Learning at Stations: Gandhi II

Watch the clip (Gandhi II) and briefly say what is parodied here.

- Gandhi’s non-violent resistance; here he’s shown as a criminal

- lives a luxury life (materialism); eats a steak(‘the holy cow’ -> normally he’s a vegetarian and lives an ascetic life)

In the documentary “In Search of Gandhi” one of the interviewed states that today Gandhi would grab a gun. Explain why he thinks so and comment on whether you think he is right.

The interviewed says that today Gandhi would grab a gun. So I guess he means that nowadays everybody would use weapons to win a fight or war. Nobody would even try to practice non-violent resistance because it seems nearly impossible to win without violence.
However, I don’t think that today Gandhi would grab a gun, because he was committed to his ideas of passive resistance and always tried to dispose them to revise their opinion about violence. Therefore today he would support his philosophy as well.

Gandhi – The Movie: Questions

5. Gandhi meets Charlie Andrews, the English clergyman, and they walk downtown together. What book does Gandhi quote from when they are about to met up with some aggressive white South Africans? Do you think that is unusual for a Hindu?

When they walk downtown together, Gandhi quotes from the New Testament. He says something like „Love your neighbour as yourself; Jews, Sikhs, Hindus..“ This shows that Gandhi was very open-minded to other religions, e.g. the Christendom. He also knows a lot about other religions and the belief of the people; so he’s able to assess the Christians. I don’t think that it’s usual for a Hindu to quote from the Bible, because not everybody accepts all religions like Gandhi did.

10. Charlie Andrews, the English clergyman, gives a Sunday sermon which supports Gandhi. What happens? Do you see any irony in this?

When Charlie Andrews talks about Gandhi and his philosophy, many people leave the ceremony, because they don’t agree with Andrews. However, there are also believers who understand Gandhi like the clergyman does. They stay in the church and agree with Andrews by nodding.

15. After Gandhi is paid a visit by a poor and starving farmer, he goes to that area of India and learns about the farming system that the British impose on the Indian farmers. Give a detailed account of what the system is and relate it to the British philosophy towards India.

- the Indian farmers are very poor, because their landlords take everything from them. 
- have no money and can’t pay anything.
- even don’t have food by reason that the landlords have taken the rest.

20. The end of Part One focuses on one of Gandhi’s fasts. What is the purpose of the fast? What components of spirituality are incorporated into fasting?

With his fasts Gandhi wants to show the British their failures and also wants to stop the disturbances. Maybe he also wants the positive effect of the fast (come to your senses) to devolve to the British.

1) Characterisations

The novel „Heat and Dust“ by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala is divided into two plot-lines which feature many similarities. These links can also be seen between the two main characters Olivia (1923) and the narrator (1970s).

The novel is about the narrator who travels to India to follow Olivia’s footsteps. During her journey she finds out many things about Olivia and her life with the Nawab and many things that happened to Olivia happen to her as well.

The narratoris an Englishwoman who travels to India to find out about her past. She’s the grandchild of Douglas and Tessie Rivers. From the very first she tries to adapt to the Indian culture, e.g. she’s wearing Indian clothes. She’s also studying Hindi which shows that the narrator is really interested in India and its culture. Although the Indians make fun of her and call her a „hijra“, the narrator tries to adapt to the Indian lifestyle, which reveals that she’s an open-minded person. She accepts the other way of living and therefore she is very tolerant as well.
Later on, the narrator gets to know Inder Lal, her landlord, and falls in love with him (at almost the same place like Olivia and the Nawab). When she gets pregnant by him, she first wants an abortion, but then changes her mind and decides to get the baby. This is the wide difference between her and Olivia’s story:

Olivia, a fine Englishwoman, is the first wife of the narrator’s grandfather. She came to India because of Douglas’ work, but does always have to stay at home with the servants. She becomes lonely and bored and feels worthless, because Douglas has no time for her. The childish and naive Olivia has no friends and seems like an outsider. Not until she meets the Nawab she changes her mind and begins to visit him more frequently.  The sensitive and emotional person (p. 29) starts an affair with the Nawab and gets pregnant by the Indian ruler. Olivia, who’s now torn between two men, decides to abort her child by making use of an Indian curative treatment. Later, she decides to leave Douglas and to stay with the Nawab who buys her a house in the mountains where she lives till the end of her life.
However, at the end Olivia is lonely again: The Nawab leaves to Britain and Olivia is on her own like she was when she was married with Doulgas.

