Staying on by Paul Scott ~ A coda to The Raj Quartet

[straudetwo]

Jonathan, yes indeed, it's a new India  in whichseems no more room for the Smalleys. Time has passed them by. We might even speculate that Tusker had come to this realization earlier in time and was in fact an underlying reason for his rancor and frequent vocal outbursts, tinged with bitterness and directed at Lucy.  When their last British friends, the Blackshaws, went home to England, bequeathing their dog to the Smalleys, no white faces were left.

Punjabi entrepreneurs had arrived in the area displaying an acumen for business and carrying funds of unknown and perhaps questionable origin.  The elegant Shiraz hotel towered over the old Smiths hotel which seemed to have visibly crumbled, a shadow of its former self, deliberately neglected by Mrs. Bhoolabhoy, who has bigger fish to fry. She does not deal with the members of the consortium personally; Mr. Pandey is the go-between, and once or twice she sends Billy-Boy to Ranpur, but keeps him in the dark. He is the strawman, duped and used.  Of coure she is heartless and ruthless, but an irresistible force like independent India itself, willing and able to flex its muscles.
The woman is a bully,though, and deserves contempt for her intended actions.

The transition to Indian military command hads long since been effected seamlessly - after all, several of the Indian officers had been trained at Sandhurst.  An Indian Colonel of impeccable manners and his beautiful wife have moved into Rose Cottage and restored it to its former glory, replanting Mabel Layton's fields of roses and eliminating the tennis court her daughter-in-law Mildred had built there - out of spite.

Another face of the new India is Joseph, a boy who is diligent, inventive, able to repair rusty tools, takes delight in making the callas bloom again and loves to tend the soil. To Ibrahim's surprise Joseph does not first ask how much is in it for him. Nor later; he accepts what is offered. The bright, eager face a sign of bope.

Another constant in Pankot has been St. John's Church - with no small help and dedication from Mr. Bhoolabhoy, though not always under favorable conditions, since St. John's does not have its own Rector but shares the one in Ranpur.

Continued tomorrow

[Jonathan]

Pankot, India, is so far away for most of us. The drama unfolding in the book is so close to home for some. The action takes place in the last three months of a long marriage. Is it sad? You bet it is. With Tusker scribbling his musings, and Lucy finding comfort in old movies and old songs, it's a remembrance of things past. It's the end of an odyssey. But Tusker and Lucy really shine in this last act of their lives.

Tusker is feeling better. Well enough to take Lucy to the Shiraz for dinner. He makes fun of the Tahble Dhoti, and seems to be his old self again. Nevertheless, Lucy is still apprehensive and troubled at being called 'old thing', and 'Luce' by an affectionate husband. What could she have been thinking then, when the author writes: A goose walked over her grave. I don't think there is anything morbid about it. What's the association?

[straudetwo]

Thanks for the post, Jonathan.

It had been ages since I last used my VCR and I have only a few days before I must return the movie Staying On to the library.  So I was grateful when my son set it up for me to watch. I did ... something I would otherwise have deferred until later.  And that is what I would advise.   At the end of the book discussion we might share our impressions of the movie also, if there is interest.

The pace of the book is slow, and the first chapters serve essentially to outline the circumstances of Tusker's and Lucy's life in Pankot, their  major and minor frustrations, and the people who are in touch with them : Ibrahim, Billy-Boy, Minnie to a lesser extent, and - impossible to ignore - the malevolent, walrus-like Mrs. Bhoolabhoy.

In the two and a half decades since Partition, the Indian officers and their wives have continued to include the Smalleys in the annual military functions, like Ladies' Night, or gatherings at the expansive Rose Cottage gardens with Colonel Menektara and his wife --  all occasions that Lucy (and Tusker, for sure) remember vividly and look forward to.   But both live in the past.  Lucy finds release when listening to her collection of old records, dancing to the foxtrot and quick-steps, and she loves the weekly movies, even if she's seen them many times before.  She's worked out a system with Ibrahim making reservations. hiring a tonga to take her there, and being here himself.

Ibrahim has fond memories of glorious days himself, relayed to him by his father, and his most treasured  possession is an immaculately preserved set of a long white tunic and pants, and he, Ibrahim,  had worn them once or twice when Colonel and Mrs. Smalley were guests in the Pankot Rifle Mess. Colonel Sahib had given him a cummerbund and turban ribbon woven in the colors of Tusker's Mahwar Regiment during a merry celebration of the recent victory over Pakistan  (1971)  - an occasion when Colonel Sahib was the only officer to get "supremely" drunk - just as the officer for whom Ibrahim's father had served.

