CHAPTER VII WAITING FOR THE MAHATMA: DIALECTICAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHYSICAL LOVE AND IDEALIST GANDHIAN PHILOSOPHY

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1 CHAPTER VII WAITING FOR THE MAHATMA: DIALECTICAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHYSICAL LOVE AND IDEALIST GANDHIAN PHILOSOPHY R.K. Narayan s Waiting for the Mahatma (1955) portrays the hectic activities of the Indian Freedom movement. It is India of the 40 s that novelist seeks to presents. The events, preceding the Quit India movement and the movement s powerful impact leading to India s independence, have been presented by the author. The events like the atrocities of the police on the innocent Satyagrahies, the Jail Bharo movements, the growing love of the Swadeshi goods in the form of bonfire of foreign goods, people s generous donation for the welfare of Harijans,Subhash Boss message and his clarion call to join I.N.A. shake average Indian s consciousness. The events stir the inner chords of all patriotic Indians. The essential condition of the twentieth century Indian novelist was his concerned involvement with the destiny of the country. The independence movement in India was not merely a political struggle but an all pervasive emotional experience for all Indians in the nineteen-twenties and thirties. No Indian writer, writing in those decades or writing about them, could avoid reflecting the upsurge in his work. Thus, many of the English novels written in India in the twentieth century also deal with this national experience, either directly or indirectly as significant public background to personal narrative. This was an experience that was national in nature. It traversed the boundaries of language and community and since Indo-Anglian novels aim at a pan-indian set readership; this unifying experience has served to establish Indo-Anglian writing as an integrated part of Indian literature. A great national experience generally serves as a grand reservoir of literary material which can assume significance beyond mere historical reality. cxxxiv

2 Independence movement in India was an emotional as well as an ideological experience spread over a much larger period of time than any other nationalist revolution in world history. The nationalist movement itself was not a single movement but a combination of many forces sometimes working together and sometimes in contrary directions. The Gandhian ideology may have been the prime mover but along with it there were leftist, the terrorist, and the revolutionary parties working towards the same end through different means. The Gandhian way itself has different implications for different people. For some, it was a philosophy of life; for others, an expedient strategy in achieving freedom. Some people turned Gandhi into a saint and his teachings into quasi-religious dogma. The ideals of different parties often come into conflict and the men who matured during these eventful decades felt the pull of different ideologies and sometimes shifted their loyalties from one to another. Those were years of heady actions and simultaneous happening of a wide variety of events blurred and confused the basic issue. Any novelist dealing with these turbulent years had to impose an order upon the splendid chaos and thus discern a pattern in it to illuminate the human situation. Indo-Anglian fictions, particularly the fictions of thirties are immensely influenced by the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi, who fought for the cause of the underprivileged classes, the have-nots and the downtrodden, the marginalized and the defenseless. Apart from the many other things, these writers have mirrored the various incidents and happenings of the life and activities of Mahatma Gandhi in particular and contemporary social political, economic and religious upheavals in general. But their works are not simply the collections of historical facts or events; they are highly literary. It is to be noted that one of the prime duties of great writer is to present the society and its various influences in his art, or his work may be morbidly called fin de siècle if it fails to portray the spirit of the age. Allen Walter has given definition of good writers in Reading a Novel as, good writers: cxxxv

