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Karma
Bi~ Kiislzwaii f Sin gli, 1950
Kushwant Singh (1915 -) An important Indo-Anglican novelist. Singh published his first volume of short fiction in 1950, three years after
India’s independence. Almost ali of the stones deal with rural and urban Indian life with its many contrasts: tradition Vs. modern ideas;
India vs. (post)colonial Britain and religion VS. secularism. Singh is best known for his humorous way of giving a political commentary to the social and behavioral characteristics of Westerners and Indians. Also, he has translated Sikh religious texts and Urdu poetry.

Pre-reading
1. Match word and definition: secularism sb verds lighed oxide sb oxyd (kemisk stof) ~rans’lucent ad] gen nemsigtig patronage sb riedla denhed in’different ad] ligegyl dig, ligeglad murmur vb mumle old chap ‘gamle jas’ dis’tinguished adi distingveret, elegant trimmed ad] klippet
Savile Row sb berømt skræddergade i Lon don car’nation sb nellike scented ad] parfumeret smoothe vb glatte
Balliol sb berømt col lege i Oxford umpteen ad] ‘hundrede og sytten’ koi hai indisk kom her livery sb uniform wire gauze sb trådvæv

Karma

The sum of a person’s actions which decides your future life and reincarnations
Destiny/fate
A power believed to control events decided before hand in a way that cannot be changed or control led 2. Try to explain the two concepts in your own words, and discuss whether you believe in any of thern.
3. How would you live your life if you belieVed in karma and des tiny/fate respectively?

Sir

Mohan Lai looked at himseif in the mirror of a first-class waiting room at the railway station. The mirror was obviously made in lndia.
The red oxide at its back had come off at several places and long lines of translucent glass cut across its surface. Sir Mohan smiled at the mirror with ari air of pity and patronage.
‘You are so very much like everything else in this country, inefficient, dirty, iridifferent,’ he murmured.
The mirror smiled back at Sir Mohan.
‘You are a bit of all right, old chap,’ it said. ‘Distinguished, efficient — even handsome. That neatly trimmed moustache — the suit from Savile
Row, the carnation fri the buttonhole — the aroma of eau de cologne, talcum powder, and scented soap ali about you! Yes, old fellow, you are a bit of all right.’
Sir Mohan threw out his chest, smoothed his Balliol tie for the ump teenth time and waved a goodbye to the mirror.
He glanced at his watch. There was still time for a quick one.
‘Koi hai?’
A bearer in white livery appeared through a wire gauze door.

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‘Ek chota,’ ordered Sir Mohan, and sank into a large cane chair to drink and ruminate.
Ontside the waiting room Sir Mohan Lai’s luggage lay piled along the wall. On a smail grey steel trunk Lachmi, Lady Mohan Lai, sat chewing a betel leaf and fanning herseif with a newspaper. She was short and fat and in her middle forties. She wore a dirty white san with a red border. On one side of her nose glistened a diamond nose ring and she had several gold bangles on her arms. She had been talking to the bearer until Sir Mohan had summoned him inside. As soon as he had gone, she hailed a passing railway coolie.
‘Where does the zenaria stop?’
‘Right at the end of the piatform.’
The coolie flattened his turban to make a cushion, hoisted the steel trunk on his head, and moved down the piatform. Lady Lai picked up her brass tiffin carrier and arnbled along behind him. On the way she stopped by a hawker’s stall to replenish her silver betel leaf case, and then joined the coolie. She sat down on her steel trunk (which the coolie had put down) and started talking to hirn.
‘Are the trains very crowded on these lines?’
‘These days ali trains are crowded, but you’ll find room in the zenana.’ ‘Then I might as well get over the bother of eating.’
Lady Lal opened the brass carrier and took out a bundle of cramped chapaties and some mango pickle. While she ate, the coolie sat opposite her on his haunches, drawing lines in the gravel with his finger.
‘Are you travelling alone, sister?’
‘No, I am with my master, brother. He is in the waiting roorn. He traveis first class. He is a vizier and a barrister, and meets 50 many officers and Englishmen in the trains — and I am only a native woman.
I can’t understand English and don’t know their ways, so I keep to my zenana inter-class.’

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Lachxni chatted away merrily. She was fond of a little gossip and had no one to talk to at horne. Her husband never had any time to spare for her. She lived in the upper storey of the house and he on the ground floor. He did not like her poor illiterate relatives hanging about his bun galow, so they never carne. He came up to her once in a while at flight and stayed for a few minutes. He just ordered her about in anglicized
Hindustani, and she obeyed passively. These nocturnal visits had, how ever, bome no fruit.
The signal came down and the clanging of the bell announced the approaching trairi. Lady Lai hurriedly finished off her meal. She got up, stil licking the stone of the pickled mango. She emitted a long, bud belch as she went to the public tap to rinse her mouth and wash her hands. After washing she dried her mouth and hands with the loose