"Operation Mali"   is working  - Lucy, though highly pleased,  feigns ignorance, but on one occasion thanks the mali in her 'terrible' Urdu. Tusker, on the other hand, says nothing at all, not to Billy Boy, not to anyone. Is his mind really so far gone that he does not notice these tangible improvements ? We do learn about that.

Chapter Six brings momentum in the form of mail from England from Phoebe Blackshaw,  the only remaining source of news from Home for Lucy. Read on !

[Gumtree]

Traude Forgive my absence from this discussion - I've been battling a recurrent viral infection which plagues me from time to time -happily am now getting the better of it but I need to refresh my memory,  read the current chapters and consider the postings. I'm hoping to be back again tomorrow or Tuesday.

[Frybabe]

I guess it is time to get back to re-reading a few more chapters. Last night I could not resist finishing the Major Pettigrew book rather than put it down and continue with this one. I was up until 2:45am. Oh my, and the cat was having none of my sleeping late. He is my 7am automatic alarm clock.

[Jonathan]

 It's great to hear from you, Gum. And good to hear you're on the mend.

Traude, your posts are always such wonders of perspective and analysis. They're a wonderful help for someone who tends to get overwhelmed by the detail. And Scott certainly provides the reader with plenty of that. Awesome how the drama of old age and the march of history are brought to life in this little gem of a book.

Operation Mali is working. Tusker is on the mend, but wondering if he is hallucinating about the young gardener who is so successful in restoring the lawn and gardens. Joseph is an appealing character, almost seems a bit saintly. Likes to tidy up old tombstones in order to read the names. English readers of Staying On would have liked reading that. That reminds me. I was watching a movie last night (Tombstone), in which one says to another 'You look like somebody just walked over your grave.' The expression was unfamiliar to me until I read about Lucy's reaction to hearing those endearing terms from Tusker. It suggests a shudder or shiver, but why the goose? These little sayings and expressions and idioms that give Joseph trouble certainly help in creating an atmosphere in the story.

[Jonathan]

I get the impression that Major Pettigrew is beginning a new life, as Colonel Smalley is doing a final reckoning with his. Both about the same age. They may well have met during their military careers.

[Frybabe]

hey may well have met during their military careers.

Interesting thought, Jonathan. I hadn't thought to compare their personalities, but that might be interesting too.

[PatH]

I didn't quite realize we were up to chapter 6, read that portion today, but want to feed in some minor earlier points.

Thunderbox: is this a common term?  I've only run across it once before, in Evelyn Waugh's Men at Arms, the first of the trilogy Sword of Honour, where Apthorpe, a fellow officer of the narrator, distrustful of the army sanitation, carries around his own portable thunderbox, with many comic problems, eventually leading to Apthorpe's ruin.

Sahib: this term has changed, and now seems to refer to someone important, with no regard to race.  That's commented on mildly, but it must be a huge change in thinking for the characters.

[Jonathan]

Thunderbox: Sounds like an uncommon term to me. Leave it to the military, trying to get a bang out of everything. Poor Apthorpe, if it led to his ruin. I suppose Scott felt that the Colonel would call it that. Lucy calls it the loo. A modern facility, according to Ibrahim, is a pukka loo. I thought soldiers carried a small digging tool for the purpose.

Chapters 6 and 7 are heavy going. Tusker and Lucy were a disappointment to each other all along, in so many ways. Even Tusker's lovemaking all those years left much to be desired. The only diversion in it for Lucy was timing him. What should have been a big bang ended in little more than a whimper.

[straudetwo]

Gumtree,, please don't worry; we know you'll join us when you feel well again.  For my part I have not been able to devote as much time  to this discussion as I wanted because I had to get ready also for the meeting of our local group, which meets here tomorrow. Only the refreshments will be ready, though,  for the problem is the book. (I returned the library copy unread; then bought the book out of a feeling of guilt, but still could not get into it.)

PatH,  It's quite possible that we have not totally exhausted every aspect of chapters one through five;  Paul Scott does that to the reader. But chapter six advances the plot in unexpected ways even as the new development occasions flashbacks into Lucy's and Tusker's early days together. and, more important, Lucy's childhood.

Jonathan, the quote about 'a goose walking over her grave' is on pg. 63. I heard the phrase as a child when my father took me to his parents' farm in a village of (then) about 500 souls.  I liked being there. My mother rarely went - twice, as I recall. I begged to be taken along when the walnuts were harvested, and when the sugar beets were ready for cooking of syrup in huge copper vats. When night fell, spooky stories would be told, and the phrase of someone walking over someone's grave might be uttered, but without  connection to a goose. Could it be an Anglicism ?