3 are so to speak mediumistic to the deeper stirring of life of their time while they are still unknown to, or at any rate unsuspected by the public, politicians and current received opinion Contemporary novels are the mirror of the age, but a very special kind of mirror, a mirror that reflects not merely the external features of the age but also its inner face, its nervous system, coursing of the blood and conflicts which sway it. (18-19) Literature and society are interwoven both internally and externally as they are two sides of the same coin because the writer is part and parcel of society. So, he is bound to reflect the zeitgeist or the spirit of the age. W.H. Hudson rightly holds the view in An Introduction to the Study of Literature that: literature is the vital record of what men have seen in life, what they have experienced of it, what they have thought and felt about those aspects of it which have the most immediate and enduring interest for all of us. It is, thus, fundamentally an expression of life through the medium of language... Man, as we are often reminded, is a social animal; and he is thus by the actual constitution of his nature unable to keep his experience, observations, ideas, emotions, fancies, to himself, but is on the contrary under stress of a constant desire to impart them to those about him.(10) This is what the novelists of the Gandhian era did in their works which clearly reveal the fact that though they beautifully portray the contemporary movements; they are never devoid of the aesthetic functions of a great work of art. As a matter of fact, however rich and honest descriptions of an event may be, it has no permanent significance in a piece of work of art unless it is woven into the fabric of art. One of salient features of Gandhian literature is the simplicity and clarity of language as Mahatma Gandhi strongly believed in the dictum simple living and high thinking; perhaps this is why the writers of this age discarded ornateness, artificiality and laborious artistry in their language. Critics of Indo-Anglian novels generally regard R.K. Narayan as a pure novelist to distinguish him from Mulkraj Anand and Raja Rao, both of whom are considered to be committed to certain ideas. For example, William Walsh finds pure cxxxvi

4 and disinterested art in Narayan s novels (22). For Srinivasa Iyengar, Narayan is a man of letters pure and simple (358). Meenakshi Mukherjee implies the same when she places Narayan in the much misunderstood category of the non-committed writers whose achievement depends on his capacity to remain uninvolved (22); P.S. Sundaramalso tends to believe that at a time, when the country was preoccupied with getting rid of the British, Narayan wrote his stories as if Malgudi was the centre of the universe, and the domestic occurrences in the middle class family to extent they impinged on a school boy or an undergraduate where all that mattered (139). Narayan s admirers have tended to praise him for the above qualities, for his detractors have found him a superficial writer, a mere storyteller, nothing less and seldom more. David McCutchion thinks Narayan deals with quaintness without any sense of the real world. According of V.S Naipaul, Narayan leaves out much that is overwhelming of Indian reality and says that there is a contradiction in Narayan between his form, which implies concern and his attitude which denies it (228). It is arguable that to a considerable extent Narayan himself is responsible for creating his image of being uninvolved with political and social issues of his time. For example, in an article The Fiction Writers in India, Narayan remarked that during the period of nationalist struggle the subject matter of fiction became inescapably political the mood of comedy, the probing of psychological factors, the crisis in the individual soul and its resolution, and above all the detached observations, which constitute the stuff of fiction, were forced into the background (360). After independence, however, the writer in India, he continues, hopes to express through his novels and stories the way of life of the group of people with whose psychology and background he is most familiar (360). The above statement gives the impression of Narayan s discomfiture as an artist with politics becoming the subject-matter of the fiction during thirties. However, Narayan s own career as a newspaper reporter for a propagandist paper called The Justice is at variances with his statement. Entering the literary world via journalism influenced Narayan the novelist in a significant way. Narayan s writings in The cxxxvii

5 Justice and The Matrimonial Gazette may be regarded as his apprenticeship exercise for his later fiction. It is true that Narayan in his novels does not attempt to deal directly with social and political issues as such. He is more interested in variety of human experiences. Even in his newspaper writings, he was often accused of being too literary (Narayan, My Days 100). For, the editor was concerned more directly with the issues as such than with their human aspect. But the fact remains that the social and political issues of 1930 s and 40 s constitute a large part of the materials of his novels. It is generally believed that although the Mahatma theme attracted Narayan, yet, Narayan has nothing to do with Gandhism as a political idea. But to limit the Gandhian impact on Narayan only to his concern with Mahatma theme is to separate the Mahatma himself from Gandhi. If the Mahatma theme appeals to Narayan, it is obvious the Mahatma was also inclusive of Gandhi, who embodied his social and political thinking. Moreover, Gandhian movement was not only a political movement. But also, for the first time in Indian history generated and raised social issues. The ferment that Gandhian thought created, encompassed the whole social milieu and touched on issues that affected man as a whole in various facets and stages of life. More importantly it made Indian men and women aware of themselves. It is this sense of awareness that revolutionized Indians and made them seek their national identity as also their individual identity. It is Gandhian thought that brought the colonial encounter to the fore. It is this social situation created by Gandhian thought that Narayan like other contemporary novelist, found his subject matter. When Narayan talks of politics pushing fiction out, perhaps he means that politics and political issues have become ends in themselves rather than aspects of wider social issue. He does not mean that political issues would be forbidden for writer. For Narayan, end is art, but the spirit remains naturally political. He achieves his end through characterization but his characters derive their authenticity from socio- political scene of 1930 s and 1940 s in cxxxviii

