COMMUNAL TENSION AND GENDER BIAS IN MAHESH DATTANI S PLAY FINAL SOLUTIONS

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1 Volume 119 No , ISSN: (on-line version) url: COMMUNAL TENSION AND GENDER BIAS IN MAHESH DATTANI S PLAY FINAL SOLUTIONS SUCHISMITA BHATTACHARYA Ph.D Research Scholar Department of English VISTAS (Vels University) Chennai,Tamil Nadu. koel4u2009@gmail.com DR P. SURESH Research Supervisor & Associate Professor Department of English VISTAS (Vels University) Chennai, Tamil Nadu. drsureshponnurangam@gmail.com ABSTRACT India is the country of varied heritage and culture. It is one such country where all the religions are followed and respected as well. The great saints of India have already preached the people that God is one and the same. The paths of all the religions, lead us to the same destination, the God. Though God is worshipped and addressed differently in all the religions, mankind must realize and understand that the Supreme Being is one and the same. In India people especially the Muslims and the Hindus fight with each other and in the result, communal tension takes place. The reason of the fight is trivial and flimsy most of the times. India is known as a secular nation and such type of communal tension and communal riots that often take place, spoils the peace of the minds and lives of people. Final Solutions is one such play, where the playwright Mahesh Dattani, has portrayed the picture of India during the communal riots. The play speaks about the sufferings of both the Hindus and the Muslims. The play also talks about male dominance in the life of a woman in the Indian family. KEY WORDS: Communal Tension, Communal Riot, God, Hindus,Muslims, Male Dominance, Gender Bias, Sufferings of Women. INTRODUCTION Communal tension and communal harmonyare such terms which are familiar to everyone in India.Communal harmony is seen sometimes in many things between a Hindu and a Muslim but sometimes it shows its absence. Mahesh Dattani, has mentioned about both communal tension and harmony beautifully in his play Final Solutions. The plays of Dattaniemerged as the fresh arrival in the field of Indian Drama in English at the end of the twentieth century and they have won the hearts of the people not only in India but throughout the world. The plays of Dattani deal with the contemporary issues of the Indian Society and they are wriiten in such a manner that they can be staged anywhere in the world as they have a universal appeal. Mahesh Dattani won the SahityaAkademiaward for his play Final Solutions in the year This particular play is considered as the magnum opus of Dattani out of all the other plays.dattani has mainly shown certain things in the play which can be considered as the themes of the play and they are selfishness, weakness of a human, patriarchal dominance, fear and hatred. The playwright in the play talks about the problems of both the minority and the majority communities, where the minority is the Muslims and the majority is the Hindus. The play is not confined only to the problems of minority and majority, but it also talks about patriarchal hegemony in an Indian family. Dattani deserves appreciation for his immense courage because the particular play was written after the demolition of the Babri Masjid. 2447

2 The play talks about the sufferings of both the Hindus and the Muslims. The Hindus had to suffer in the hands of the Muslims and the Muslims had to suffer in the hands of the Hindus. Hardika or Daksha (both the names are of the same person) symbolizes the majority whereas Javed symbolizes the minority. The mob mentioned in the play symbolizes the hatred of each and every individual. The play at one side speaks about the communal tension and on the other side it speaks about friendly relations as well. The plot of the play moves from the past to the present and vice versa. The story revolves around the lives of people in a Gujarati family, where the characters speak about three generations. Hardika the grandmother who is known as Daksha as well (in the past), Ramnik, son of Hardika and Smita, grand-daughter of Hardika. Memory plays a vital role in the play as Hardika is often seen recollecting her past memories. In the play the mob or the chorussymbolizes the communal hatred of the minority and the majority. COMMUNAL TENSION IN THE PLAY Communal riot is such a war which is actually not fought between two different nations, rather it takes place between two different religious groups. Dattani focuses mainly on the communal disharmony between the Hindus and the Muslims. The play talks about the condition of India during the post partition riots. The play is about a Gujrati family where the head of the family is Hardika, who has a strong hatred for the Muslims because her father was killedby the minority people. She protests against her son when he gives refuge to two Muslim boys Javed and Bobby in her house. Hardika: How could he let these people into my house? Hardika: They killed his grandfather! (Collected Plays, 179) The above quote shows the hatred of Hardika which she had in her heart for the Muslims. She says those things to her son Ramnik when he allows the Muslim boys Javed and Bobby to stay in their house. The story of the play moves between the past and the present and vice versa. Hardika symbolizes the present whereas Daksha, (another name of Hardika) symbolizes the past. Ramnik, son of Hardika, is a very liberal minded person and he doesn t support the hatred of his mother towards the Muslims because he knew the truth which his mother was unaware of. Hardika had the hatred for the Muslims because they killed her father but she did not know that her husband and father in law ruined the life of Zarine who was her friend when she was young. Hardika s father in law and husband had set the shop of Zarine s father on fire and Ramnik knew this truth but he did not reveal this to his mother because he did not want his mother to suffer more. He just tried to atone the sins committed by his father and grandfather and hence proves himself to be a true secularist.ramnik even thinks of giving a job to Javed so that he can earn his livelihood and in this way he can get rid of the guilt. And we burnt it. Your husband. My father. And his father. They had burnt it in the name of communal hatred. Because we wanted a shop. Also they learnt that... those people were planning to start a mill like our own. I can t take it any longer. I don t think I will be able to step into that shop again... When those boys came here, I thought I would... I hoped I would be able to... set things right. I-I wanted to tell them that they are not the only ones who have destroyed. I just couldn t. I don t think I have the face to tell anyone. (Collected Plays, 226) Final Solutions can be considered as a problem play as it speaks about the communal tension and communal riot. Dr. Deepti Agrawal, talks about the Hindu Muslim communal riot in her book and she also discusses about Final Solutions in one of the chapters. She says that, 2448