No matter how inadequate the facilities at the Lodge were compared with the modern amenities of the Shiraz, the standard of sanitation had improved considerably over the conditions prevailing in British India to the end. A high percentage of officers and men fell victim to am amoebis infection from a one- cell bug.  The illness wascalled  amoebiasis, caused painful intestinal distress, and could be endured only with copious amounts of gin and brandy. Several characters in the tetralogy suffered from it, and so did Paul Scott himself. The term amoebiasis is no longer in use.

Frybabe,  good for you to have finished the book.  It brings a special sense of accomplishment. It makes me feel guilty for not having done the same with the book being on the table here tomorrow ...  Ahhh, the things we leave undone.

[Frybabe]

Traude, I read the book last year. I am re-reading along with the discussion.

In Tusker's reminiscences he talked about the fellow who managed to get himself out of an appointment to be aid to the Area Commandant and who later died in North Africa. Do you remember who this was? I remember a sequence in the Raj Quartet to that affect but I can't remember who it was, Rowan maybe? I never could find my copies. My sisters say they don't have them, and Mom didn't have them either. I truly don't remember taking them up to the used bookstore. That is the only other place I can think of that they might have gone.

It appears that Tusker worked hard at staying in the background and making himself an indispensable paper pusher. He liked paperwork and was good at straightening up messes. My Dad also spent the war in an administrative capacity. He was part of an advance group in the UK that set up hospitals and prison of war camps ahead of the regular assigned personnel. When I was little, I used to play with his knapsack which had U.S. Postal (or close to it) stenciled on it.

[Gumtree]

Hello again, - I came in yesterday but after visiting a couple of other boards I just didn't have the energy. Am still very weak but improving daily.

I haven't read Chapter 6 yet - I thought today I would just skirt around the fringes a little -

The phrase 'someone just walked over my grave' was in common usage during my childhood usually used when one shivers and gets 'goose' bumps but 'goose' was never included in the saying.

I think Jonathan mentioned the possibility of Colonel Smalley and Major Pettigrew having met during their army service. This is unlikely as Pettigrew is much younger than Smalley - he graduated military college around 1952 - after Partition and Smalley's retirement to Pankot. Isn't it amazing just how real these fictional characters are.

Traude: I hope your f2f meeting goes well. I've been in a similar situation where I just could not 'get into' the chosen book. It seems to happen more and more in recent times. Maybe my f2f has changed its focus or perhaps the writers have...

'Thunderbox' was a common term in Australia to signify outhouses usually located in the outback and which were unsewered and a haven for the deadly red-back spiders -  The word is still dear to the hearts of those who like 'potty' jokes who use it to describe any toilet facility however humble or grand. The term is used in some of our bush poetry - I would not care to lower the tone of this discussion but quoting any for you - It's also used as brand names for camping equipment - portable loos - for toolboxes - there is a film company - a pop song - and of course the toilet seats made from polished jarrah or mahogany.

I thought this was apropos :

http://www.thomas-crapper.com/news.asp?ID=35&page=1

Thomas Crapper was a major player in the development of the flushing toilet - and the obvious source of another toilet related slangword.

Back again later...

 

[Frybabe]

You are right, Gum, the dating is wrong. Do I remember that Pettigrew was born in 47' in Lahore? Too lazy to go back and look it up at the moment. Pettigrew's father and Tusker were in different regiments, too, so that other possibility is slim.

BTW, I am glad you are starting to feel better.

I am a little fuzzy as to who exactly Tusker worked for after he left the Pankot regiment. There were several posts. One of which, I think, was a district or local Indian government administration function after the war. I remember the regiment eventually wanted him back, but he managed to nix that. I might go back and reread that part again.

[Jonathan]

Gum, I wouldn't worry about lowering the tone of this discussion. Pat did us a favour by pointing out the thunderbox. And your link to the Upper Crust lavatory is most apropos. What a lavish affair. And it reminded me that the Colonel had rewarded the sweeper with some backsheesh for polishing the mahogany woodwork of his thunderbox. I believe this tale is great theater, and the thunderbox a great prop. Lucy has a few things to say near the end of chapter 7 about how the theater works. It was after all her ambition to be an actress.

I have had rather a sad life, she tells us, in chapter 6, and she's dying to tell us about it. And she does so in her great scene in the following chapter. Only to have it stolen by Tusker. No wonder she gets furious. She puts on quite an act.

[Jonathan]

What are the reasons for Lucy's sadness? And now about to be left 'alone here and weeping amid the alien corn.'

