Rtc

Rating:

Untouchable is a novel by Mulk Raj Anand, published in 1953. This book is a reaction against casteism. It was inspired by his aunt’s experience, who was treated as an outcaste by a Muslim woman’s family. Moreover, in his childhood, he closely observed the life and struggle of the outcastes. His childhood memories and experiences have a great impact on this novel.
This book is set in the early 20th century when Mahatma Gandhi is campaigning for India’s independence and the eradication of untouchability. Untouchable is a day in the life of a Dalit, Bakha, who is an eighteen-year-old son of the head sweeper. He lives in a mud house in the outcastes’ colony with his brother, sister and father. He tries earnestly to escape from his social condition. He imitates the Englishmen and believes that the English ‘fashun’ and ‘language’ can emancipate him from his struggle. But the gust of casteism has made him rather a ‘Pilpali Sahib’.
‘Posh keep away, posh, sweeper coming…’ the shouting of Bakha to remind the caste people to keep a safe distance from him, summarises the life of the outcastes. Bakha an ordinary lad represents his whole caste in this novel. His struggles and sufferings of a day are enough to estimate the sufferings of the people of his caste for hundreds of years. The events that happen in the novel from the early hours of the morning to dusk are enough to wrench a reader’s heart. The mockery of Charat Singh, the blow of the passerby, the hypocrisy of the Pundit Kali Nath, the incident of collecting food like a stray dog, the false accusation of the babu’s wife, everything is connected to one ‘dirty’ root the ‘lowest caste’ of Bakha. He is taught to stoop and suffer all the time. He knows how to be humble and servile but has never learnt to revolt against oppression.
Through Mulk Raj Anand’s Indian English, India under the British regime is beautifully portrayed in this novel. Indianness is very apparent in his writing. The religious, political and social beliefs are illustrated perfectly by using several Hindi words, phrases and swearings. Anand was a lifelong socialist. His works attack the various aspects of the Indian social structure. Untouchable is regarded as one of his protest novels. In this novel, he depicts the reason behind the miserable condition of the outcastes and also gives a solution to the problem at the end. He shows technological revolution in India is more important to bring the salvation of the outcastes than the new God or vows of self-sacrifice by the fortunate Indians. Though the solution is not going to change Bakha’s life from the next morning, it at least brings a ray of hope in his life.
This novel leaves a mark on the readers' mind. It compels a reader to think about the condition of the untouchables. “… the woman’s tone had changed from kindness to the holy man to cruelty to him.” After so many years of independence, casteism still exists in India. In several states, the lowest castes are suffering miserably. In the end, we need to acquire humanity, shaking off the pretentious piety.

A day in the life of an Untouchable. The writing comes across as a bit stilted, but ultimately Anand seems to think that Ghandi and modernization might help rectify the issues of the underclass in India. In all kind of a strange little book, I'm interested to see what my incredibly smart prof has to say.

'Untouchables' tells us about a day in the life of a sweeper in pre-independence India. I am not sure if I should use the adjective 'pre-independence', because the picture this book presents transcends time. The picture is very similar to the life of a sweeper in today's India, although the caste discrimination might have assumed a modern form.
The author describes a beggar near a railway station as "She had a little child in her arms, another in a bag on her back, a third holding on to her skirt." and I can't believe that this book was written in 1935. Through Bakha, the author exposes a society which is ready to exploit the weakest and helpless- be it the higher of the low caste or the higher caste. The beauty of this book is that it captures the very soul of an untouchable, a soul which longs not for respect or freedom but for kindness and sympathy; forcing us to be in the shoes of an untouchable and feel his shame, anger and helplessness. Towards the end of the of the book, the author gives Bhaka the hope that 'the flush system' will relieve a sweeper from the stigma of untouchability and make him an equal member of casteless and classless society. This makes us wonder and think how wrong he was.
A must-read for those who oppose 'reservation' because they lost a college seat or a job vacancy by one mark to a reserved category.