Anita Myles
Behavioural Pattern of the Subaltern in the Plays of Mahesh Dattani
Today the term subaltern has acquired an extensive connotation. Initially the metaphor signified any subordinate position. In the present global scenario subaltern represents a variegated section which is isolated from the rest by certain yardsticks. For instance, racial subalterns are segregated on colour differences such as the Blacks of Africa or the ethnic subalterns who stand secluded due to their ethnic roots and are often found in minority groups. Globally the Jews fall within the periphery while in India the Parsis and the Anglo-Indians belong to this category. In India a large chunk of the society is discriminated on the basis of the traditional caste system, hence they are also the subalterns. For that matter women have been regarded as subalterns both in pre and post independent India. Quite recently attention has been drawn towards another group of subalterns – gays, lesbians and eunuchs who are often treated as ‘untouchables’ in a different sense. The eunuchs suffer psychologically as well as biologically while the gays and lesbians bear the brunt psychologically. Widening the horizon of the term we may infer that the old people, the working class, the poor and even the immigrants are visualized as subalterns.
All these groups categorized as the subalterns contain one common factor that they are socially ostracized and suppressed. They are the most ignored and neglected sections of society being frequently deprived of their rights and privileges. Literature demonstrates the plight of the subalterns sympathetically and much has been written about them pondering over the question why they are treated as subordinates when society benefits by their respective contributions in one way or the other. Moreover, they are also creations of the same superpower.
Subalternism, if allowed to persist, creates anomie in society because it hampers the natural growth of human beings by repressing their inborn instincts and imposing restrictions which, in turn, may lead to a state of neurosis and ultimate mental breakdown resulting in psychopathic problems for the community. Therefore, subalterns become subjects of psychological studies for writers who probe deep into the psyche of such characters, analyzing the working of their minds which can be both creatively positive as well as negatively harmful. While some characters are depicted as vocal against the repression, others shrink into silence which is “the ancient language of defeat”.
This paper focuses on some plays of Mahesh Dattani – two dealing with women as subalterns, two discussing the plight of gays as subalterns, and one dealing with eunuchs. An attempt has been made to draw a parallel amongst all these groups centralizing the study on the behavioural patterns of women, gays and eunuchs.
Mahesh Dattani’s play Taraportrays characters that suffer from repressed desires due to unreasonable bondages of traditions and very often are victims of the cultural construct of gender. In Tara Mahesh Dattani delves deep into the mind of such characters laying stress on their fractured psyche especially when they are living in an equally fragmented social set up. The play Tara revolves around the physical and later the emotional separation of two conjoined twins, Tara and Chandan.The surgical operation is manipulated by Bharati, the mother and the maternal grandfather as to favour the son,Chandan.The twins had three legs between them with the major supply in the girl’s side. However, as tradition required, it was essential for the boy to survive with two legs. Surgically the twins are separated in such a manner that Chandan has two legs while Tara remains with one leg. Fate had its own plans and Chandan’s leg was not accepted by his body resulting in amputation. Perhaps it would have suited Tara’s body better. Consequently, both Tara and Chandan have one artificial leg each. Later several physical complications arise leading to the early demise of Tara.
Chandan migrates to London for residing with his uncle Praful adopting the name Dan. Both Tara and Chandan knew the details of the surgery. Tara accepted decisions complacently with an attitude of compromise and surrender to the customs and traditions of society knowing that she was less privileged than her brother because she was a girl child. Dan’s later life became a burden for he was submerged in thoughts of his dead sister, the loss being unbearable – as if he was living without a personal history. The brother and sister were close to each other just like two sides of
the same coin. In order to overcome his sense of isolation and guilt-consciousness Dan decides composing his autobiography in which Tara naturally recurs as an essential character reminding Chandan how life was frustrating and lonely without her
Dan’s recollections of childhood are inextricably mixed with Tara’s childhood. Often he attempts to rediscover his neglected half, feeling incomplete without his sister. When he begins to write his first play memories flood his mind; he thinks his twin sister would be an apt subject. Dan finds himself in a dilemma while putting things on paper, emotionally he was broken for he was writing not only of his past but also that of his sister with whom he once shared a body. He craves for freedom which invariably eludes him. Traditions and customs have shackled him forever whereas any attempt to obliterate the memory of his sister leaves him disoriented and lost.
