by talking about the way in which one should evaluate culture and civilization. He says that
happiness is the only goal of human life. This shows his life affirming nature. According to him life is not about
suffering, but about happiness.
He says that the true happiness lies in the natural harmony of physical, mental and spiritual and without this one
can never attain happiness. The time in which he wrote lacked the natural yardsticks for the evaluation of the quality
of human life. Though in todays world we do have such thing and still we ignore the fact that human beings are also
spiritual, which results in various conflicts and problems, even in the most prosperous societies.
What Aurobindo says is that for true happiness it is very crucial to achieve the harmony of physical, mental and
spiritual and any society or culture which ignores any one of these will not be able to achieve happiness. Most of the
societies ignore the importance of spiritual and therefore, it is important that they should give importance to the
nourishment of spirit. Now, it becomes clear that the argument which Aurobindo is about to make underlines the
nature of human being itself.
After this he goes on to talk about the unique features of Indian civilization. He opines that matter is but spirit in
the involved form. The spirit in order to come to its true self struggles the physical and reaches the plane of mental.
Dharma, according to him is process which leads us to the path of spiritual enlightenment. What makes India
distinct and special is that the nature of its progress is spiritual.
(iii) The Dance of Shiva
Ans. The Dance of Shiva is an essay which was published along with other thirteen essays in 1918 under the
same title. The essay talks about the importance of the image of dancing Shiva, Nataraja. But apart from that in this
essay, Coomaraswamy also talks about the ancient Hindu philosophy and way of life, which is signified by just one
image. While arguing his point he often goes on to cite examples from other cultures and civilization. This does not
mean that he is a fanatic or sectarian.
He begins his essay by talking about Shiva, the king of dancers and actors, who is also his own audience. This
aspect of his makes him akin to the Eros of Lucian, a Greek Satirist. Eros stands for primary, creative and life
affirming force, which was later identified as the primary drive of human nature by none other than the great Sigmund
Freud. In this way Dance of Shiva represents the cosmic act of creation.
Coomaraswamy talks about three dances of Shiva the evening dance at Kailasa, the Tandava, and the Ndanta
dance at Chidambram. In this essay he focuses on the last dance for it is the dance which has been depicted in the
image of Nataraja.
The legend which is behind this image is that of the defeat of Rishis by Shiva for they intended to destroy him
and did not consider him supreme. In this dance Shiva shows his grace and power as the lord of universe. According
to Coomaraswamy the image of Natraja depicts five activities of Shiva creation, preservation, destruction, veiling
and release. And when we combine all of these five activities we reach the philosophical totality. And when we see
them separately, they are different activities performed by Bramha, Vishnu, Rudra, Maheshvara and Sadashiva. It is
important to understand that this five-fold version belongs to Saivit tradition of Hinduism which differs from that of
the popular Trinity version. Everything that human does belong to one of these activities, which are the basic five
according to Shaivit philosophy.
Q. 2. Discuss the plot of Untouchable. (300 words)
Ans. The novel does not have any story in traditional sense. This does not mean that the plot of the novel is not
coherent. The unit and coherence of plot comes from the fact that the novel aims to expose the evil of untouchability
in the Hindu society. In fact, the plot of the novels is very compact. Gandhi advised Anand to remove certain
passages from the novel, of which he was highly critical of. Anand talk about this in his much celebrated essay On
the Genesis of Untouchable. He says: In retrospect, I feel that, under the tutelage of the Mahatma, who did not
pretend to be an artist, I was able to exercise all those self-conscious literary elements which I had woven into the
narrative in anticipation of what the critics might approve. He thought that the paragraphs of high-sounding words,
in which I had tried to unite the miscellaneous elements, in what was essentially a walk through the small town of my
hero, must go. Also the old man suggested the removal of my deliberate attempts at melodramatic contrasts of the
comic and tragic motifs, through which the spontaneous feelings, moods and lurking chaos in the soul of Bakha, had
been somewhat suppressed.
The novel captures a day in the life of the protagonist Bakha, an Untouchable, and effectively depicts the
pathetic condition of the Untouchables in the lowers strata of the Hindu society.