6 India. His major preoccupation as a novelist is with this social scene. Although the social problems in his novels belong to the realm of manners and conventions, his characters are viewed in the context of and in relationship to these social problems. In an interview with R.K. Narayan, V. Panduranga Rao asked him, Considering your Waiting for the Mahatma, were you greatly influenced by Gandhi? Narayan replied, No. he was a rare man but I don t agree with his political and economic thinking. But- Truth- and he was absolutely transparent (81). This in short, sums up R.K. Narayan s attitude to Gandhi and his ideology. He may not agree with Gandhi s politics and theories, but he couldn t help feeling the impact of his insistence on truth, which is in fact, the basic mainstay of Gandhian ideology. Of course, the impact of Gandhian thought on Narayan is not of the same kind as it on Raja Rao or Anand for example. Subtle writer as he is, this impact is unobtrusive but clearly perceptible in Narayan s vision of life. His moral referent is ultimately Gandhi. The values Narayan upholds are Gandhian in character. His values include moral uprightness, truthfulness and other issues that cover man s life in all areas-social, educational, political and economic. He cannot remain ever isolated from the physical changes coming all over the country. Hence, there are extensions in Malgudi as well, with the changing times Lawley Extention named after sir Fredreck Lawley is renamed as Gandhi Nagar. In R.K. Narayan s novel Waiting for the Mahatma, there is a dialectical relationship between physical love and idealist, Gandhian ideology. This relationship is explored in the characters of Sriram and Bharati. Waiting for the Mahatma is perhaps the most ambitions of Narayan s novels as for as the canvas is concerned. The novel does not fit in the mainstream of Narayan s fiction. It is his only attempt at writing a novel with a national backdrop. The novel, though Gandhian in theme, has its two main characters Sriram and Bharati a young pair of lovers. Against the vast background of the national struggle for freedom, with the Mahatma occupying centre stage, the love story of Bharati and Sriram provides moments of tenderness, romance, disappointment, anguish and finally consummation. cxxxix

7 R.K. Narayan s thought was not influenced by Gandhian philosophy and politically he tried to keep neutrality. But it is also true that no writer can keep himself inert from the social changes of his times. So, we can trace certain Gandhian attitudes in this novel. Gandhian thought served Narayan as a referent for characterization. He believes that though circumstances and details may vary, it is personality that makes sense in any age. This explains why Narayan choses an individual rather than society for inspection. When we study this novel in the light of Marxian philosophy, we find that Sriram adopts Gandhian philosophy only for attainment of Bharati s love, which is ultimately materialistic in nature. Gandhiji always advocated celibacy, truth and emphasized significance of platonic love. For him it is an urge and enlightment of soul but in case of Sriram, love is limited only to the company of Bharati. The novel opens with Sriram attaining the age of twenty. This pampered grandson of a traditional loving Granny has hardly been exposed to the outer world. Narayan brings him into contact with Bharati in quite a casual way. Sriram is moving in the market to make certain purchases for the New Years day. As he approaches the market fountain, a pretty girl stops him. She is making collections for Gandhian movement. His throat went dry and no sound came. He had never been spoken to any girl before. She was slender and young with eyes that sparkled with happiness. (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 13). Naiveté is the essential characters of Sriram s character. In fact, it does not leave him till the end. It is reflected in his very first reaction to the girls request for contribution. He wanted to ask, How old are you? What casts are you? Where is your horoscope? Are you free to marry me? (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 13). He makes a donation of eight annas and feels drawn to her apple cheeks, curls falling down the brim of her coronet and large dark eyes (Narayan, Waiting for the Mahatma 1). He listens to Gandhi s speech and is much impressed by her presence on the platform beside Gandhi. Gandhi s endeavors for the cultivation of love and curbing of bitterness have an immediate impact on the love sick heart of Sriram. Gandhi makes a fervent for love and non-violence and says, When someone has wronged you or has cxl