Through Roopa, a neighbour, Dattani narrates how Gujaratis would drown a baby girl in milk and then declare that the death was due to choking.Bharati, the mother of the twins is torn between tradition and motherly instincts to nurture the girl child in the best possible way feeling guilty of manipulating the surgery of the twins leading to the death of Tara.Bharati was aware of the emotional needs of her daughter and though Tara was physically handicapped,Bharati would look for her assets and would affectionately pamper her. Though as long as she was alive,Bharatiattempted to cover up her guilt by lavishing excessive love and affection on Tara, yet she dies having suffered a nervous breakdown.
Tara is not merely an individual character but emerges as an archetype, an icon of the Indian girl child who is vanquished and subdued in the mill of tradition and modernity. During her discourses with others she expresses her deep concern for the girl child. It is not only the mother who is terrified over the plight of her daughter but Tara, the daughter, realizes that her position as a girl child is underprivileged. When Dr. Thakkar explains the details of the surgery to separate the twins Tara instantly comments:
Oh, what a waste! A waste of money. Why spend all the money to keep me alive? It cannot matter whether I live or die. There are thousands of poor sick people on the roads who could be given care and attention, and I think I know what I will make of myself. I will be a career for those people. I...I will spend the rest of my life feeding and clothing those.....starving naked millions everyone is talking about. (370)
Actually, Dattani’s plays have been acclaimed widely for their social realism more so because he brings out the plight of the subaltern woman who is no better than a second grade citizen in her own country. As a playwright he has succeeded in portraying the innermost emotions and feelings of the women characters. Though society suppresses them yet they have a desire to make a mark for themselves.
Another play concentrating upon woman as the subaltern is Where There is a Will in which the plot hovers around the family of Hasmukh Mehta, a garment tycoon whose twenty three year old son, Ajit, is the joint managing director of this business enterprise. When the play begins Ajit is demanding a huge sum of money tomodernize the industry while Hasmukh disagrees with the proposal causing the argument to culminate on a note of discord. As the dialogues move ahead one gathers that Hasmukh is a self-made man and is slightly jealous that his son Ajit and daughter-in-law Preeti enjoy all the luxuries of life without much effort and remarks that it would be better to have a daughter rather than an uncordial son. While contemplating upon his life Hasmukh Mehta becomes reminiscent .He had married for the sake of a family, a son and now the same son is causing him myriad worries.
Hasmukh feels appalled when Ajit is patronized by his wife and mother and bursts out indignantly against the women in the house insinuating them outright for his high blood pressure and acute diabetes recalling how he labouredindefatigably to establish the business and by the age of forty five he was considered a great success while Ajit at the age of twenty three was on the road to failure believing firmly that his wife,Sonal, was responsible for spoiling Ajit. She wasted money on rich food which the servants also ate and had become lethargic. In frustration, Hasmukh began eating out spending time with his mistress who was a shrewd marketing executive.Eventually, high blood pressure and diabetes resulted in Hasmukh’s premature death.
To everyone’s shock and surprise Mehta’s Will surfaces in which he had ignored his family by creating a Trust with KiranJhaveri, his mistress as the trustee. The Trust could be dissolved only when Ajit turns forty five and then could manage the finances
independently. Kiran has been made the director of Mehta’s company, so she moves into the house of Hasmukh Mehta with the determination to operate suitably and efficiently as the trustee. It is revealed that Kiran’s husband was an excise inspector addicted to drinking and was turned out of job for selling empty liquor bottles with foreign labels. Kiran got sufficient wine for her husband from Hasmukh while he enjoyed frolicking with her.
In the conversation amongst Preeti, Sonal and Kiran disclosure comes that there are allowances allocated for Preeti and Sonal while Ajit has to undergo a training programme. Kiran moves into Sonal’s bedroom where the two discuss a lot of things as they settle their lives. Hasmukh rightly anticipated that Kiran was an intelligent woman who could transform his wife and daughter-in-law because he desired the two women to act as he wished, not prepared to grant them freedom of any sort, for he believed himself to be right in everything. While alive he wielded power as a dominating head of the family and now after his death he holds the reigns of power over the family and the business through Kiran Jhaveri.
Kiran shares much about her life with Sonal especially how she managed her work, her house, her husband and also the life of HasmukhMehta.Sonal thinks that Kiran is so successful because she is educated but Kiran narrates how the bitter experiences of life taught her to be independent and practical. To quote her,
I learnt my lessons by being so close to life. I learnt my lesson from watching my mother tolerating my father when he came home everyday with bottles of rum wrapped in newspapers. As I watched him beating her up and calling her names! I learnt what life was when my mother pretended she was happy in front of me and my brothers, so that we wouldn’t hate my father....Yes Mrs. Mehta. My father, your husband – they were weak men with false strength. (508)
When her drunkard father beats her mother she realized that most men were weak with a false strength which comes either from wine or money.Kiran led a traumatic married life with her drunkard husband but was regarded highly by Hasmukh because of her ability to advise him competently in business affairs thereby making him dependent on her. In the company of Kiran, Sonal realizes her mistake that she should also have learnt to be independent and self-confident. All along she had subsisted in the shadow of her sister Minal thereby forfeiting the power of thinking and acting independently. Now she decides to be on her own.