3 The very insightful and sharp analysis of the nationalist conceptualization of India s Islamic legacy is taken up by Dattani in his well performed play Final Solutions. In this play, Dattani bemoaned the takeover of the symbols of his religion, by proponents of Hindutva. (The Plays of Mahesh Dattani, A Study InThemtaic Diversity And Dramatic Technique,237) Dr. Deepti also says that the play has presented different shades of the communalist attitude which were/are prevalent among the Hindus and the Muslims in the attempt to underline the stereotypes and the cliches that influence the collective sensibility of one community against another. The writer discusses about the plot of the play as well where she says it(the play) is about aa simple Hindu family who are suddenly faced with lots of questions when two Muslim miscreants seek refuge in their house during the communal riots. Dr.Beena Agarwal dicusses about the play in her book. She says that, Dattani represents two communities through the change of masks. This device of changing the mask is quite significant. Behind the mask each member of the chorus is a human being and here lies the roots of dramatic tension in the play Final Solution. The mob frenzy of Muslims, is vitalized in the second appearance of mob/chorus. Sacrificing their humanity and religious faiths, they make a mockery of Gods and Goddesses. (Mahesh Dattani s Plays, A New Horizon in Indian Theatre, 47) Dr.Beena expresses her thoughts about the plays in her book and she says that in the play, anger is not an expression of aggression but a method of self defense. She says with reference to Final Solutions that Javed, the Muslim boy offers his services to Aruna and tries to help her by filling the bucket of water but it was of no avail. Aruna, wife of Ramnik, is a typical Indian house wife and a Godfearing woman as well. She tries to maintain balance with her modesty when the two Muslim boys take refuge in the house. She did have sympathy for the boys but at one point of time, it becomes difficult for her to compromise with them. Javed tries to help her out in her work but she says, We don t allow anyone to fill our drinking water. No outsiders. (Collected Plays, 209) Dr.Bipinkumar Parmar talks about the play in one of the chapters in his book and he says that, The play is bifurcated into three acts for the presentation of the events in a systematic way. Structurally, they can be considered as the exposition, climax, and denouement or solution. The first act introduces the situation and people involved in it showing communal riots as the background of the play. There is a gradual development of action leading to the climax in second act. The third act is very important from structurally and philosophically. The dramatist presents cross examination Javed and Bobby for arriving at final solution of the communal hatred. (Dramatic World of Mahesh Dattani, Voices and Visions, 87-88) Dr Pramod Kumar Singh discusses the play Final Solutions in the second chapter of his book. He says that the particular play is the true representative play of the observations of Dattani and the observations deal with the burning issue of communal riot. Dr Singh says that Dattani shows in the play how the seed of riot is sowed and some vested groups reap its fruit. Dr Singh also says that, Mahesh Dattani is the true observer of society and he writes only what he sees and not what should be. All his plays are filled with matter and manner which he observes. Each and every play of Dattani raises some prominent issues concerning the various maladies contaminating the healthy tissues of the society and in doing so he is never seen didactic in his attitude. (Social Maladies in the Works of Mahesh Dattani, A Critical Assessment, 59) 2449