Although Olivia and the narrator are two different persons, they have many similarities. Both of them came to India and both of them had an affair with an Indian man. They got pregnant, but only the narrator decided to get the baby.
Contrary to the narrator, Olivia never adapts to the Indian culture. She’s also unprepared when she comes to India and is inexperienced by it; in contrast, the narrator likes adventures.
However, there are also similarities: both women are very young when they come to India and both of them have to live with similar conflicts and problems, like e.g. conversation problems. Though, they resolve the problems in different ways, which results in that they continue their life in different ways likewise.

Gandhi-The Movie: Key scenes

1) Gandhi’s speech

In this scene Gandhi talks about his philosophy of passive resistance: Later the audience stands and claps, which shows that they’re willing to follow him.

2) Gandhi’s fasts

With his fasts Gandhi has a strong influence on other people: He manages to change the Indians’ minds so that they stop their fightings. This scene is also very important, because Gandhi shows that he would be willing to die for his belief.

3) salt march

In my opinion the salt march is one of the most important key scenes. Gandhi’s march has the strongest influence on the people, Indians and British. The British feel the dimensions of Gandhi’s power.

4) quotation: ‘ I’m Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Jew…“

This quotation shows that Gandhi was keen to create a community of all religions. He described himself as a Muslim, Hindu, Jew… to reveal that all peole are the same and there are no better people.

5) Gandhi’s funeral

The funeral scene shows the popularity of Gandhi. The masses of people who follow his coffin seem to be his devotees who followed his ideas even after Gandhi’s death.

6) assassination scene

The assassination scene which is already shown at the beginning of the movie, changes its effect on the viewer: in the end you feel with Gandhi, because you got to know him better during the movie. You know a lot about his great ideas and philosophy, but in a way, you can also comprehend the fanatic Hindu who kills him: Gandhi’s ideas have splitted the people which was possibly the trigger for the assassination.

Poem about Olivia

I loved you more than I can say
though I was lonely, day after day.

Time changed our minds and took our love,
distance and sadness were high above.

Another man, another change,
this was the reason for my derange.

Discrepance was hindering my life,
am I a lover or yet the wife?

I decided for a good restart,
which couldn’t cure my broken heart.

Now I’m sitting here alone,
waiting for love, but waiting on my own…

Plotting the Story (pp. 143-165)

Explain what taboo the narrator broke in the hospital.

The narrator visits Chid in the hospital nearly every day and brings him some food. Next to Chid lies a poor man, the „fruit man“ who has a broken leg and ribs what makes him unable to move. Therefore the nurses put a bedpan under him, but very often they don’t take it away which is very disgusting for him.

The narrator breaks a taboo when one day she takes the bedpan away and empties it in the bathroom. Everyone looks at her as if she had done something terrible (p. 145, ll. 20/21). This reaction shows that the Indians dislike her actions. She, a Western Englishwoman, did the job a nurse has to do. So on the one hand, with this action the narrator puts her culture and Western world above the Indian one. This lets the Indians feel subordinated to the British, which reminds me of the time India was a British colony. I guess also the Indians are reminded of that time, when the British were superior to them and took themselves for better people. Indeed, the narrator just wants to be helpful, but she does not think about the effect her actions could have on the Indians.

On the other hand, this section could be connected with the cast system in India: Hindus believe in the earlier life of a human being. A disease or some other sufferings just derive from what the people did in their earlier lives. Hence, those people don’t deserve help; but the narrator violates this part of the Hindu religion.

Although, it has to be mentioned that apparently the narrator forgets about that Indian „rules“, because she just wants to help the fruit man.

 

What role does Maji play in the narrator’s life?

Maji has always been a educational instance for the narrator. It was her who explained her much about pilgrimages and spirituality (p. 81, l. 12).

It’s also her who offers the narrator an abortion (p. 150, l. 26). She gives advice to the narrator and when the narrator wants Maji to stop the massage, she immediately obeys her.

So all in all we can say that Maji looms large: She is a good adviser and understands the narrator’s behaviour. Majican also be seen as a connection between the British and the Indians: She is large-minded and wants to help an Englishwoman.

Plotting the Story (pp. 127-143)

Explain Chid’s change.

When Chid comes back, he has changed in two ways. On the one hand his outward appearance has changed, on the other hand his inner life has changed as well.

The characters in the novel react very disparate to that:

The first time the narrator sees him again, she does not really recognize Chid, because he has disrobed his Indian clothes which made him once look like an Indian ascetic. Now she describes him as a ‘Christian boy’ (p. 129, l. 21). For his circumstances Chid became very quiet and it seems that he left all his old life behind, Inder Lal’s mother and Ritu included (p. 129, ll. 25/26).  The narrator doesn’t really understand why he has changed so much, he does not even eat Indian food. Chid does everything to not to get involved with the Indian culture anymore. So actually the narrator has to cook for him.