[Jonathan]

Does Lucy have suspicions about Tusker's marital fidelity? The hill stations were hotbeds of illicit affairs. His disappointing performance in bed might, after all, have been a matter of a soldier doing his duty, as her mothe had foretold. A few harmless words to Mrs Desai at the Shiraz lunch is seen as flirting by Lucy. And that lovely sandalwood box given to Sarah Layton by Tusker years ago, which Lucy now learns about from the letter...is it any wonder that she flares up and lectures her ailing husband?

[Frybabe]

Oh Jonathan, I hadn't considered the possibility that Tusker may have been unfaithful. I just thought that Lucy was looking back on her life and more or less comparing how things turned out with how she thought things would or could be. When you are young you look forward to possibilities; when you are much older at some point many of us start looking back and take a measuring. She seems to have put herself aside for Tusker's career and to try to fit into a group of people who really weren't her at all.

Tusker, on the other hand, seems more satisfied with his life and how he managed to make himself indispensable but more or less unnoticed. I am wondering why he should want to be unnoticed. Shyness? Trying to stay away from having to go to the front lines? Truly likes paperwork over more physical activities? He did mention he was very good at paperwork. I remember Dad telling me that he ended up in administrative work during the war because he was one of the very few who raised their hands when the recruits were asked if anyone could type.

[PatH]

I remember Dad telling me that he ended up in administrative work during the war because he was one of the very few who raised their hands when the recruits were asked if anyone could type.

Same thing with my husband in WWII.  Because he knew shorthand and typing, he was assigned to a hospital unit, taking notes for the surgeons.  He was still in the South Pacific battle area, but at least he didn't have to shoot at people.

[PatH]

I seem to keep trailing a chapter or so behind people.  Chapter 6 starts making Tusker clearer to me.  I can't decide how much the reasons for his choices are really what he wants, and how much he is rationalizing what happens when you don't quite fit the mold for success.  But he seems to have a real taste for the sort of paperwork that drives most army types bananas, and also to have been happy to get to live in out-of-the way places, and to avoid the worst aspects of army life.

Like his sex life, it seems a bit thin and sad to us, but not necessarily to him.  Scott describes it all with an almost loving sympathy (even when he is being funny), and you definitely see the good in it.

[straudetwo]

The f2f discussion went reasonably well and I'm much relieved it is over. The member who had chosen it was embarrassed by the prurient subject matter, she admitted, and only one member was truly fascinated by the author.  I'm only too happy to return to Pankot in 1972.

In chapter six Lucy receives an airmail letter from Poebe Blacksaw - a proper letter enclosed in a proper envelope, inot one of the new-fangled airletters which were hard to open.  It struck a memory with me; they were single sheets, only one side was usable for the message,  they were then folded, and opening was indeed problematic.  The letter contained a clipping from the Times announcing the death of Col. Layton, the last British commandant of the Pankot Rifles. It's hardly any wonder that all kinds of memories should surface in Lucy.

Tusker is in a good mood that day and insists on taking her to the Shiraz for lunch. Her heart fluttered. At first she objects because of the expense involved, but says nothig farther. It is quite obviously a rare pleasure - since they have a special eating arrangement with the Smiths hotel kitchen, which is simpler and cheaper. Their Indian friends stop by ahd greet them, Tusker stands. We learn that the Desais are the richest free-loadaers in Pankot (pg.62) and their daughter is going to marry a minister's grandson who has literally hundreds of relatives.  Tusker suggests that perhaps the couple could elope.  Tusker said things like that to Mrs. Desai. It was a form of flirtation, although Lucy knew he didn't like the woman.
"What a wonderful idea," swaid Mrs. Desai ... Thank God it's Bombay and not Delhi or I suppose we'd have to have her too." A reference to Prime Minister Indira Ghandi.
"Come," said Mr. Desai, and Tusker sat.

Lucy looks at the prices on the menu and suggests soup. Tusker will have none of that, then plays with the words table d'hote and a la carte . (Sorry, I have lost the use of m diacritical marks. Lucy doesn't know what to make of "old thing" and "luce". I'll have what you  have, Tusker dear", she says.

There are wonderful observations of other dinner guests on pg. 63.

Lucy's letter to Sarah Layton is long and surprisingly personal.  And Lucy thinks back on her sad life; the childhood in the vicarage,  a neurotic mother ("Mumsie") who doted on her twin sons but had no love for the daughter she didn't want.

Frybabe, I'll check for the character Tusker and you mentioned.  I don't think it could have been  Rowan because he and Laura  went to Mirat to officially assist the Nawab's transfer of power and possible integration into the larger India.