8 done something which appears to you to be evil, first pray for the destruction of the evil. Cultivate extra affection for the person and you would find that you are able to bring about a change in him (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 18). Gandhi asks the people to ensure that they have no bitterness. Sriram searches his heart and strangely discovers that it is free from the evil of bitterness. He attributed it to his new found love for Bharati. Narayan shows no zeal for Gandhi and his proposed elimination of evil by prayers or by higher concepts of purity of heart. Rather his protagonist s eyes are fixed on Bharati. In order to remain near Bharati, he decides to work for Mahatma Gandhi. Their meeting is quite comical. Bharati is young but full of confidence and composure while Sriram is all time excited and jittery. In the beginning their meeting was full of playfulness and light banter, with Bharati all time teasing him. He piles up courage to unlock his heart to Bharati who is intelligent, outspoken and brimming with life. He is asked to seek Gandhi s permission and to give an undertaking to abide by the rules of conduct of a Gandhian. He gets extremely nervous and asks, What would I say when I speak to him? I would blabber like an Idiot? Bharati s impish report is you are already doing it (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 4 5). The earlier part describes the youthful infatuation of Sriram. His mind is so overwhelmingly occupied with Bharati that everything else in the world has no meaning for him. When Gandhi spoke of beauty it sounded unreal as applied to the sun and the air, but the word acquired a practical significance when he thought of it in terms of Bharati (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 47). The novel keeps alternating between two thematic interests. The private theme of Sriarm- Bharati relationship is co-coordinated with much wider and impersonal theme of the national movement. In the second thematic division it is the Mahatma that forms the central figure. Part one of the novel has more of playfulness and youthful romantic fervor enliving it. Part two acquires a wider canvas as the action spreads wider. cxli

9 Narayan s obvious intention in Waiting for the Mahatma is to show the nature and extent of Gandhi s impact on the average Indian. Sriram s character provides Narayan an apt means for the illustration of the whole process of this impact. Analysis of the novel would make the seriousness of Narayan s intention very clear. The plot is woven round the process of change in Sriram from the unruffled existence of a somnolent, directionless young man in Malgudi into a socially and politically aware and responsible Indian nationalist. His is not merely a young man s pursuit for Bharati, a Gandhian follower. His attraction for Bharati signifies his personal search for a frame of reference for life and Bharati is an agent for this. It is his curiosity about the fund-collecting girl that makes him ask the jiggery merchant who informs him about the coming of the Mahatma to Malgudi. Sriram s reaction to the news is significant. He suddenly came out of an age-old somnolence and woke to the fact that Malgudi was about to have the honor of receiving Mahatma Gandhi (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 14). At first it is not Gandhi but a pretty girl who attracts Sriram toward a net set of values, and to the end Bharati remains the goal towards which Sriram s life moves. There is no mistaking the fact that at the root of Sriram s nationalistic zeal there is no ideological conviction but an infatuation with a girl who believes in Gandhi s way. Yet slowly Sriram too comes under the spell of the Mahatma and begins to identify himself with the cause without really knowing its full implications. That the girl he has set his heart upon should be called Bharati that is the spirit of India may be regarded as symbolic. Sriram s initiation into the movement by Bharati, who is more politically aware than he is, leads to a situation in which romance and political idealism get inter twined in his mind. At first his involvement in the cause seems to be inspired by motives that are far from political, but the dividing line between the personal and the political in Waiting for the Mahatma is a porous one. The proliferation of the Gandhian ideals in the deep interiors of South India is seen through amusing little incidents that happen to Sriram but it is viewed through the consciousness of a rather limited person who cannot see beyond the immediate cxlii

