In custody, a novel written by Anita Desai, is about Deven, a Hindi professor in an obscure university in a small and gloomy town named Mirpore. Deven leads a rather uninteresting life with a subdued passion for Urdu poetry. Deven gets an opportunity to break out of his monotonous life when his old friend Murad, an editor of an Urdu magazine, asks him to meet and interview Nur, the greatest Urdu poet in India. Seeing escape from the disrespected halls of his university and a hope to meet his childhood hero, Deven agrees to devote his Sundays (which finally turns into a long break) to the task of interviewing Nur.
The acceptance to travel to the ‘luxurious’ city of Delhi to meet and interview the famous poet turns into a chain of never ending problems for Deven. In his quest to record the verses by Nur in Urdu poetry Deven uncovers the ugly truth about Nur’s life. Deven loses his hero to the circumstances surrounding an aged fragile poet, who has lost his touch with his art and innovation. The protagonist of the novel finds himself in complete shock at the sight of Nur's house, an aristocratic chaos of uncultured people with royalties of lordly food and vulgar crude servers and a shrewd wife who sees Nur as her legacy to fame. The setting is like a king’s audience hall, where the king has lost all his power to old age. Nur has few desires and even fewer get stated owing to his fragility. Deven is drawn to care for the poet (he wipes up vomit surrounding the poet) partially cause he mirrors the poets condition to the condition of his favourite language Urdu and partially as he attaches fond childhood memories of his father to the language. However, to Deven's disgust and horror, the poet seems to take pleasure in the unscrupulous audience, where the poet begins by glorifying the gatherings by his old creations and ends them in state of partial unconsciousness.
As things progress in a similar fashion, Deven realizes soon that he is now too deep in to back out. He is exploited monetarily and emotionally, only to result in interviews with little poetry or Urdu, but more sessions on the sick aristocratic lifestyle. In the end Deven sees his dream collapse while simultaneously coming true.
The novelist has brought out the setting of old India in a very real way by depicting the patriarchal society, the communal beliefs and differences, the dying trend of Urdu and the importance of technical knowledge compared to arts and literature. Including hindi words like kebabs, biryani, surahi etc also add an Indian touch to the text. Anita Desai has targeted the sexist nature of Indian society. She does this via firstly, Deven’s wife, Sarla’s dissatisfaction and secondly by the bold attitude of Imtiaz Begum. With Sarla’s displeasure from her mediocre lifestyle being displayed not to her husband but to the kitchen walls, the author brings out the male dominance of the society. Additionally, Nur’s wife, Imtiaz Begum’s demand for herself and her work is Desai’s way to support freedom and respect for women. While talking of relationships in the novel, the friendship of Deven and Murad is seen lost to selfishness and coldness.
Communal hatred and misconceptions have been brought to light. Deven’s shift to Mirpore and his choice of teaching hindi present the pressure of religion. The sniggering behavior of his colleagues and department head show how language can become the identifier of religion, community, nationality and even political beliefs.
There lies a symbolism in the novel, in comparing the state of Urdu and the poet. The poet’s decline, fragility and surroundings are a mirror to the state of the language sickening, mocked and disrespected in various community circles. While Nur’s noble living is like a façade to his real state, his glorification of his poetry is a parallel façade of Urdu’s status in India.
The education system of India is also seen as backward as it seems not to see a livelihood in the field of arts or literature (Deven’s students take extra technical classes to get employment). The undue advantage offered to students from scientific backgrounds shows how technology can be a threat to history and culture.
Though the whole novel portrays a descending trajectory of Deven life, it also shows his perseverance towards giving it a meaning. The protagonist of the novel goes from being in the custody of society as a hindi professor but Urdu lover to getting the ‘custody’ of his childhood hero, Nur. So despite losing the perfect image of his idol, Deven actually gains the truth out of him. This I see as a success coupled in failure. The novel sensitizes the reader towards many issues while being artistic at the same time.
Nitish Goyal
2009ch70149
How do you view the 'custody' of Nur to his second wife? He wants to publish his new work, but she wont let him, he is always scared of her, she has forbidden him to ever perform again, even when he leaves her performance due to ill health; she accuses and questions him. i think a major point the novel made was showing Nur's complete powerlessness in front of his second wife. He is economically dependent on her and is intimidated by her.
ReplyDeleteThe custody of ‘Nur’ to his second wife is symbolic of two things – firstly, the mirror image of Nur’s custody to Urdu’s ‘custody’ and secondly, the partially successful rebellion of a woman to this society. Nur has been depicted in ill health and at loss of audience. He is powerless in front of his wife. He expresses little desire for anything mostly due to fragile health and also due to her dominance. Imtiaz Begum fighting against the patriarchal society can be seen as the rising Hindi literature replacing the Urdu culture. So as Urdu is seen in custody of society’s urge to follow hindi, so can Nur be seen as in custody of Imtiaz Begum – a new rising.
ReplyDeleteI think, Anita Desai wrote this novel primarily because of her love towards literature. She wanted to bring out poignantly, the dwindling importance of literature in the Indian society (a trend consistent with the over all contraction of the humanities viz. literature, language, philosophy, music, and art) and also awaken the masses toward the issue. Through Deven, she portrayed how one has to go through the miseries of life just because of one’s love for literature. Deven was in love with Urdu poetry and did not earn much of a living teaching Hindi. Finally the point is driven home effectively, when the miserable condition of Nur is brought forward in the novel. Overall I found this novel a good read as it arouses us very sensitively; it was amusing at times, making its grasp on the reader. I agree with Nitish that it was truly an artistic attempt at writing a novel.
ReplyDeleteTushar Tuteja
2009CE10351
There are a few things that i would like to say about the novel 'In Custody'.
ReplyDeleteFirstly,one of the most emphatic statements the book makes is the way it portrays the 'custody' of all the characters to the norms of society and the rigorous daily life and how they battle against those ties and try and achieve their dreams.
Be it Nur, who is under siege from false admirers, and a dominating second wife, and he wishes to regain his lost glory, or be it Deven, who is held back by his duties to his family ans by his own fears, and he wants to be an Urdu poet instead, or be it Sarla, Deven's wife, who is caught in the web of household work and moral obligations as a woman, who wants to lead a comfortable and resourceful life, every character is bogged down by the bonds and ties of society.
The heightened sense of helplessness and despair felt by these characters, when their dreams are not fulfilled can be clearly felt while reading the novel. The way in which this feeling of helplessness invokes an instinct to dominate others is also evident.
Also i would like to add that the ending of the novel is another masterstroke. The way in which the outlook of Deven changes towards the problem facing him is highly inspirational. Despite the tone of the entire novel being full of despair and drab, the flash of positivity , hope and enthusiasm and the readiness to face the future - even if it is bleak and painful, is really moving. The plain and realistic tone of the narrative is extremely enjoyable. The way the author faces the bleakness and unpleasantness of life so unabashedly helps us to form a close bond with the storyline from the begining.
ReplyDelete