English, August
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| English, August | |
| Author | Upamanyu Chatterjee |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Penguin Books |
| Publication date | January, 1988 |
| Pages | 296 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-14-027811-7 |
| Followed by | The Last Burden |
English August: An Indian Story is a novel by Indian author Upamanyu Chatterjee written in English, first published in 1988. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1994.
[edit] Plot introduction
The book chronicles one year in the life of a trainee civil servant, Agastya Sen, on his first posting-cum-training session to Madna, a 'tiny dot' in the vast Indian hinterland.The book very well depicts the realistic trends in what may be called as grass root administration of a welfare state, that is India, the comedy of errors, the paradoxes involved therein. the protagonist of this novel is surely out of place, but in due course of time, though reluctantly, fits in the scheme of things, initiating him in the vast community of 'brown sahibs' who rule India.
[edit] Plot summary
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The posting starts off as a tremendous culture shock for Agastya, a city boy. However, it eventually becomes one long philosophical journey and a process of self discovery. Written by a civil servant, the novel manages to capture the essence of an entire generation of Indians, whose urban realities jar in sharp contrast to that of the villages (the "real" India).
Agastya Sen's sense of dislocation is only compounded by his extreme lack of interest in the bizarre ways of government and administration. while his mind is dominated by marijuana, masturbation and the meditations of Marcus Aurelius,images from his previous profoundly urban life. His work in Madna would ideally require him to be a devoted servant of the people.
The complete review's Review:
English, August is the story of young civil servant Agastya ("August") Sen. Joining the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) -- which author Chatterjee himself joined at the same age, in 1983 -- Agastya is sent off "for a year's training in district administration to a small district town called Madna." The only claim to much of any fame for the place is that it is almost invariably a contender for the title of hottest place in India. Temperature wise, that is -- decidedly not popularity-, action-, or other-wise
In the opening scene, Agastya's friend (and fellow marijuana-smoker) Dhrubo tells him: "I've a feeling, August, you're going to get hazaar fucked in Madna", which sets much of the tone of the novel. Not just as far as the plot goes, but also as to the mix of cultures. As Agastya explains (unnecessarily, really, but it is one of Chatterjee's few slips): 'Amazing mix, the English we speak. Hazaar fucked. Urdu and American,' Agastya laughed, 'a thousand fucked, really fucked. I'm sure nowhere else could languages be mixed and spoken with such ease.' Chatterjee writes both an assured English (except for this curiously stilted, over-explained opening) and Hinglish (carefully dosing the latter). He utilizes local linguistic usage well in presenting this tale. The mix of modern and traditional, urban and rural, foreign and national -- all also reflected in the characters' speech -- is central to the novel. The language-mix is not taken to much excess: an educated Bengali, Agastya (and those he encounters) stay well within the bounds of the comprehensible for non-Indians. (The English Faber and Faber edition also helpfully supplies a glossary of some sixty terms at the end. Example: "hazaar - a thousand, but used generally in the sense of a lot".) The novel presents a new generation of Indians already strongly influenced by modern American culture (several of the characters have studied in the US) -- though not quite the MTV generation yet (the novel was written in 1988, when the impact of cable and satellite TV in India was still limited). It is a generation that is not entirely disaffected or alienated, but that is unsure of its future, its goals, and its ambitions -- Agastya, often affable but generally choosing to remain an outsider too, more than most. The changes in society are even more pronounced when seen from Madna, a small place of extremes (not just heat) that obviously can't quite keep up with the fast-paced life and changes in the big cities. Agastya has chosen to join the enormous bureaucracy that runs India, the IAS. It is an easy target for satire, and Chatterjee does not waste the opportunity. Agastya is an unlikely bureaucrat, and he doesn't strain himself to fit in. He lies intemperately, inventing wild stories at the spur of the moment (and leading to considerable confusion, as he offers a variety of contradictory information). He smokes pot -- "often against his will". He masturbates. He does what he has to do at his job, but that really isn't all that much. He goes through the motions -- travelling, dealing with officials and visitors -- but most of what he does still seems to baffle him. Agastya is still a youth, trying to find meaning and direction. "I've become your American, taking a year off after college to discover himself", Agastya writes to Dhrubo at the end of his year in Madna, and the training-year is, indeed, very much like that. There are moments of discovery: Agastya begins to have some sense of what is important and what is of interest to him. There are no absolutes, no certainties, but perhaps an outline that grows more distinct. So, for example: Eventually, he knew, he would marry, perhaps not out of passion, but out of convention, which was probably a safer thing. And then, in either case, in a few months or years they would tire of disagreeing with each other, or what was more or less the same thing, would be inured to each other's odd and perhaps disgusting ways, the way she squeezed the tube of toothpaste and the way he drank from a glass and didn't rinse it, and they would slide into a placid and comfortable unhappiness, and maybe unseeingly watch TV every day, each still a cocoon Agastya is restless, and he does consider escape from Madna and a career in the IAS. He flees, briefly, back to the big city, and considers taking a job in publishing. But he does return to stick it out in Madna. There Agastya finds: "Reading was impossible, with his mind in its state of quiet tumult." Marcus Aurelius' Meditations "turned out to be (very incongruously, he thought) his only reading." The choice is not so incongruous after all, the self-deluding emperor a proper example for Agastya: He lied, but he lied so well, this sad Roman who had also looked for happiness in living more than one life, and had failed, but with such grace. There are numerous smaller and larger episodes and encounters: the bizarre demands and (mal)functions of bureaucracy, the people one has to deal with. There are women, friends, family -- especially his prominent father. Agastya is basically still drifting, unwilling -- and unable -- to commit himself fully to anything. Chatterjee presents this very sympathetically; the Weltschmerz is not annoying, and Agastya fortunately does not take himself too seriously. The book is a satire, the humour veering from the blunt and crude to the delicate. Still, little of the comedy comes across as too forced -- and much of it is very funny indeed. Much of the humour is almost as if incidental, the obvious consequence of the absurdities all around. Chatterjee also has a fairly deft touch, mixing the absurd with the poignant, the slapstick with the clever. Agastya's second cousin, Tonic, the publisher, who "functions as though he's paid to be a leaking balloon, emit hot air", though repeatedly skewered, is easily deflated in a single exchange, for example: 'Ah. India lives in its villages, a terrible cliché that, but really very true, like all clichés. Wittgenstein, wasn't it, who said that India lives in its villages ?' 'No, Gandhi.' Chatterjee's wry tone fits well with his laid-back protagonist. Reality around him is decidedly odd, and he has little interest in confronting it head-on. Marijuana, masturbation, daydreams, and Marcus Aurelius' Meditations are, for now, still preferable, even as they further warp his perception of the world around him. A funny and surprisingly touching story, well-presented. The writing is not always consistent, but the lapses are relatively few: most of it is very good indeed. Recommended.
[edit] See also