ek choLa indisk en lille drink cane chair ah kurvestol rumlnate th gruble,

[ænke pile oh stable op trunk sb kuffert betel sb plante hvis blade og nødder bruges som nydelsesmiddel i
Asien
bang le ah armbånd suinmon vb tilkalde hail vb kalde på coolie sb kuli, arbejder ze’nana indisk kvinder nes afdeling i toget hoist oh løfte brass sb messing tiffin carrier sb frokostspand ambie oh lunte hawker sb gadehandler stall sb bod re’plenish oh genop fylde bother sb besvær cramped adj sammenpresset, mast cha’pati ah fladt, rundt brød sit on one’s haunches sidde på hug gravel sb grus vi’zier ah vesir: højtstå ende embedsmand barrister ah sagfører inter-class sb klasse mellem 2. og 3. klasse merry ad] munter upper storey sb øverste etage il’literate adj uuddan net, analfabetisk anglicized ad] engelskpræget
Hindu’stani ah hindi
(et sprog der tales i
Indien)
noc’turnal ad] natlig an’nounce vb annon cere ap’proach ob nærme sig e’mit vb udstøde

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belch ab bøvs (udtryk for tilfredshed) tap sb vandhane filling adj mættencie squat adj tætbygget bulky ad] tyk frame sb her: krop anna sb indisk mønt, charged adj her: fyldt minced ad] finthakket thrust vb stikke, skubbe bulge vb bule ud idly ada dovent, uden at lave noget jostle vb puffe, skubbe sangfroid sb upåvir kethed bustle sb travlhed breeding sb dannelse eminently ada overor denligt tickety-’boo ‘tip-top’ fancy vb være glad for! stolt af re’fined ad] forædlet

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end of her san, and walked back to her steel trunk, belching and thank ing the gods for the favour of a fihling meal.
The train steamed fri. Lachmi found herseif facing an almost empty inter-class zenana compartment next to the guard’s van, at the tail end of the train. The rest of the train was packed. She heaved her squat, bulky frame through the door and found a seat by the window. She produced a two-anna bit from a knot fri her san and dismissed the coolie. She then opened her betel case and made herself two betel leaves charged with a red and white paste, minced betel nuts and cardamoms.
These she thrust into her mouth till her cheeks buiged on both sides.
Then she rested her chin on her hands and sat gazing idly at the jostling crowd on the platform.
The arrival of the train did flot disWrb Sir Mohan Lai’s sangfroid.
He continued to sip his Scotch and ordered the bearer to tell him when he had moved the luggage to a first-ciass compartment. Excitement, bustle, and hurry were exhibitions of bad breeding, and Sir Mohan was eminently well bred. He wanted everything ‘tickety-boo’ and orderly.
In his five years abroad, Sir Mohan had acquired the manners and atti tudes of the upper ciasses. He rarely spoke Hindustani. When he did, it was like an Englishman’s only the very necessary words and properly anglicized. But he fancied his English, finished and refined at no iess a
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place than the University of Oxford. He was fond of conversation, and like a cultured Englishman he could talk on almost any subject books, politics, people. How frequently had Fie heard English people say that
Fie spoke like an Englishman!
Sir Mohan wondered If he would be travelling alone. It was a Canton ment and some English officers might be on the train. His heart warmed at the prospect of an impressive conversation. He never showed any sign of eagerness to talk to the English as most Indians did. Nor was he bud, aggressive, and opinionated like them. He went about his busi ness with an expressionless matter-of-factness. He would retire to his corner by the window and get out a copy of The Times. He would fold it in a way fri which the name of the paper was visible to others whule he did the crossword puzzle. The Times always attracted attention.
Someone would like to borrow it when he put it aside with a gesture signifying ‘I’ve finished with it.’ Perhaps someone would recoguize his
Balliol tie which he always wore while travelling. That would open a vista leading to a fairyland of Oxford colleges, masters, dons, tutors, boat races, and rugger matches. If both The Times and the tie failed, Sir
Mohan would ‘Koi hai’ his bearer to get the Scotch out. Whisky never failed with Englishmen. Then followed Sir Mohan’s handsome gold cigarette case filled with English cigarettes. English cigarettes in India?
How on earth did he get them? Sure he didn’t mmd? And Sir Mohan’s understanding smile of course he didn’t. But could he use the Englishman as a medium to commune with his dear old England? Those five years of grey bags and gowns, of sports blazers and mixed doubles, of dinners at the luns of Court and nights with Piccadilly prostitutes.
Five years of a crowded glorious life. Worth far more than the forty-five in India with his dirty, vulgar countrymen, with sordid details of the road to success, or nocturnal visits to the upper storey and all-too-brief sexual acts with obese old Lachmi, smelling of sweat and raw onion.
Sir Mohan’s thoughts were disturbed by the bearer announcing the installation of the Sahib’s luggage in a first-class coupe next to the engine. Sir Mohan walked to his coupe with a studied gait. He was dis mayed. The compartment was empty. With a sigh he sat down in a cor ner and opened the copy of The Times he had read several times before.
Sir Mohan looked out of the window down the crowded platform.
His face ht up as he saw two English soldiers trudging along, looking in ali the compartments for room. They had their haversacks slung behind their backs and walked unsteadily. Sir Mohan decided to wel come them even though they were entitled to travel only second class.
He would speak to the guard.
One of the soldiers came up to the last compartment and stuck his face through the window. He surveyed the compartment and noticed the unoccupied berth.
“Ere, Bill,’ he shouted, ‘one ‘ere’.
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cultured ad] kultiveret cantonnsentsb miii tærpost prospect sb udsigt o’plnlonated ad] påstå dig go about oh udføre matter-of-factness sb nøgternhed vista sb perspektiv master sb her: mandlig lærer (gl.dags) don sb universitetslærer tutor sb vejleder rugger = rugby medium sb her: middel com’mune vb føre en fortrolig samtale (for melt) grey bags sb knæbuk ser gown sb kappe the luns of Court advokatsamfund i Lon don bestående af fire juristkollegier Picca’dilly sb plads i centrum af London sordid adj trist o’bese ad~ fed, over vægtig Sahib indisk tiltale: herren studied adj indstuderet gait sb gangart dis’mayed ad] nedslået, forarget trudge ab traske haversack sb rygsæk en’titled adj berettiget sur’vey vb tage et over blik berth sb soveplads
‘ere here (dialektalt)

