A REVIEW OF INDRA SINHA’s ANIMAL’S PEOPLE
There are those novels that work as a parable should. There are those novels that are bereft of allegory. And then there are those that live between these clear lines of definition and that is the key to their success.
Such a work, Indra Sinha’s Booker short-listed novel Animal’s People, is set in the aftermath of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. However, unlike much of the media these days, this novel is a staunch attempt to override the urge to sensationalize the horrors of the event while simultaneously being faithful to the reality of the difficulty in attaining justice for the victims. Animal’s People is the story of the struggle of the victims in Khaufpur (reminiscent of Bhopal and coughing) against the machinery of the powerful American industrialists. It is the eternal story of the underdog’s war against the master. David against Goliath. Luke Skywalker against Darth Vader. Man landing on the Moon.
But, before you can dismiss the novel as another heavy piece of factual analysis (something writers with mediocre imagination are indulging in these days), enter Janvar a.k.a Animal. The novel revolves around this seemingly tough but vulnerable boy of nineteen and hence gains its poignancy. Animal is born deformed because of the gas leak, and walks on all fours, thereby gaining his name and losing the normal stretch of human anatomy. Is he the stereotypical character who is “ugly outside but beautiful inside”? No. Animal is as much as an adolescent as the average male is. More so, he is unpredictable and intriguing. Animal embraces his handicap not through a cloying sweetness of character, but by alienating himself from others. He makes his handicap obvious before any one can feel pity or repulsion towards him. Sinha’s curious character leaves readers wanting to know more about him.
The novel, thus, is also Animal’s journey through adolescence; it is the celebration of his coming-of-age. Studying the nuances of legal procedures becomes as important as appearing macho to the woman of his dreams, rivalry in love is as important as saving a little girl’s life, personal anxieties and dreams are as important as attaining justice in a system designed to defeat the voiceless. The novelist stays true to this vision of life throughout.
Indra Sinha has provided the reader with a verbal extravaganza of a novel written in English, Hindi and French. There is a generous dash of every possible Hindi and English swear word and can therefore prove educational in this direction also. (When in anger, remember Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People). There is also the consistent attempt to tease the English language out of its upper class connotations in the novel. The People of the Apokalis (apocalypse), the Jarnalis wearing Kakadu shorts (Journalist and Crocodile shorts), the American Kampani (you are getting the hang of this game, I am sure) and other such maniacal contortions of language that Animal indulges in are not only the achievement of the writer but also the victim’s spite of the master’s language.
The novel is a promise of Sinha’s mastery over language and the intimate depiction of the adolescent; however, it is not his best work so far I believe. At some point, the novel seems to be spinning around a given centre of gravity and had it not ended where it ended, you may be compelled to wish it to end. The oscillation between languages, though innovative, could prove difficult to the monolingual. Sinha, as he caters to an English audience, tries his best to weave translations of Hindi and French into English in the narrative, but perhaps runs out of ideas. There is definitely scope for laurels in Indra Sinha, but it is very surprising that this novel should be short listed for a Booker. But if Obama may win a Nobel, perhaps pigs may fly too.
Animal’s People by Indra Sinha
Pocket Books: 2007
Rs 395
There are those novels that work as a parable should. There are those novels that are bereft of allegory. And then there are those that live between these clear lines of definition and that is the key to their success.
Such a work, Indra Sinha’s Booker short-listed novel Animal’s People, is set in the aftermath of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. However, unlike much of the media these days, this novel is a staunch attempt to override the urge to sensationalize the horrors of the event while simultaneously being faithful to the reality of the difficulty in attaining justice for the victims. Animal’s People is the story of the struggle of the victims in Khaufpur (reminiscent of Bhopal and coughing) against the machinery of the powerful American industrialists. It is the eternal story of the underdog’s war against the master. David against Goliath. Luke Skywalker against Darth Vader. Man landing on the Moon.
But, before you can dismiss the novel as another heavy piece of factual analysis (something writers with mediocre imagination are indulging in these days), enter Janvar a.k.a Animal. The novel revolves around this seemingly tough but vulnerable boy of nineteen and hence gains its poignancy. Animal is born deformed because of the gas leak, and walks on all fours, thereby gaining his name and losing the normal stretch of human anatomy. Is he the stereotypical character who is “ugly outside but beautiful inside”? No. Animal is as much as an adolescent as the average male is. More so, he is unpredictable and intriguing. Animal embraces his handicap not through a cloying sweetness of character, but by alienating himself from others. He makes his handicap obvious before any one can feel pity or repulsion towards him. Sinha’s curious character leaves readers wanting to know more about him.
The novel, thus, is also Animal’s journey through adolescence; it is the celebration of his coming-of-age. Studying the nuances of legal procedures becomes as important as appearing macho to the woman of his dreams, rivalry in love is as important as saving a little girl’s life, personal anxieties and dreams are as important as attaining justice in a system designed to defeat the voiceless. The novelist stays true to this vision of life throughout.
Indra Sinha has provided the reader with a verbal extravaganza of a novel written in English, Hindi and French. There is a generous dash of every possible Hindi and English swear word and can therefore prove educational in this direction also. (When in anger, remember Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People). There is also the consistent attempt to tease the English language out of its upper class connotations in the novel. The People of the Apokalis (apocalypse), the Jarnalis wearing Kakadu shorts (Journalist and Crocodile shorts), the American Kampani (you are getting the hang of this game, I am sure) and other such maniacal contortions of language that Animal indulges in are not only the achievement of the writer but also the victim’s spite of the master’s language.
The novel is a promise of Sinha’s mastery over language and the intimate depiction of the adolescent; however, it is not his best work so far I believe. At some point, the novel seems to be spinning around a given centre of gravity and had it not ended where it ended, you may be compelled to wish it to end. The oscillation between languages, though innovative, could prove difficult to the monolingual. Sinha, as he caters to an English audience, tries his best to weave translations of Hindi and French into English in the narrative, but perhaps runs out of ideas. There is definitely scope for laurels in Indra Sinha, but it is very surprising that this novel should be short listed for a Booker. But if Obama may win a Nobel, perhaps pigs may fly too.
Animal’s People by Indra Sinha
Pocket Books: 2007
Rs 395
Hey very well written..........witty,humourous and incisive.....way to go madame ..........
ReplyDeleteVery well written review Ma'am. It's humurous, witty and incisive at the same time. I would also recommend you to read The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid and The Middleman by Mani Shankar Mukherjee.
ReplyDelete