Inder Lal is very disappointed with Chid’s change. He always liked to listen to his stories and to learn from his knowledge about spirituality. For him it would have been better if he hadn’t returned (p. 130, ll. 5/6).

Maybe Chid changed his life because he was not able to live an ascetic life. It has always been very hard for him to live this life (e.g. he had to call home to ask for more money). Possibly this became too much for him and he realised that the spirituality and Hindu religion were just a pretence for him to live this life. Because when you see that he now looks like a Christian boy, it’s recognizable that he never really did it because of belief in God: nobody can swap the religion from one day to another.

Like many other Europeans Chid didn’t manage his life in India without help. His dreams didn’t come true which made it always more difficult for him.

In my opinion Chid is the best example for Europeans who came to India with many expectations which weren’t fulfilled. He failed and turned back to his old life as an Englishman.

 

Plotting the Story (pp. 103-127)

pp. 109-116

Examine the changes in Olivia’s perceptions of Douglas.

Olivia had always loved Douglas for his special character traits like his steadfastness, his solidness and above all: his strength and manliness. However, in Olivia’s view, his manliness has changed in a way and turned into an unmasculine side. Not that he’s not manly any longer, but he can’t get her pregnant and that’s what disturbs Olivia.

Maybe Olivia has changed her perception of Douglas, because she spends a lot of time with Harry and especially the Nawab. The Nawab represents a very strong man with much power; he does not have much power anymore, however he always tries to stand above everything. So we can say that he seems to have power…

I could imagine that the Nawab embodies Olivia’s view of ‘the perfect husband’ who can save her and her family. I would say that her unrealised desire for a baby is just the trigger for her doubts against Douglas.

Plotting the Story (pp. 90-102)

12 June

Inder Lal asks the narrator why she has come to India. From everything you’ve read so far, list possible reasons and evaluate them.

The narrator tells Inder Lal that she’s come because of her ancestry and her relations in India. She wants to find out about Olivia (who was her grandfather’s first wife) and her story with the Nawab. During her journey the narrator gets also interested and finally involved in the Indian culture. She becomes friends wih Inder Lal and his mother as well.

Maybe the narrator was not only looking for her ancestry, but also for spirituality in India. She tells Inder Lal that the Europeans got tired of the materialism of the West and with coming to India they hope to find a simpler and more natural way of life. This can also be found in her way of living in India: She does not need much for living; furniture and decoration is not as much important to her as to Olivia. The narrator also can’t understand why Inder Lal often feels ashamed before her because of the way he is living. She’s happy to have found a place where materialism is not the most important thing (like e.g. in England).

pp. 100-102

Why does Olivia so eagerly wish to have a baby?

Olivia, who has been lonely for a long time in India, wants to have a baby. Because her husband is absent for most of the time, she would like to have a baby to care about someone. If she had a baby she would always have a piece of Douglas at home, it would be with her at all times. Olivia sees another possibility in the idea of having a baby: It would give her lonely life a (new) sense and maybe she and her husband would weld together.

In  my opinion, the main idea of Olivia having a baby is to have more time with her husband. Possibly she thinks that Douglas would take great care about her and the baby; otherwise Olivia would always see the „little Douglas“ in her baby.

Plotting the Story (pp. 77-90)

30 April

Analyse what sort of treatment is prescribed for Inder Lal’s wife, and why.

One day Inder Lal’s wife Ritu, who is mentally ill, is going to have treatment. The Indians think that she might be possessed by an evil spirit and try her to get rid of it. The narrator, in contrast to the Indian miracle healers, thinks that Ritu’s illness can’t be controverted by such methods. She proposes Inder Lal to try a psychiatric treatment and wants to explain it to him. However, he does not want such a treatment for his wife. Inder Lal doesn’t like the transcription „treatment“.
pp. 82-90

Outline Olivia’s daily routine.

Olivia’s daily routine is nearly always the same.
Every day when she wakes up, she gets dressed and has breakfast with her husband Douglas.
Afterwards, when Douglas has left for work, she gets ready for the next step: early in the morning Harry arrives and takes Olivia to Khatm to the Nawab’s palace. She already got used to these morning drives and learned to like them. At the palace, the trio (which consists of Olivia, Harry and the Nawab) spends the day in the drawing-room where they have a good time. By and by the Nawab and Olivia became friends.

In the evenings Olivia, already arrived at home again, has a great time with her husband. Spending lovely evenings and nights together is one of the reasons why Olivia doesn’t tell Douglas about her daily visits at the Nawab’s palace. She does not want to ruin this harmony between them.