10 present who can think not in terms of abstract ideals but only of concrete facts, the nationalist movement is seen entirely in terms of small events and particular situation. When Mahatma Gandhi visited Malgudi it was decided to lodge Mahatma at Natash s place, the collector, the custodian of the British. Sriram meets Bharati there, expresses a desire to work with her and asks her if he could see her sometimes at other places. Bharati insists on his meeting the Mahatma if he wants to work with them, he gets nervous and cold runs down his spine. He doesn t know how to conduct himself before Mahatma and to answer his queries. Bharati advises him to be fearless, confident and absolutely normal in his behaviour: after all he is not going to examine you like an inspector of schools. You don t have to talk to him unless you have something to say. You may keep your mouth shut and he won t mind you may just be yourself, say anything you feel like saying. He will not mind anything at all, but you will have to speak the truth if you speak at all.(narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 40). Ultimately he agrees to face the Mahatma and they decide to meet at 3 A.M next morning at Bapu s hut. Bharati s ultimatum is too unnerving for Sriram, If you want to meet me come to Bapuji, the only place where you may see me. Of course, if you don t want to see me anymore, go away (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 40). The novel presents not only a brilliant portrait of Mahatma ji but also of his philosophy and ideas. The views of Mahatma ji have been conveyed through his speeches, conversations and letters. R.K. Narayan has tried to express these ideas in a very precise and simple language such as was used by Mahatma ji in his actual life and such as was in perfect harmony with his personality and character. In his very first speech on the soil of Malgudi, Mahatma ji is shown describing his philosophy of life in the words as we have a system of our own to follow: that s Ram Dhun; spinning on the charkha and the practice of Truth and Non-violence (Narayan, Waiting for the Mahatma 28).On another occasion while talking to his followers, he says: Before you aspire to drive the British from this country, you must drive every vestige of violence from your system. Remember that it is not going to be a fight with sticks and knives or guns but only with love. Until you are sure you have an overpowering love at heart for your cxliii

11 enemy, don t think of driving him out. You must gradually forget the term Enemy. (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 77) Before leaving Malgudi he gives advice to Sriram for his self-development. He says, Spin and read Bhagavad Gita, and utter Ram Nam continuously, and then you will know what to do in life (Narayan, Waiting for the Mahatma 96). Gandhi ji s faith in the unerring guidance of conscience is expressed in his letter to Sriram. He writes, Your work should be a matter of inner faith. It cannot depend upon what you see or understand. Your conscience should be your guide in every action. Consult it and you won t go wrong (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma ). Apparently at the root of Sriram s patriotic fervour, there is nothing to suggest any special love for a particular cult, ism or philosophy. It is merely a young man s infatuation with a young girl who happens to have been brought up by Gandhi and believes in his ideology. Once, while going for a walk with the Mahatma, Sriram resents his presence because the Mahatma is in between him and Bharati and it is difficult to snatch a look at her as often as he wants to do, he says, I like to be where Bharati is (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 46). The whole tone of the novel otherwise is down-to-earth, unidealistic and practical. Narayan makes it a point to project the other side of the picture as well. For Sriram s grandmother, the Mahatma is one who preaches dangerous ideas, tries to bring untouchables to the temple and brings people into conflict with the police. Disturbed by the Quit India slogans of a group of urchins, the bullocks lower their heads and pull the cart into a ditch. The carter swears at them and remarks, These politicians, Gandhi folk they won t leave anyone in peace (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 71). Under the circumstances when Bharati does not encourage Sriram for his open declaration of love, he becomes still a more zealous follower of the Mahatma because this is the only way to be close to Bharati. Now he is an avowed follower and forms a trio with Bharati and Gorpad. When Mahatma s tour comes to an end, for the first time during all these weeks Sriram feels depressed and unhappy because the Mahatma is going away, he has come under the sway of Gandhi personality and ideology. cxliv