4 Dr. Singh dicusses further and says that Dattani is a different kind of writer who shows the reality of the society directly through his play. He says that the older generation in the play had borne the burnt of communal violence and they are not ready to accept any solution but the younger generation in the play they have a different perspective. They think the same issue in a different way and they kind of want a solution for all this. Dr. Singh also says that the basic reason of communal riot is not always because of religion but sometimes the reason is socio-economic as well which prevails in tha matter. He says there are some vested groups who always search opportunities and utilise it fo their own interest as Ramnik s father does in the play. Dr Singh says that the class struggle is also one of the causes of such type of violence which is misinterpreted most of the time by the groups. HARDIKA Hardika is the mother of Ramnik. She is also known as Daksha in the play when the play revolves around the past. Daksha writes down everything in her diary because diary is her best friend. Right from her first day at her in laws house to making a new Muslim friend namely Zarine, she writes down everything in her diary. The diary symbolizes the past and the present. Daksha as a young girl in the past writes down everything on the pages of her diary and Hardika in the present, teaches things to her family about the past, from her diary. Hardika, known as Daksha at her young age, had a Muslim friend whose name was Zarine. Zarine s house was the only place for Daksha where she could found some solace and freedom. Daksha was fond of the Noor Jehan songs and she could hear the songs only at Zarine s place. Zarine and Daksha were good friends, but their friendship was not meant to be last forever. Daksha s father was killed by the Muslims in a riot and from then onwards Daksha started to hate the minority people. Infact she lost all her faith from her Lord Krishna as well.hardika or Daksha is a such a character who symbolizes the majority or the Hindus and their sufferings as well. JAVED Javed is a Muslim boy in the play. He is a young baffled boy who becomes a victim and a terrorist. The politicians exploit him in the name of Jehad, the Holy War. Javed takes training for the terrorist activities. He goes rather he is sent to a street where the Hindus live. The street is also known as Mohalla. The Rath Yatra procession comes on to the street and there comes many people who join in the procession. Javed feels happy as he comes there to work for the holy war. He throws a stone at first to the procession to create a chaos. He had the responsibilty of murdering the pujari or the priest of the Ratha Yatra. Javed moves towards the pujari with a knife in his hand, he gets mingled in the crowd. Though Javed has the responsibility to kill the pujari, he fails to do so. The knife fails down from his hand and he feels nauseous and thinks in his mind that what is he doing in the procession. This state of mind of Javed clearly shows that, though he is a terrorist, he has heart of a human being as well. Moreover he doesn t have the courage to kill a person who is innocent. Javed is not the actual murderer of the pujari, infact the knife fails down from his hand and he clearly beholds that someone else takes up the knife from the ground and kills the pujari. He becomes the victim of his fate. The charge of the murder comes on him though he did not murder. I moved to the chariot, pushing people away. And I saw him. I saw the pujari ringing a bell. There was chaos all around. I saw the poojari s frightened face as he turned away. And... I was in a carnival again on that giant wheel, screaming with pleasure. And I came crashing down, down. I wanted to get off but I couldn t! The poojari backed away, his last words were his god s name. He looked up at the knife in my hand as I lifted it 2450

5 above the heads around me. He begged for me mercy but I couldn t hear him at all! There were screams all around and I was screaming too, but no longer with joy as fear came faster and faster confusing me! I got nauseous and I cried, why am I here? What am I doing here? Get me off The knife fell down to the ground, the joyride was over. I couldn t hear noises anymore. I watched men, fighting, distorted faces not making a sound. And I watched someone pick up the knife and pierce the poojari. I watched while people removed a part of the chariot as planned. The poojarifell to the ground. The carnival continued. (CP, ) Javed talks about the police department who never arrest the main culprits when it is necessary to do so. He says that police always harass the innocent and common people and that is the reason the victims lose their faith from them. Mahesh Dattani through the character Javed, bringsforth the true nature of the police department who show negligence to the work. Arrest me? When they have been looking the other way all along. How do you think we got into the street? In their vans. They will arrest me. Don t worry. To please people like you. And a few innocent Muslims to please everyone. (CP,204) SMITA Smita is a girl who believes in liberal ideology. She does help her mom in her pooja work because she loves her mom but she doesn t personally support all the things from heart. Rather at one point of time she gets tired of her mother s prejudices and conveys her feelings to her mother. Please, mummy, don t try so hard! You are breaking me. Ever since I was small, you have been at me to go to the temple, make garlands, listen to you reading from the Gita. I love you, mummy, that s why I did that. I listened to u and I obeyed you. I tolerated your prejudices only because you are my mother. Maybe I should have told you earlier, but I m telling you now, I can t bear it! Please don t burden me anymore! I can t take it! (CP, 213) BOBBY Bobby whose original name is Babban, is a friend of Javed. Though he is also a Muslim like Javed, he doesn t want to show that off to the world and that is the reason he changes his name from Babban to Bobby when he goes to college. Unlike Javed, Bobby has a control over his temper and he doesn t react angrily in all the situations. He is the one who saves Javed from the Ratha Yatra procession and takes refuge in the house of Ramnik Gandhi. Bobby is the one who makes Aruna, wife of Ramnik, to understand that God doesn t differentiate between people. To Him all are equal. This is evident from the following quote, See, Javed! He doesn t humiliate you. He doesn t cringe from my touch. He welcomes the warmth of my hand. He feels me. And he welcomes it! I told Him who is sacred to them, but I do not commit sacrilege. (To Aruna) You can bathe Him day and night, you can splash holy waters on Him but you cannot remove my touch from His form. You cannot remove my smell with sandal paste and attars and fragrant flowers because it belongs to a human being who believes, and tolerates, and respects what other human beings believe. This is the strongest fragrance in the world! (CP, ) Bobby also believes in believing one another. He feels and says that if people believe in one another, then nothing can be destroyed. RAMNIK Ramnik Gandhi, son of Hardika, is a very liberal minded man and he doesn t support the communal hatred. He even gives refuge to the two Muslim guys in his house because he wanted to atone the sin committed by his father and grandfather in the past. He even thinks of helping Javed by giving him a job in the shop, so that he can earn his livelihood in an honest and peaceful way. 2451

