The Story of Two Enemies of Social Harmony through the Tale of True Friendship
Book Review : Dr.H.S.Chandalia
Bharat Sasne is a well
known contemporary Marathi fiction writer famous for his novels , long tales
and short stories. His long tales known as “Deergh Katha” in Marathi have
brought him distinction as an experimental fiction writer who successfully portrays socio-political reality
of his time without expressly projecting his own point of view. However, the
fact remains that there is a strong suggestive stream flowing through his works
of his commitment to the constitutional values of democracy, justice, secularism
and socialism. His novel titled Two Friends: A Perspective of the Third
published in 2004 has been ably translated into English by Vilas Salunke, a
senior academic who excels in translating prose and poetry both. His
contribution as a translator of Marathi Literature into English is commendable.
The novel Two
Friends: A Perspective of the Third is a story of the intimate friendship
of Manohar and Kaniphnath. The third friend who is also the narrator of the
story is nameless and could be treated as the authorial voice. His perspective
meets somehow the inclination of the author which is affirmed towards the end
of the novel where we find a wish list presented in the form of a dream
sequence. This type of ending was common in the realistic writings in India
during the post –independence period when the writers were putting forward a dream
of the country based on love, fraternity, equality and justice. Many of the
stories and films of twentieth century fiction writer and film maker Khwaja
Ahmad Abbas have a similar ending which is a characteristic of idealistic
realism.
The novel begins with
the third friend’s narration of the need of telling the story of two friends
and why he finds it necessary to tell this tale. His inclusion of his own story
turns into a meta narrative wherein there is a story within a story and the
teller himself has a story to tell besides the main narrative. He includes the
readers too by saying that “it is your story also”. This is true because the
issues raised in the novel are felt everyday by all Indians wherever they live
in this country. The two friends belong to different social categories in the
hierarchy of castes according to the ancient Chaturvarnya system laid down in Manusmriti
which is treated as a sacred text by the so called upper caste people and has
the support of the ruling establishment and the allied political parties. One
friend Manoharpant belongs to the upper caste while the other Kaniphnath
belongs to the lower caste treated as the untouchable. Their relationship has
not been affected by this difference and remains intact even after nearly sixty
five years. The families of the two friends also observe the same relationship
and have mutual love and respect. It is the outside society, organizations with
pronounced political interests and the failing state which bring about
unforeseen suffering and trauma not just to the two families but to several
others.
The central plot of
the novel is linear in which the two friends who are old now go for walks
together in the evenings, sit for a while at the Hanuman Hill and talk. Then
they come back. There peaceful life is disturbed by the doings of their
children. Gopal, Kaniphnath’s son is influenced by the progressive thoughts of Deshmukh
who is a self styled historian and believes that the history written so far is
elitist and real people’s history needs to be written. He does not believe in
Samarth Ram Das, a 17th century Saint who wrote Dasbodh and Maruti
Stotra. He is supposed to have been a source of spiritual inspiration to
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Gopal gets influenced by Deshmukh and starts
helping in organizing his lecture. This upsets the Brahminical upper caste
people in the vicinity and people like Vaman Rao try to dissuade him through
creating pressure on the two friends. Another sub plot that branches out of the
main plot is the innocent romance of Makarand and Jaimala. Makarand is
Manoharkant’s son and jaimala is Kaliphnath’s daughter. The two families had
strong family ties and the children too grew up in close vicinity. It is
natural that one starts liking the other. But the walls of caste are so strong
that they cannot reach across. Moreover, the problem does not arise between the
two families; it is imposed on them by the self styled leaders of the society,
particularly of the upper caste. They try to pressurize both the friends to
dissuade their children from entering into marriage in the name of high culture
and low culture. There are all kinds of threats even of physical assault. It is
interesting that they try to find refuge in a church and confide in the
narrator who is a Christian. The upper caste Brahminical people succeed in
dissuading the boy by promising him a beautiful bride and good fortune from his
own caste and this bait is enough to lure him away from his childhood love.
In addition there are
issues of a wall illegally constructed near the Dargah and of the conversion of
the poor dalits to Christianity. These are issues of contemporary importance in
Indian society. The individual’s right to exercise religious freedom and to
enter into marriage with the person one likes are thwarted by organized gangs
who impose their authority on others in the name of religious or caste
superiority. This false sense of superiority is deep rooted and is further
consolidated by people like Mahamahopadhyay, Vaman Rao and organizations like
Ranavir Sena. It is not clear whether such an organization really exists in
Maharashtra which is the locale of the novel but similar organizations with a
similar tag are there and have an influential position in the politics of
Maharashtra.
There is a description
of Hindu-Muslim riots in the novel though no clear reason is identified. This
is a reflection of the reality. There are no real reasons but communal riots do
happen. Similarly harassment of the dalits, minorities and Adivasis is a
present day reality which has been unequivocally explained in the novel. The
role of the state as a passive onlooker and sometime as an accomplice is also
seen in the novel. It is found that the common ordinary people who are not even
remotely connected to the cause of the conflict suffer the most. The novelist
has taken courage to underline this fact also through the statement of the narrator.
The characters in the
novel are typical characters. They seem to remain as they appear in the
beginning of the novel. Alice, Vaman Rao, Mahamahopadhyay, Gopal, Vahini and
the two Deshmukhs are caricatured in very dark lines with clear cut personality
traits while the characters of Makarand and Jaimala softly develop with fine
strokes of the creator. The narrator as Raddiwala is also a very subtly drawn
character who is the main voice of the chorus as it were. The red mark on the
forehead and saffron robes are suggestive. The novel is rich in metaphorical
expressions and powerful images. The broken window pane is a powerful symbol of
the fractured social fabric which does get wholesome despite many attempts. The
waving branches of the trees, blowing breeze, bright rays of the sun, dusky
evening and the chiming of bells symbolically express what is going on in the
minds of the character. The natural and the human world seem to be in a sync.
The best part of the
novel is its dialogic nature. Wherever dialogues have been used, the beauty of
the narrative has emerged. It has made the story livelier and the characters
appear more life - like. The descriptive passages through which the narrator
has often tried to unfold the situation have become rather monotonous.
Similarly there is no reason why italics have been used at places. Even without
the use of italics the flow of the narration would have been the same. The translation is flawless and maintains the
rhythm and flow of the original text. It is an addition to Indian English
Literature in translation and is an evidence that there are bold voices in
regional literatures which voice the reality of the country without fear and
malice of any type. The publisher Inking Innovations has done a good job in printing
and binding. The paperback edition is beautifully done and is priced
moderately.
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