The novel begins with the beginning of an autumn morning in Bakhas life. Bakha is the son of Lakha who is the

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jemadar of the all sweepers of the town and cantonment. We are informed that his chief duty is to make sure that
the three rows of public latrine are always clean. These latrines are used by both town people and people from
cantonment. We are also informed that Bakha has worked in the British regiments for some time. After watching the
life of white men he has become obsessed with the idea of living like white people. But at the same he is also aware
of the fact that they are white and therefore, he has tried to copy them as much as possible in his Indian limitedness.
His father does not like the idea of his extravagance and he is also being teased by the outcaste boys for his eccentric
dressing. They call him Pilpali Sahib. Bakha too is aware of the fact that only his clothes are English and apart
from that there is nothing English in his life.
The novel offers three solutions to the evil of untouchability. The first is the conversion to Christianity, the
second is the Gandhian way, and the third is the introduction of flush system, i.e. modern law and technology.
Forster rightly observes in the preface:
The book is simply planned, but it has form. The action occupies one day, and takes place in a small area. The
great catastrophe of the touching occurs in the morning, and poisons all that happens subsequently, even such
pleasant episodes as the hockey match and the country walk. After a jagged course of ups and downs, we come to the
solution, or rather to the three solutions with which the book closes. . . . Bakha returns to his father and his wretched
bed, thinking now of the Mahatma, now of the machine. His Indian day is over and the next day will be like it, but on
the surface of the earth if not in the depths of the sky, a change is at hand.
Q. 3. Discuss Midnights Childrens contribution to Indian Novel in English. (300 words)
Ans. Midnights Children is credited for bringing Indian English fiction to the world level and impacting the
literary world in such a way that no other novel about India has had such an impact. After the publication of this
novel, Rushdie was established as a major literary figure at the age of 34. Critics called the novel an outstanding
achievement, a novel of international importance, a work that sounds like a continent finding its voice, and
immensely creative in its fecundity, extravagance and scope.
Midnights Children exhibits Rushdies great humour, brilliant wit and imaginative boldness, which are indebted
to literary figures like Garcia Marquez, Gunter Grass and Laurence Sterne. The novel was received well by the
critics of both west and east. One of the Indian leading novelists Anita Desai described the novel as being of major
interest to Indian readers. She further says that it is a Great tour de force, a dazzling exhibition of the gifts of a
new writer with courage, impressive strength, the power of both imagination and control, and sheer stylistic brilliance.
A number of critics gave good reviews to the book in the Indian subcontinent. The success of novel in both
eastern and western world can be understood from the fact that the novel was considered as the coming of age of a
generation of writers belonging to the subcontinent with English as their first language. After the success of Midnights
Children the Indian English fiction market was flooded by a number of novels from Indian English writers, who too
won various awards, both nationally and internationally.
For understanding of Rushdies work and Rushdie himself as a writer, Timothy Brennans Salman Rushdie and
the Third World: Myths of the Nation is an interesting book. This book provides the readers with an interesting
context for understanding the Rushdies work.
Various insightful essays have been written on Rushdies work, especially on Midnights Children. Among
these essays, Rustom Bharuchas Rushdies Whale is worth mentioning. In this essay Bharucha looks closely at the
innovative language use and wordplay of Rushdie. Some of the other informative essays on Rushdie are Makarand
Paranjapes Inside and outside the whale: Politics and the New Indian English Novel and Arun Mukherjees
Characterization in Salman Rushdies Midnights Children.
Mukherjee takes a feministic perspective towards the novel and argues the Rushdies attitude is essentially
patriarchal. In her essay The Politics of the Possible Kum Kum Sangari attempts a comparative analysis of
Marquez and Rushdie. Apart from these few there are a number of essays written on the novel, which shows the
possibility of interpreting the novel in a number of ways.
Q. 4. Critique any one short story of a woman writer prescribed in your course. (300 words)
Ans. A Toast to Herself tells us about the story of a writer, a woman writer, Priya, whose fifth book has

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recently been published and she is waiting anxiously for the review to hit the print. She has been informed by Joshi
of Herald the review will appear soon. But she is anxious and nervous. She is concerned about the nature of review.