6 ARUNA Aruna, wife of Ramnik Gandhi, is a typical Indian house wife who is a Godfearing person as well. She has spent her whole life in pooja path and she doesn t like to compromise with anything that is related to her God. She also believes that everybody has their own way to woeship God. She strongly dislikes the decision of her husband, the decision of allowing the Muslim boys to stay with them under the same roof. Aruna did have sympathy for the two boys, but at the same time she was scared of them as well. Infact, when Javed tries to help her out by filling up the drinking water, she clearly tells him that outsiders are not allowed to fetch or fill water in their house. WOMEN IN THE PLAY Dattani has always given importance to women in his plays. The women in his plays are sometimes meek, submissive, calm and cool in nature. Whereas sometimes they are intelligent, brave, courageous and protest when required. In this particular play Dattani talks about three different women who represent three different generations. Hardika represents the first generation, Aruna represents the second generation and Smita represents the third generation. Hardika,is also known as Daksha in the play, who has seen the partition of India and the communal tension as well. Hardika even talks about her father s dream of an independent India. Hardika is such a woman who did love the Muslims until they killed her father in a communal riot. Aruna, daughter in law of Hardika is a typical Indian house wife who is seen busy in doing pooja and household chores most of the time in the play. She even teaches her daughter to learn the works of God and the household chores as well. Aruna is very particular about her God and she can never really compromise with anything when it comes to her God. Smita, daughter of Aruna and grand daughter of Hardika is a girl of modern period. She believes in liberal ideology and she doesn t support her mother s activities from heart, though she helps her in all the household chores and work of her God. She loves her mother but at one point of time she feels stifled and expresses her feelings to Aruna. She requests her mother not to bind her with prejudices any more. She even did not have hatred for the Muslims as her close friend is a Muslim girl whose name is Tasneem. PATRIARCHY AND GENDER BIAS IN THE PLAY Patriarchy is such a term which can never be removed from the history of India. Patriarchy is inseparable from the Indian society. Almost all the families in the Indian society are run by the male members of the family and hence they dominate on the family as well. The head of the family usually holds immense power and he exercises certain rules and regulations in the family. The rules must be followed by each and every member of the family especially the female members of the family are bound to obey all the rules.the freedom of choice is hardly given to the members of the family especially to the female members. The head of the family usually takes all the important and trivial decisions in the family and he expects everyone to obey his decision. Mahesh Dattani mainly speaks about gender bias in almost all his plays.final Solutionsis one such play that not only speaks about the communal tension but it showcases the patriarchal hegemony and sufferings of a woman as well. Daksha also known as Hardika in the play, gets married to a guy namely Hari at a very tender age. Daksha s name is also changed after she comes to her in laws house. Hardikais the new given to her which matches with the name of her husband. Daksha is not allowed to take education, she is not allowed to listen to her favourite Noor Jehansongs. She becomes a typical Indian housewife after her marriage who is not allowed to step out of the house without covering her head. Daksha writes everything in her diary. Diary acts as a symbol throughout the play as it is present in Daksha and Hardika s life from the past till the present. Diary is not just an object or entity in her 2452

