Life: Just Beyond Your Reach

“Untouchables” by Mulk Raj Anand was published in 1935 during a period of caste systems, political disturbances and potential changes in India’s future. Anand was one of the first Indian writers to connect Punjabi and Hinduism lifestyle into English for the rest of the world to understand. He wrote about the day in the life of a sweeper and toilet keeper which is the lowest of castes. Sweepers are considered untouchable as they work in a polluted environment and are therefore thought to be contagious to all higher castes. He chose to specifically write about Bakha the oldest son to Lakha as well as his two siblings, younger brother Rakha and sister Sohini, and also includes an honorable mention of his deceased mother. The memoir is on the subject of Bakha and all his trials and tribulations that are associated with the lowest caste from betrayal, humiliation, accusation, racism and even a hint of family incest. While the author is convincing that life as an untouchable is dreadful it is a journal from one person’s point of view that can be bias as well show emotions to exaggerate a situation and promote feelings of sympathy from the reader. Anand attempts to help the Westerner understand life in India, but because it is one sided it may not be historically relevant. Some of the more optimistic themes that Anand attempts to portray are the birthrights or caste levels within each society and how they intertwine with each other. For example, Bakha’s secret hockey game with his friends of a higher class, he is considered an equal and this brings him a sense of self pride, but only until he carries the hurt younger brother, of his friend Chota, to his mother and then is cursed at for touching the young boy. He had a glimpse of the upper class and wanted to be like them but is brutally reminded he is the lowest class, a dalit. Given that he is the lowest class possible he is always looking for a way out whether it is through work, clothes, sports or religion. He idolizes the Westerners and dreams of being like them. “The consciousness of every child was full of desire to wear Western dress…most of the boys about the place were sons of babus, bandsmen, sepoys, sweepers, washermen and shopkeepers, all too poor…feeling the possession of something European was better than the possession of nothing European.” There were many desires and classes in India and along with the castes were very defined gender roles. The men had more power over the women in everything. Women were like slaves who were ordered around and could not speak their minds. They cooked, cleaned, worked outside of the house and in some cases were abused at work and in their homes. Bahka dreams of his sister, Sohini and what it would be like to marry her as she is perfect his eyes and due to the different castes there are not a lot of options for marriage when one must marry within their own level of caste. Within Bahka’s family there is also a degree of hierarchy which separates the siblings by gender, age as well as pride for their job as a sweeper which is reflective on their father. If they do not make their father look good they lose respect and are moved down the ladder which is what happens when Bahka plays hooky one day while his younger brother Rahka does the work. Not only is Bahka been disrespectful to his father he is also shunned from the family and becomes homeless. Even though he began with nothing, he had his family and now he was completely alone with no job, home or family. Anand’s memoir was an interesting story yet had a very emotional and somewhat exaggerated feeling to it. It was the worst of days for Bakha and as the day progresses he continually gets beaten down emotionally when he begging for food and the woman throws it into the sewer and physically in the streets when he forgets to yell “posh, posh, sweeper coming” Bakha is extremely poor and has to work cleaning the latrines and roadways, as well as beg for food. When Colonial Hutchinson from the Salvation Army comes along it gives him that glimmer of hope to continue on again as he is a survivor. As soon as Ghandi comes to his village there is a spiritual service where all castes are called together and no one sees the levels or distinctions in the excitement. There are Hindus, Muhammadans, Sikhs, Rathans, Abdul Gaffar Khan Followers, Indian girls, outcastes, as well as Europeans Ghandi gave people of all ages, race, gender and class a flicker of hope for equality. In the memoir there was an astonishing similarity to the Bible and the story of Jesus coming to Jerusalem. In the Bible the people spread palm leaves before Jesus as a sign of respect while in India they use banana leaves, they also are the same in that all the people came together quickly, dropping all daily chores and responsibilities. In the Bible Zacheus climbed a tree to see Jesus’s arrival just like Bahka did for Ghandi. Both Jesus and Ghandi did not look at classes or race, they taught equality, love and respect for the similarities and differences of each person. Yet Bakha does not fully agree with Ghandi and their stories are almost identical during the homage. Bakha thinks Ghandi is a fool and hypocrite because he wants to get rid of untouchablilty and yet says he is orthodox Hindu. Bakha seems to be confused like many Hindus and other religions are and this is not unique to only his story. While he struggles with a personal belief of Hinduism he does believe the flushing toilet will be his savior out of the untouchables as his job will no longer be needed and he will automatically move up. Although his day is definitely not a pleasant one, it is based on his perception of life and not necessarily what everyone’s daily life is like in India. A better life for Bakha is always just out of reach, whether it is the ladies getting in his way of better food or the men hitting him, he is hopeful of something more and this optimism is what keeps him going through his life of hell as a dalit. When someone reads this memoir they need to keep it into perspective that is it just that, a diary of a personal life story. There are many sides to a story and the reader is only given a small one day glimpse into a sweeper’s life. It would be interesting to read a memoir from different castes lives from the same day and what their views are on the same incidents that Bahka recalls, as well as their struggles in their daily lives as a different caste. Anand was brave to write this journal and it leaves ones speculating many things such as: what kind of praise or controversy did he receive over his honesty and views of the caste systems, gender, racism and Westernization of his country. While this story is one of great ups and downs and leaves the reader in awe that this is all happened in one day, it is only one sided and not completely true of the Indian society, more research needs to be completed before one can truly count this book as a cultural document instead of a story of survival and a life just out of reach to the dalit.

Bibliography

Anand, Mulk Raj. Untouchables. London: Penguin Groups, 1940.

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[ 1 ]. Mulk Raj Anand,. Untouchables London: Penguin Groups, 1940), 101.
[ 2 ]. Anand, 54.
[ 3 ]. Anand, 136.
[ 4 ]. Anand, 150.