"In Custody" by Anita Desai
Booker prize
nominated novel is about the fate of extinguished existence of Urdu language
after the partition and about its custody and custodian.
The novel is a
part of post -colonial Indian English literature. The plot is set in a dull and
gloomy backdrop of a small town. The spokesperson of the novel is Deven who is
designated as a Hindi professor in a college and is living a monotonous life. He
finds a ray of hope in this dismal and boring life when he gets assigned for a
task of interviewing a renowned Urdu poet Nur in Delhi who has become poor, aged and fragile
now. Being an ardent lover of Urdu poetry himself Deven reveres
Nur and is excited to record his voice on tape recorder. This ideal
image on his mind is shattered by innumerable disillusions and difficulties; he tends to
face during the process of interview. Deven has to cope with his selfish friend;
the poet’s frantic notions of lavish food; continuous presence of poet’s flatterers;
insatiable greed for money of two wives of the poet; inefficient assistant of
Deven for tape recording the interview; the anguish of Deven’s colleagues in his
department and annoyance of his frustrated wife. This is why, the whole
project turns out to be a bizarre leaving a catastrophe at the end
for the protagonist.
The narration
runs into the familiar style of Anita Desai - stream of consciousness, in which
the thoughts and feelings of character are exposed through his soliloquy. The
book is embellished with imagery; metaphors and symbols, for instance- demolition of an old building in the end. Apart from the main
theme many contemporary issues are raised simultaneously such as:
vanishing Urdu language after the commencement of British rule which once
had been language of courts; ill-fated language education in the technology
era; the man-woman relationships; the harsh reality and chaos behind the
glory of fame etc.
No wonder, if Hindi would also undergo the same fate in upcoming years, as we can observe it is losing its significance gradually and is being threatened and being superseded by global language English.
No wonder, if Hindi would also undergo the same fate in upcoming years, as we can observe it is losing its significance gradually and is being threatened and being superseded by global language English.
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