7 life, but it is her best friend where she writes down each and everyting that happens in her life. She shares all those things which she cant share with anyone else as she did not have any friends in her new house. She feels bad as all her dreams are shattered after marriage. She says, All my dreams have been shatterd... I can never be a singer, like Noor Jehan. Hari s family is against my singing film songs. His parents heard me humming a love song to Hari last night. And this morning they told him to tell me... (CP, 166) Mahesh Dattani has made use of irony in the play. The setting of the play is during the time when India received its independence. Daskha exactly got married with Hari at that period. Dattani has tried to show here in the play, that, at one side independence or freedom is achieved by India but on the other side Daksha loses her freedom. She loses her freedom of singing, humming songs to her husband and she even loses the freedom of dreaming in life. She leads her life like a bird in the cage with shackles in the legs. Daksha gets befriended with a Muslim girl whose name is Zarine. She did visit Zarine s house as well because there she could get some freedom; freedom to breath properly, freedom to talk and she even did listen to her favourite Noor Jehan songs which she is not allowed to listen to her in laws house, but unfortunately, her destiny did not allow her to have this freedom also anymore. She was deprived from going to Zarine s house as her in laws accused her of eating together with Zarineand her family. The accuasation is totally fake which Daksha understands well. They just wanted her to stop going to her friends house somehow. Hari, her husband, hits her for meeting Zarine at her house as she is a Muslim girl. He also shows his anger because she did not take his permission before going to her Muslim friend s house. Daksha protests with anger and asks her husband not to hit her. She even says that she has not taken food with Zarine but her husband doesn t believe to her words. She pleads him to leave her alone and also promises him that she would not to go to Zarine s house again in life. Ah! Don t hit me! (Angrily.) Don t do that! I swear I didn t eat anything! Aah! Stop that! Stop it! All right. I won t go there again. Please leave me alone. (Crying.) Please! Stop! (Lies on the floor sobbing.) (Collected Plays,222) Daksha had a tough living after this incident. She could not match anymore with her husband Hari, the only thing that did match are the two names Hardikaand Hari. Daksha becomes the victim of male dominance and she represents a woman who is imprisoned or tied with shackles inside the house in an independent country like India. CONCLUSION Mahesh Dattani sfinal Solutions is a problem play that talks about the socio-political aspects of a society in India. Two different types of community live in India, one is the majority and the other one is the minority. Each of the communities has hatred for each other and the reason of the hatred is actually silly and baseless. God is one and the same but people do fight on God and each and everyone claims that God is mine, God is ours, whereas God loves everyone like parents love all the children, if there is more than one child in a family. Dattani, the playwright, has shown the true colours of the politicians and the police department very well through his play. The politicians force the innocent people to work for them in the name of religion. Javed in the play, has been shown as such a character who works for the politicians who did brainwash him in the name of Jehad, The 2453

8 Holy War. Like Javed, there are many people who become the puppets in the hands of the politicians and later suffer like anything as they become the victims. Dr. Dipti Agrawal says that Dattani has made use of the mob or the chorus as a stylistic device to enhance the presentation of Hindu and Muslim people in the play. She also says that Daksha s diary ascertains the history of division, the sense of us and them, the one and other by linking personal experience with the political and social hatred. We all must understand each other and must stop hating each other as well. It is the responsibility of people of India, to make it a secular country in the true and real sense. The conflict of the minds must be stopped first, then only the conflict or the fight that takes place outside can be stopped. Dattani also focusses on patriarchal hegemony and gender bias, which is the other side of the play. He has tried to show with the help of the character Daksha, that, gender bias and sufferings of women have not totally swept away from India. Though India has got its independence or freedom, the Indian women in most of the families, still live like caged birds with shackles in the legs. India shall receive its true independence or freedom only on the day when women will be receiveing their due respect and freedom. Also, the people must start loving and accepting each other, rather than hating and misunderstanding. WORK CITED 1. Collected Plays, Penguin Books India,2000, New Delhi. 2. Dr. Agarwal Beena, Mahesh Dattani s Plays, A New Horizon in Indian Theatre, Book Enclave, Jaipur, India. 3. Dr. Singh Kumar Pramod, Social Maladies in the Works of Mahesh Dattani, A Critical Assessment, Sarup Book Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. 4. Dr. Parmar Bipinkumar, Dramatic World of Mahesh Dattani : Voices and Visions, Aadi Publications, Jaipur, India. 5. Dr. Agrawal Dipti, The Plays of Mahesh Dattani, A Study In Thematic Diversity And Dramatic Technique, Discovery Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi

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