What if it is not good? It would not an exaggeration to say that she is scared to death. People might say that a
committed writer should not worry about review, after all review is just an opinion of a person. A writer must not get
her/himself distracted by petty reviews. She asks herself a question Will you stop writing if this review doesnt
appear? to which she answers Yes, I might. Every writer wants to read by the public. Nothing gives a writer
pleasure than a wide readership. The readers and the reviewers may not think about the impact of reaction that a
writer receive, on him/her but this does not change the fact that a writer always hopes for a good review and a wide
readership. When Priya looks at her set of books, they appear to her like children separated from their mother. For
her the celebration of her book is like a celebration of a birth of child by the mother. When one raises a toast, it means
that he/she wishes happiness or success to somebody by raising a glass of wine. Priya, in the company of her mother
and Dr. Kesavan, while drinking lemonade wishes herself success and happiness.
The story compels us to think about a very pertinent question can someone earn his/her living through writing
in India? The answer is probably no, unless the writer writes for popular reading. As a writer Priya does not earn
much, actually she earns almost nothing. For every piece she does a story or an article she get somewhere around
two hundred or two fifty Rupees. If she does four pieces in a month the maximum she can earn is one thousand a
month. She is aware of the fact that a taxi driver earns more than this, but she refuses to be discouraged by this. Her
mother tries hard to make her understand that writing is not for the likes for her, it for those people who have plenty
of money. And for people of the likes of Priya it should only be pursued as a hobby and not as a profession. In spite
of the fact that Priya gets paid very little, she does not give up her writing. Ever since she has started writing her
wants have shrunk. For consideration her book more precious than any money she can ever lay her hands on. In
Priya, Narasimhan depicts the plight and the situation of almost every writer in India.
Q. 5. Discuss any two poets of the Indian English Poetry in your course justifying your liking for them.
(300 words)
Ans. I like Sri Aurobindo and Kamala Das for their creative imagination which is relfected in their writing.
Sri Aurobindo not only expressed his spiritual thought and vision in intricate metaphysical reasoning and in
phenomenological terms, but also in poetry. He started writing poetry as a young student, and continued until late in
his life. The theme of his poetry changed with the projects that he undertook. It ranged from revolutionary homages
to mystic philosophy. Sri Aurobindo wrote in classical style.
In Sri Aurobindos theory of poetry, written under the title The Future Poetry, he writes about the significance
that art and culture have for the spiritual evolution of mankind. He believed that a new, deep, and intuitive poetry
could be a powerful aid to the change of consciousness and the life required to achieve the spiritual destiny of
mankind which he envisioned. Unlike philosophy or psychology, poetry could make the reality of the spirit living to
the imagination and reveal its beauty and delight and captivate the deeper soul of humanity to its acceptance. It is
perhaps in Sri Aurobindos own poetry, particularly in his epic poem Savitri, that we find the fullest and most
powerful statement of his spiritual thought and vision.
Savitri: A legend and a symbol is Sri Aurobindos epic poem in 12 books, 24,000 lines about an individual who
overcomes the ignorance, suffering, and death in the world through Her spiritual quest, setting the stage for the
emergence of a new, Divine life on earth. It is loosely based on the ancient Indian tale of Savitri and Satyavan from
the Mahabharata.
Das uncanny honesty extends to her exploration of womanhood and love. In her poem An Introduction from
Summer in Calcutta, the narrator says, I am every/ Woman who seeks love. Though Amar Dwivedi criticizes Das
for this self-imposed and not natural universality, this feeling of oneness permeates her poetry. In Das eyes,
womanhood involves certain collective experiences. Indian women, however, do not discuss these experiences in
deference to social mores. Das consistently refuses to accept their silence. Feelings of longing and loss are not
confined to a private misery. They are invited into the public sphere and acknowledged. Das seems to insist they are
normal and have been felt by women across time. In The Maggots from the collection, The Descendants, Das
corroborates just how old the sufferings of women are. She frames the pain of lost love with ancient Hindu myths.
On their last night together, Krishna asks Radha if she is disturbed by his kisses. Radha says, No, not at all, but

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thought, What is to the corpse if the maggots nip?. Radhas pain is searing, and her silence is given voice by Das.