12 Sriram and Bharati embark upon a mission; in fact, they are going out to help the people who were affected by the famine. It was a grim melancholy undertaking however grim the surrounding might be, Sriram and Bharati seemed to notice nothing. They had a delight in each other s company, which mitigated the gloom of the surrounding (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 59). The delightful frivolity of Bharati is only a cover for her innate seriousness and sincerity. Her love for Sriram is not expressed openly; it comes out in her playful and impish remarks. She teaches Sriram to spin. Bharati could not resist her laughter when she saw his handiwork. She remarked, you will waste all the cotton in India and Egypt before you make your self a yard of yarn (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 65). Sriram reveals himself in the close physical presence of Bharati but he does not become lustful. The author keeps a tone of reticence and restraint in describing their romantic ardour. He slipped, he made her laugh; he struggled in the grip of unholy thoughts when she stooped over him, held his hand and taught him tricks (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 65). The naiveté of Sriram surfaces in his utterances as well as ruminations. Sriram felt, The whole thing is extremely false. She ought to be my wife and come to my arms absurd to think that she was just a Guru (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 67). The middle part of the novel has a shift of focus. It is concerned primarily with Sriram s activities as one of Mahatma s worker. The job of painting Quit India takes Sriram to the interiors of villages. Narayan never misses an opportunity to poke some innocent fun even when he is dealing with a serious subject like the struggle for freedom. Sriram s zeal for the national freedom is cut to size and is reflected in the slogan Quit- India written on the wall: Sriram dipped the brush in the paint and fashioned carefully Quit- India on the wall. He wished that he didn t have to write the letter Q which consumed a lot of black paint, all their armament being this brush and black paint and black walls. They could not afford to squander their resources in writing just a single letter. It also seemed to him cxlv

13 possible that Britain had imported the letter Q into India. (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 69) We can see that such trivial matters seem to worry Sriram more than any ideological conflict. That explains why he is temporarily and unwillingly, converted into a revolutionary when he comes in contact with Jagdish who calls himself a follower of Gandhi but goes his own way. As a matter of fact, it is the influence of Gandhian ideology, partly through Bharati that changes his whole life, bringing him out from the pampered and indolent adolescence to the world of sacrifice and struggle. During his visit to the interior villages, his encounters are of varied kinds from Matheson of coffee plantation to the shop keeper of Solur village. He is much discouraged by the cold response from the villagers. It is during this time that Sriram discovers some more realities of Indian life. He sees the timber merchants, who had rejected his proposals for supplying timbers to the British war purpose, have donated five thousand each for the Harizan fund and the war fund. He also finds people making fun of his writing Quit India on the walls. He sees that people are indifferent towards his advice not to hold the loyalists meeting or to sell or buy the foreign goods. And hence: he suddenly felt unhappy. All his own activities seemed to him meaningless. He as returns to the cozy isolation of Kabeer Street that would at least make one old soul happy. What did it matter whether the shop man sold British biscuits or Scandinavian ones or Chinese crackers or French butter? It was only a matter of commerce between conscious less tradesman and a thick skinned public. (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 83-84) Despite this disappointment, his conscience under the impact of Gandhi tells him to continue his work; your work should be a matter of faith. It cannot depend upon what you see or understand. Your conscience should be your guide in every action (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 86).Thus, the traditional spiritual roots hold him, since he is able to explore his spiritual moorings. Gradually, Bharati and Sriram develop a good understanding and she agrees to marry him. cxlvi