The use of the word ‘Will’ in the title has a dual meaning. It signifies a legal document which Hasmukh had prepared with a view to control his family even after his death .This word ‘Will’ also denotes the desire and the willpower to stand on one’s feet as in the case Kiran, Sonal and Preeti.The ‘Will’ of Hasmukh Mehta symbolizes dominance whereas for the women it represents liberation from the shackles of male domination which they can get by shrewdness and intelligence. In the beginning of the play the women are shown as docile and passive subalterns whereas later they earn their freedom by astute determination.
These two plays: Tara and Where There is a Will disclose the comprehensive and progressive view of the dramatist vis-à-vis women as subaltern. Tara depicts the defeat of women succumbing peevishly to the pressures of patriarchal superiority whereas in the second play, the dramatist initially divulges suppression of women but later exhibits progression because the women become conscious of their exploitation and begin to utilize their capabilities to fight against exploitation and injustices.
In On a Muggy Night in Mumbai, Mahesh Dattani dares to be vocal about a group of subalterns who are normally reprehended with aversion in society, that is the ‘gays’. This is the first play by an Indian dramatist to handle openly gay themes of love, partnership trust and betrayal. Kamlesh, a gay betrayed by his partner Prakash alias Ed gets heartbroken. Moving from Bangalore to Mumbai, he begins living in the flat of Sharad and develops a gay relationship with him. Both Prakash and Kamlesh feel ashamed of being gays because they are misfits in the Indian society and Kamlesh hints time and again how he misses his parents and sister, Kiran.
Eventually Kamlesh visits a psychiatrist for the treatment of depression which has gripped him inextricably who advises him to reject homosexuality and to reorient himself because the Indian society will never approve of such relationships as it is difficult to change deep rooted social norms. Even after the treatment Kamlesh experiences poignant anxiety, fear and loneliness acknowledging that many times he brings home strangers who might help him overcome this sense of isolation. At a small party organized at Sharad’ sflat, friends advise Kamlesh to enter matrimony as a camouflage and then to continue his gay activities fearlessly.Ranjit confesses that he has done the same for the last twelve years but that was possible because he lived in U.K. Bunny, a gay T.V.actor claims that he is happily married and proudly declares that he cares for his wife and family more than a heterosexual would do opining that people should not be categorized as ‘gay’ or ’straight’ or ’bi’.They should be given freedom which is not possible in India.Ranjit advises him to go abroad. Then the following conversation ensues:
Bunny: You can leave the country, but you can never run away from being brown. You are ashamed of being an Indian.
Ranjit: That’s really rich coming from a closet homosexual like you! Yes I am sometimes regretful of being an Indian, because I can’t seem to be both Indian and gay. But you are simply ashamed. All this sham is to cover up your shame.(88)
Here Bunny raises an ethnic issue, another kind of sub-alternism, that in a foreign land it is difficult to be accepted as an Indian and a gay both at the same time.
Deepali visualizes the situation from a different angle claiming that the basic question is not of shame and guilt but of being afraid. In the Indian social setup a gay feels frightened in the same context as she gets scared of being a woman.Kamlesh’s sister, Kiran, a divorcee also feels disoriented to face society because fingers are always pointed towards her reproaching her for the divorce while she gets exhausted of defending herself.Kiran knew that Kamlesh was a gay though unfortunately she decides to marry Ed/Prakash unaware that he was Kamalesh’s gay partner. Resultantly she is now beset with new fears – the divided love and loyalty of her prospective husband.
The problems of gays and divorcees become worse in small towns as society is certainly not prepared to accept them. Single gays always have jeering fingers pointing towards them. Nevertheless, a gay is better placed when he marries, has a family and is able to hide the reality.Dattani portrays the psyche of such married men vividly through the speech of Bunny:
I know. Just as the man whom my wife loves does not exist. I have denied a lot of things. The only people who know me—the real me—are present here in tins room. And you all hate me for being such a hypocrite. . . . I am a gay man. Everyone believes me to be the model middle-class man. I was chosen for the part in the serial because I fit into common perceptions of what a family man ought to look like. (102-103)
They are hypocrites who are at one stage unable to shoulder the burden of hiding one side of their lives. They suffer psychologically and have to muster up sufficient mental strength to carry on.