Furthermore, by making a powerful Goddess prey to such thoughts, it serves as a validation for ordinary women to
have similar feelings.
6. Discuss the issue of gender in Dattanis Tara. (300 words)
Ans. One of the major concerns of the play is the revelation of the dark secret in the second act of the play. This
revelation exposes the fact that people hide their motivation in their relations with other people. It is this revelation
which explains Bharati is excessive love for Tara, her desire to donate her own kidney to Tara even when there is
another donor present, her empathy and sympathy for Tara and her concern for Taras future. All of this is the result
of the very guilt of Bharati that she denied Tara her leg. There is no doubt that Bharati burning in her own guilt of the
inhuman acts of denying her own daughter a chance to be physically normal, and it is this very guilt that leads
Bharati towards nervous breakdown.
There is no doubt that the decision of denying Tara leg was of Bharati and her father but at the same time we
cannot dismiss Patel completely from this blame, as he agreed to the plan of his wife and her father. The question to
be asked here is why he does so. Perhaps, because he too believes in the patriarchy will code of the society. Since so
many years have passed he thinks he can blame his wife and father for this inhuman act but the truth is that he too
is no different from them. He also is a believer of the Orthodox belief that a male child should be given greater
chance than a female child. Patel has not a person who looks at both girl and boy child as equals. He values Chandan
more than Tara, as is apparent in the fact he plans only for the future of Chandan and ignores the career and the
future of Tara. Bharati after what she has done is burning in her own guilt, and this has changed her perspectives
towards Tara. But Patel seems not to have any effect on him. He doesnt care much about Tara or the fact that it is
because of them Tara was denied her one leg. During these points in mind it appears that more than a gender
identity, gender hierarchy is at the centre of the play. What the Carney is attacking in the play is patriarchy will code
of the society the mentality that men are superior, and that that they should be given greater chance and better
opportunity.
The play highlights the injustice done to women in the society as it also highlights the injustice done to men on the
site. The hierarchical construction of the society affects men as much as it does to women. For exampl,e in the play and
Dan will have to live his entire life with the guilt of having denied Tara an opportunity to have two legs by being
himself a male. The life of Dan is affected not only by the decisions made by himself but also by the decisions made
by his family members. For example, he has to suffer for the crimes of his grandfather. Though what happened to Tara
was not his decision or choice, as he could not have done anything to alter that. But still he cannot forget that what
happened to Tara was because of him as he is a male. Both Patel and Bharati are equally guilty of the crime. But while
Bharatis perspectives have changed, Patel continues to be what he was. The play ends with Tara and Chandan hugging
each other, both standing on their two legs, beyond society and nature.
Q. 7. Annotate the following in 150 words each:
(55 = 25)
(i)
Silence hath bound thee with her fatal chain;
Neglected, mute, and desolate art thou,
Like ruined monument on desert plain:
Ans. These lines have been taken from The Harp of India by Henry Derozio. The octave describes the sad
condition of the harp, which lies unstrung on a lonely, withered bough, bound in the fatal chain of silence. At the turn
from the octave to sextet, the poet invokes the musicians of the past where wormier hands once played many sweet
melodies on the harp. At the end of the poem, the speaker wonders if those notes can be revived once again; if they
can be, he wishes to be the one to do.
It is clear the poet uses harp as a symbol. But the question is symbol of what? In the last line the poet himself
says, Harp of My Country. What the poet is referring here is not just the poetical tradition of the nation, but to
whole enterprise of civilization. The poet bemoans the present condition of nation, and thinks but the lost glory. He
has a nostalgic look towards the past. Some of the images he uses to show the pathetic condition of present are: the
withered bough, the unstrung harp, the ruined monument, and the cold hands of the dead poets. But still the poems
end with an optimistic note. The poet wishes to revive the glory of the lost past and want himself to be the first one
to strike that note. Therefore, the poem ends with a hope of renewal.

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(ii)

But not because of its magnificence

Dear is the Casuarina to my soul;
Beneath it we have played; though years may roll,
O sweet companions, loved with love intense,
For your sakes shall the tree be ever dear!
Ans. These line are form Toru Dutts Our Casuarina Tree.