14 All through this, the fire of passion keeps smoldering in him. Towards the close of part two, there is a sort of fulfillment of his heart desire. Bharati pays him a visit at his lonely hideout. His pent up desire slowly overwhelms him; he sat beside her on the mat. He could see her heart palpitating. She seemed to be unaware of the feelings she was rousing in him. He said, I will be your slave. I will do anything you ask me to do for you. I will buy all the things in the world. He felt that any speech his moment would be sacrilege (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 89). Narayan conveys a natural ordour of youthful passion. At the end of this scene of overpowering emotion, there is a natural transformation in their relationship. Bharati is an emotionally different girl after sriram s passionate love making. He had never seen Bharati so girlish and weak. He felt a momentary satisfaction, that he had quashed her pride, quelled her turbulence (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 95). Bharati s exit from Sriram life for the time being brings a change in him.he has only a rudimentary knowledge of Gandhi s philosophy when he joined Jagdish,a follower of Subhash Bose who opposed his non- violent polices. He opposed his nonviolent policies, since he is co-opted into more militant anti- British action, with the consequence that he becomes a wanted man. In addition to demonstration, he enjoys the work of setting fire to half a dozen law courts (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 113), derailing a couple of trains and paralyzing the work in various schools and exploding a crude bomb. He enjoys these bouts only as relief in his lonely drab life, isolated from all human association (Narayan, Waiting for the Mahatma 114). His revolutionary activities give him a feeling of romantic importance (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 116). He does these things with a sort of misty responsibility having no fear of the police whom he sees as a remote theoretical body quite detached from him. He feels lack of direction and certain recklessness about himself. The freedom that he seeks for himself in destruction and disorder proves him false. When Sri Ram goes to meet Bharati in jail in disguise, she refuses to meet him because, Bapu has always said that it is dishonorable to assume subterfuges (Narayan, Waiting for the Mahatma 116). cxlvii

15 Through Sriram s terrorist activities Narayan wants to stress three important points, first, the unconventional activities like terrorism cut off the revolutionary from the public who are wedded to the creed of non violence, secondly; the fame and name thus achieved give one an inflated sense of one s self and one s role; and finally, the freedom gained through lawless action proves useless and shortened. Sriram has to undergo all these three stages of terrorism when put in jail; he realizes that he was losing his identity. He had lost his patriotic aim. He feels that but for Jagdish he would never have done things that he does not like to mention before a decent person. MeanwhileSriram misses the physical proximity of Bharati, who never goes out of his mind and heart. In fact, she is the prime motive of action in his life; his whole being acquired a meaning only when he was doing something in relation to Bharati (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 109). He is always obsessed with the thought of Bharati: But when last of the prisoner in his cell fell asleep and snored, his loneness came down on him and he became a prey to introspection. He was seized with a desire to meet and talk to Bharati. Where was she? Dead? Married to someone else? Or hanged in the prison? (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 135) Sriram s naiveté never leaves him. Even when he is languishing in jail and thinking about Bharati,he has grotesque ideas which are both ludicurous and characteristic of his nature. In his characteristic manner, he imagines that if he escapes from prison, his technique would enable all the prisoners to climb out of jail. But he is not sure of Bharati s reaction to his technique because she might insist upon going back to her cell, refusing to walk out of it unless they opened the gate for her in a right royal manner. She might spurn him for her labor; she was incalculable in her behavior (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 141). The love relationship is laced with a touch of amusement. The concluding part of the novel opens with India a free nation and Sri ram a free man after his release from prison. Sriram visited his photographer friend Jagdish. He is all eager to know about Bharati. He is informed that she was far away in Naukkali during the cxlviii