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in’ebriated adj beruset bedding sb sengetøj
Hvid ad/ligbleg pre’posterous adj uri melig, oprarende the King’s (Enghsh) overklasseengelsk yer your ruddy = bloody reel vb vakle toodle-oo ‘hej-hej’ bloaLed adj opsvulmet sa’liva sb spyt clear vb passere jet sb stråle dribbie sb savl, spyt

His companion came up, also looked in and looked at Sir Mohan.
‘Get the nigger ont,’ he muttered to his companion.
They opened the door, and turned to the haif—smiling, half-protest— ing Sir Mohan.
‘Reserved!’ yelled Bill.
‘Janta — Reserved. Army — Fauj’ exclaimed Jim, pointing to his khaki shirt. ‘Ek dum jao — get out!’
‘I say. I say, surely,’ protested Sir Mohan in his Oxford accent.
The soldiers paused. it almost sounded like English, but they knew better than to trust their ir-iebriated ears. The engine whistled and the guard waved his green flag.
They picked up Sir Mohan’s suitcase and flung it onto the platform.
Then foliowed his Thermos-flask, suitcase, bed ding and The Times. Sir
Mohan was hvid with rage.
‘Preposterous, preposterous,’ he shouted, hoarse with anger. ‘I’ll have you arrested — guard, guard!’
Bill and Jim paused agaixi. Tt did sound like English, but it was too much of the King’s for them.
‘Keep yer ruddy mouth shut!’ And Jim struck Sir Mohan fiat on the face. The engine gave another short whistle and the train began to move.
The soldiers caught Sir Mohan by the arms and flung him out of the train. He reeled backwards, tripped on his bedding, and landed on the suitcase. ‘Toodle-oo!’
Sir Mohan’s feet were glued to the earth and he lost his speech. He stared at the lighted windows of the train going past him in quickening tempo. The tail end of the train appeared with a red light and the guard staridirig in the open doorway with the flags in his hands.
In the inter-ciass zenana compartment was Lachmi, fair and fat, on whose nose the diamond nose ring ghstened against the station lights.
Her mouth was bloated with betel saliva which she had been stormg up to spit as soon as the train had cleared the station. As the train sped past the lighted part of the platform, Lady Lai spat and sent a jet of red dribbie flying across like a dart.

Comprehension
1. The setting: When and where is the story set?
2. Give an account of the events that take place, seen from Sir Mohan
Lai’s point of view. Use the following words: inefficient, dirty, indiffer

ent, distinguished, efficient, handsome, tickety-boo, anglicized Hindustani,
The Times, Balliol tie, whisky, firs t-class coupe, English soldiers, preposter ons, flung out, lost his speech
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3. Give an account of the events that take place, seen from Lady Mohan
Lai’s point of view. Use the foilowing words: betel leaf, gold bangle,

in keeping with Idi overensstemmelse med

coolie, zennnn, gossip, illiterote, ;iocturnal visist, belcli, red dribble Jh/ing ncross like o dart

Analysis and interpretation
1. How does Sir Mohan Lai describe himseif? What does he do to main tam the image he wants to sec reflected fri the mirror?
2. What does Sir Mohan Lai think of Iridia and the Indians?
3. What is his reiationship to his wife like?
4. How do the English soldiers see Sir Mohan?
What is meant by too rnuch of the King’s for them?
5. How do you interpret what happens fri the end?
6. Why is the story calied Karma?

Post-reading
Imagine that Sir Mohari Lai paid the class a visit. Make five questions that you would like to ask Sir Mohan. Let 2-4 students be Sir Mohan, and ask your questions. The answers must be in keeping with Sir Mohan’s character. You could also invite Lady Mohan Lai.

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