The poem is a long lyrical romantic ode about a tree and is certainly capable of comparisons with the poems of
great poets like Keats, Wordsworth, and Coleridge. The poem also contains literary allusion to Wordsworth Micahel.
The focus is also on love, for it is love according to the poet which saves the thing we consider dear to our heart.
The poet symbolizes immortality in a natural and romantic image of a tree and not in some man-made object like
Grecian urn.
The poem is about memory, imagination, and transcendence, and the tree becomes A symbol not only of the
poets joyous childhood but also, through an extension in time and space, of the poets longing for permanence and
eternity.
(iii)
In her youth she hath comforted lover and son,
In her weary old age, O dear god, is there none
To bless her tired eyelids to rest?
Ans. These lines are from Sarojini Naidus poetry, The Old Woman. Here the poet says the old woman was once
a wife and mother. She is now has been reduced by the cricumstances.
The second stanza of the poem is known for its stark reality and can be said to be the most realistic stanza ever
written by Naidu.
There are fourteen lines in the each stanza of the poem. Here, Naidu also presents a fine example of code
mixing through her use of Arabic in the poem. Anapest is the dominant foot in the poem.
It would be enlightening for us to compare the old woman of this poem with dancers of the first poem. What is
striking in this comparison is that the old woman is very sharply portrayed while the dancers are hazy and blurred.
(iv)
My womanliness. Dress in sarees, be girl
Be wife, they said. Be embroiderer, be cook,
Be a quarreller with servants. Fit in. Oh,
Belong, cried the categorizers. Dont sit
On walls or peep in through our lace-draped windows.
Ans. These lines have been taken from Kamala Das poem Summer in Calcutta. Here not only her husband wants
to torture her, but society also wants to make her stand among the Categorizers. Her feminine self became disgusted
When she started moving about in society wearing a male dress. She feels devoid of her feminine self. She says:
Dress in Saree, be girl, Be wife they said, Be embroiderer, be cook, Be a quarreler with servants, Fit in, oh,
Belong ... Do not set On walls or peep in through Our lace-draped windows. Be Amy, or be Kamala or, Better
Still, be Madhavikutty. It is time to choose a name, a role ...
She asserts her feminine identity. Her young self refuses to be called by such names as - Amy, Kamala,
Madhavikutty or as a cook, embroiderer. She does not want to be recognized as Fit in.
(v)
Really what keeps us apart
at the end of years is unshared
childhood. You cannot, for instance,
meet my father. He is some years
dead. neither can I meet yours:
he has lately lost his temper
and mellowed.
Ans. These lines have been taken from A.K. Ramanujans poem Love Poem for a Wife - I. Ramanujan is probably
at his very best while defining, invoking and reiterating human relationships. Childhood and nostalgia are two
recurring themes in his repertoire. In this remarkable poem, astonishingly long by Ramanujans strict and stingy
standards, the poet takes us not only through midnight gossip of cousins reunions, absences of grandparents, mythology

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of seven crazy aunts, albums of family rumours and fathers who have gone irrevocable in age, but also Egyptian
kings who had sisters for queens to continue the incests of childhood into marriage!
Q. 8. Write short notes (250 words each) on the following:
(i) Bim and Tara relationship in Clear Light of Day.
Ans. Ans. Tara, the youngest of the family until Baba was born, is often left out from Bim and Rajas games. She
is silent in school, preferring the comfort of home and Aunt Miras ministrations.
Raja and Bim, declaring they will grow up to be a hero and heroine, laugh at Tara when she says she will grow
up to be a mother. Yet Tara, The quiet, retiring one whose childhood is marked by passivity, fear, and isolation is,
paradoxically, the one who chooses to escape.
Tara does grow up to be a mother, but also a modern woman. Tara chooses to marry in order to escape the
confines of her house and family, [saving] herself from all that their Old Delhi house represents: decay, decadence,
insanity, illness and stasis.
Tara appears to be a modern woman, travelled and cultivated, far removed from her childhood timidity and
passivity. Yet this independence has been taught to her, arguably even forced on her, by her husband Bakul. Perhaps
Tara is not truly autonomous, if her independence involves obeying her husbands wishes.