16 turbulent period of inter-communal fights. Sriram s pent up emotions come out in the pathetic utterances before Jagdish as; Probably she has no thought of me. Perhaps she has forgotten me completely! Sriram began to say something in reply but could not find the words, spluttered, remained silent and began to sob (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 157). Jagdish writes a letter to Bharati on his behalf and Sriram is delighted to get a reply form her, asking him to come over to Delhi. At their meeting, the marriage proposal is renewed by Sriram. Bharati, who has the dedication and determination of steel, as usual reiterates her inability to marry without permission and blessings of Bapu ji. Finally, in Delhi on the days immediately before Ghandi s assassination, Sriram is once again left waiting for Mahatma, now in a colony of sweepers huts. Significantly the title of the novel points towards the situation of crowds of Malgudi residents who flock to the Mahatma meeting on the bank of Sarayu, but this is not its only resonance. The romantic plot also depends on waiting for the Mahatma and it is only several years after Sriram s first involvement with Gandhi and his followers that this waiting ends when novel is about to end. More than just this although a version of the historical Gandhi is present in the novel and so waiting for the Mahatma is not an existential predicament like say, waiting for God, a kind of representational deferral is also involved. Sriram is close to his happiness as he waits for Bapu s approval and blessings for their marriage. He is enchanted but at the same time overawed. He was frightened of her. She seemed too magnificent to be his wife (Narayan, Waiting for the Mahatma 163). An image of Bharati is projected as we see her bustling along, managing various affairs with efficiency and ease. We see that many people have a talk with her. She spoke English, Tamil, Hindi, Urdu and God knows what else. She had a smile or a word for everyone (Narayan, Waiting for Mahatma 63). The last scene is for them, the great moment of fulfillment but also of trauma. The Mahatma in his benign manner talks to them. Sriram is in his old naïve self in his confession before Bapu. He told him that Bharati went away to jail, and there was no one who could show him the right way. At last, the great moment comes when Bapu cxlix

17 says that next morning he will be their priest if they don t mind. He says that he has been a very neglectful father. He assures them that he will come and present the bride. It will be the very first thing next day, other engagements only after that. Here is a moving touch of irony that Mahatma has a premonition as he suddenly stopped, turned round and said to Bharati that he might not attend their wedding next morning. He asks them not to put off their marriage because of any reason. Moreover, Gandhi tells them that they already have a family of thirty children who have been orphaned by the communal violence in the wake of partition. So the novel concludes with a possibility of their marriage. We can clearly observe that Sriram adopts Gandhian philosophy only to attain Bharati s love and to marry her. We can find a dichotomy in Gandhian idealism and physical love in pair of Sriram and Bharati. cl

18 WORKS CITED Primary sources Narayan, R. K. Waiting for the Mahatma. Mysore: Indian Thought Publication, 198o. Print. ---.My Days. Mysore: Indian Thought Publication, Print. ---.My Outlook on Education, Reluctant Guru. New Delhi: An Orient Paper Backs, Print The Fiction Writers in India in a special supplement on India in Atlantic Monthly as quoted in Srinivasa Iyenger s Indian Writings in English. Secondary Sources Hudson, William Henery. An Introduction to the Study of Literature. Ludhiana: Kalyani Publishers, reprint1986. Print. Iyenger, K.R. Srinivasa. Indian Writings in English. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd., Print. McChutchion, David. Indian Writings in English. Calcutta: Writer s Workshop, Print. Mukherjee, Meenakshi. The Twice Born Fiction. New Delhi: Arnold Heinemann, Print. Naipaul, V.S. An Area of Darkness. London: Andre Deutsh, Print. Rao, V. Panduranga. Tea with R.K.Narayan, The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, vol.no.1, June1971. Print. Sundram, P.S. R.K Narayan. New Delhi: Arnold Heinemann, Print. Walsh, William. A Manifold Voice: Studies in Commonwealth Literature. London: Chotto &Windus, Print. Walter, Allen. Reading a Novel, p.p.18-19, quoted by P.P. Mehta.Indo-AnglianFiction-An Assessment.Bareilly, Print. cli