In yet another play, Do the Needful Alpesh, a gay is forced to live his life within the norms of a heterosexual society. Alpesh is a thirty plus divorcee whose parents invite alliances for his marriage. In the Indian society marriages are essential threads of the social fabric but being conscious of his ‘gay’ mentality Alpesh declines entering into matrimonial alliance of any sort. However, the mother tempts him by agreeing to accept any girl as a daughter-in-law. Negotiations for marriage begin with Lata, an, independent, freedom loving young woman of twenty four.Alpesh is involved with Trilok while Lata with Salim, hence neither of them want to get married. While Alpesh comes to see Lata he develops an intimate relationship with the gardener and Lata catches them red handed. Ironically, they decide to get married with the condition that each is allowed to have his or her own way while entering into this alliance of convenience.
Another significant play deliberating upon the enigma of subalterns entitledSeven Steps Around the Firesketchesthe behavioural pattern of eunuchs in India.Dattaniindites with veracity about the problems of identity among the eunuchs.Uma Rao, thedaughter-in-law of the Deputy Commissioner of police and wife of the Jail Superintendent in the process of writing a thesis on eunuchs investigates into their lives concluding that they are actually the lowest of the low and yearn for family and love. Before probing further she studies the popular myths related to the origin of the eunuchs. These are her observations:
The term hijra, of course, is of Urdu origin, a combination of Hindi, Persian and Arabic, literally meaning ‘neither male nor female’. Another legend traces their ancestry to the Ramayana....There are transsexuals all over the world, and India is no exception. The purpose of this study is to show their position in society. Perceived as the lowest of the low, they yearn for family and love. The two events in mainstream Hindu culture where their presence is acceptable – marriage and birth – ironically they are the very same privileges denied to them by man and nature. (10-11)
Dattani boldly depicts in the play the marriage between a normal man and a eunuch. However, the male partner Subramanyam, Subbu for short, being the son of a minister, is disillusioned when his father gets Kamala, the eunuch murdered and the charges are falsely put on another eunuch, Anarkali.
Once Uma refers to a eunuch as ‘she’ and is immediately corrected that a eunuch has no gender identity and hence should be addressed as ‘it’. Uma calls them “the invisible minority”(p.21) rightly because no one knows much about them stating that , “they only come out in groups and make their presence felt by their peculiar hand clap”(p.22). She observes aptly that eunuchs suffer from a sense of insecurity and their actions are an attempt at creating an identity culminating in curses and invectives by them when ignored on occasions.Uma visits Champa the head of eunuchs introducing herself as a social worker resulting in Champa’s ironical outburst,Please excuse me, madam. I did not know that . . . You see us as society, no? (23)
Evidently the eunuchs are conscious of their social ostracization.When Anarkali is falsely implicated in Kamala’s murder and put into prison along with male offenders, they ill-treat and mock her.Ironically, she cannot be put with females raising the significant question of eunuchs’ identity once again.
While pursuing her research Uma finds it difficult to collect material about eunuchs. She comments regretfully,
It is very difficult to get the truth. They are all so used to lying. I am sure the hijras know, but they are not telling. (31)
Uma’s investigations time and again speak of the mistrust which eunuchs harbour for the rest of society. She has come to know who the real murderer of Kamala was and how the case had been hushed up. The eunuchs too, knew the details yet they preferred to keep silent over the issue.
The subalterns mentioned so far from the plays of Dattani are actually psychological studies and the dramatist observes that each one has a common behavioural pattern. They perpetually search for security; continually crave for acceptance by society and at the same time desire to be true to themselves. These together result in complex personalities unable to cope up either with self or society.Consequently, their behaviour becomes out of place more so when they realize that the Indian society is still not prepared to accept them. While some characters submerge into a state of acute depression, others become excessively bold, sometimes even violent.
Through his plays, Mahesh Dattani succeeds in convincing the audience and the readers to examine their individual and collective consciousness raising several do we blindly adopt the pre determined laws of family and society. Thus his plays are actually earnest investigations about socio-cultural authoritarianism and prejudice making his plays thought-provoking and introspective especially because they feature characters that are invariably questioning their identity, feeling isolated and encountering alienation in one way or the other. The dramatist was aware of the fact that it was difficult to bring such issues to light. The fear of open hostility loomed large but then he had a keen desire to write about contemporary society especially about the neglected and the abnegated members.
References
All textual references pertain to Collected Plays of Mahesh Dattani (New Delhi: Penguin Books India, 2000).