Bim, Taras older sister, was throughout their childhood the more assertive and strong-willed sister. Yet she
never moves out of their childhood house, and as an adult is responsible for taking care of Baba, essentially becoming
a mother figure to him.
She teaches at a college and manages to earn a living, but also is part of the domestic sphere she attempted to
escape. As a teenager, she emphatically declares her refusal to marry: I can think of hundreds of things to do
instead. I wont marry. [] I shall work I shall do things, she went on. I shall earn my own living and look after
Miramasi and Baba and be independent. Therell be so many things to do
This introduces the paradox and tension inherent in Bims longing for independence, present even before she is
grown up; she longs to work and do things, but also affirms her sense of responsibility to her deteriorating aunt and
mentally challenged younger brother.
As a teenager, Bim, like Tara, is aware of a compelling need to escape from the confines of their home. She
drives herself to excel at school, sensing that this will provide her with opportunity.
Yet although Bim ends up as an educated and qualified college professor, she does not use this as a means to
escape Old Delhi. And while she rejects the notion of marriage, she is still ensnared by the sphere of domesticity
through her responsibility of nursing Aunt Mira and Baba.
By the end of the novel Bim resembles Aunt Mira, the spinster aunt devoted to the Das children. On the other
hand, however, she is also educated and professionally competent. Like Tara, Bim is complex and paradoxical; she
is not fully traditional or modern, not entirely domestic nor entirely professional.
(ii) Language in the modern English poetry.
Ans. In certain ways Indian English poetry is similar to English poetry, but in certain other ways it is different.
The extent to which we can explain the differences and similarities shows our understanding of Indian English
poetry. It is also important to consider that what is right for Indian English poetry is also right for colonial and
postcolonial literature of other nations. Let us try to understand it with American literature as an example. In spite of
the fact that American gained its independence from Britain in the year 1775, for more than a century America
literature followed the pattern of British and European literature, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that still
American literature shares a symbolic relationship with British and European literature. And therefore just like
Britain, America also had puritan, neo-classical and romantic literature. But it should be kept in mind that romantic,
puritan and neo-classical literature may similar to that of their British counterpart, but in no way we can say that they
were identical. The distinctive identity of American literature is reflected in the way America adapts and rejects the
influence of British and European literature.
Quite similarly in Indian English poetry one can see the reflection of British and American poetry. The reflection
is so strong that some critics like Rajiv Patke have gone as far as to say that all Indian English poetry is derivative.

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How true is Patkes view is not our concern, instead what we are concerned about the fact that Indian English poetry
indeed was shaped by the forces of outside culture, and that to a large extent. And to say that because of this Indian
English poetry is inferior would be unjustified. It was only natural for Indian English poets to have been influenced
by British poetry, for English was introduced by British. There were some Indian poets who could not go much
beyond imitating the British poets, but at the same time some poets found their own voice. The best example of this
can be seen in Sri Aurobindos Savitri.
(iii) Tara as a contemporary play.
Ans. Tara is a play depiciting the contemporary period. This play raises a few questions of discrimi-nation,

i.e. religious prejudice, gender discrimination. This play is not only deals with gender issues and the treatment
of girl child in a male dominated society, but also this deal with gender biases and prejudices which still
affect the lives of several girl-children even amongst educated, urban families. Tara is a play in two acts.
It sets in London with, Chandan, a dramatist who is remembering his childhood days in the company of his
sister Tara. He wants to write a story about his childhood but he has to write Taras story. The play revolves
around two twins. The play reveals a conflict between Indian families. and their traditional patriarchal
mentality which has always favoured a boy child to a girl child. Chandan wants to twist his grief into drama
by writing about his sisters childhood. Even after their unjust and manipulated partition, which is made
against the law of nature, they are emotionally united. They share the same agony, which Chandan tries to
describe by writing autobiographical drama.
The root problem of discriminatory treatment being meted out to girls lies in the status of women in society.
Dattani has presented the strange reality of women playing a secondary role to man. Male are seen as the providers
and the role of the girls are neglected. This dirty practice is still present in some part of India. The drama also
suggests supremacy of Patel when he insists that proper division should be made in the gender roles.

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