I have a BIG problem, the computer is getting slower and slower.  I cannot get rid of the bolding in the latter part of the post. The colored wheel is circulating  wildly everywhere and I must turn off the machine now. Sorry to have to leave so abruptly. Lost a paragraph meant for PatH.
Hope things will be OK tomorrow. Arrrrgggg

[Jonathan]

Frybabe, is it your impression that Tusker seems 'satisfied with his life and how he managed to make himself indispensible but more or less unnoticed'? I thought so, too, at first. Now, I do believe, Pat is right. There is a lot of rationalizing in Tusker's musings. Just as I think there is a lot of dreaming in Lucy's view of the past.

They really are a sweet couple, but not averse to blaming each other for the bumps in the road that each of them has encountered. Lucy is to blame for his not being promoted. Bringing her to India as his wife and not vetting her first with his commanding officer is a graciousl admission on his part. Or is that also a rationalization?

And the things she says to him when she lets her hair down has him wondering if she's sober. In his blunt way. We'll have to read on to find out how much Lucy is dramatizing. What's all this about a debacle long ago, and his personality change? But she does love him and doesn't know where she will be without him.

Traude, I like the fine, leisurely pace of this discussion. Your computer problems sound horrendous. I meant to ask you. Do you still get together with your friends on the cape? Long ago, I remember, you talked about your reading group that got together, where was it, in Brewster?

You say that 'Lucy's letter to Sarah Layton is long and surprisingly personal.' I thought it was very short, most of it being a monolgue (in italics) of a distressed, long-suffering Lucy, recapturing the past for herself. I'm going back to the book. Perhaps I'm thinking of another letter.

[straudetwo]

Jonathan, thank you. 
And yes, the book group is the same one I founded in 1974 when we came to Massachusetts. One of our members, Alice by name,  and her family had a house here in town and a vacation home in Dennis on the Cape.Twelve years ago they had a large home built  in Sandwich. Once a year, in the summer,  we car-pool to Sandwich. That  meeting is the highlight of our book year.  We first have a leisurely lunch at an attractive restaurant we;ve come to love, afterward we repair to Alice's home for dessert and the discussion.  We also set the calendar for the coming year at that time. The properties are large, there is no sight or sound of the neighbors, and Alice's home borders on conservation land. To visit there is a delight, especially for the bird watchers among us.

Over time we've lost half a dozen members; the children of members now have children of their own;  several original members have moved to different states; a few of us feel the burden of our years, quite aware of the ever present memento mori  Even so  we continue to enjoy each other's company and, given the impermanence of human existence,  we feel lucky and blessed to still be together in harmony.

I have no idea what could possibly have ailed my computer yesterday and am relieved that all seems to be back  to normal.
PatH,  I meant to say that Chapter Six is crucial because of the insights it provides into the lives and the psyche of Tusker and Lucy.
In earlier chapters we've seen that Lucy tends to fantasize, that she has the ability to transport herself to better earlier days by listening to her old records and dancing to the music.  We are about to learn that, despite being painfully shy, she had a gift for acting, and would have liked nothing more than being encouraged by Tusker. Unfortunately, Tusker had no drive or ambition for himself and, sadder still, little  compassion or affection for his wife. In his own fashion I believe he cared for her, but his grumbling and gruffness were hurtful for her, and so was the coarseness of his language.  Was he really a man satisfied with his life ?

He was keenly aware that his Mahar (sp) regiment was nothing like the Pankot Rifles and deliberately withdrew into a shell of his own making. He liked poring over accounts and details, correcting the errors or neglect of others, and that carried over into his life,  so he really knew everything better than everyone else, or so he believed.

Isn't there a parallel in the early lives of husband and wife ? Both were lonely, neglected by family members, both felt looked down on dismissively  -and perhaps they were.  Is it any wonder that both developed a deep sense of inferiority ?  Yes, Tusker married Lucy on his long visit to England without asking his commanding officer's vetting.  Still, he tells us in his own words that not all was necessarily lost : if she had been the daughter of a bishop in the Church of England, for example. Class again, inferior this time. Is it at all possible that for Tusker, by nature a fussy and stubborn man, this lacak of ambition was aform of rebellion against things he could never change ?

What do you make of Lucy's fantasizing about this Toole person ? He was the chauffeur of a wealthy uncle - whose son Mumsie had cared for at some point. In gratitude the uncle invited the twins and Lucy to his home for three consecutive summers. Strangely, Lucy has carried the image of Toole (his eyes, for example) in her heart, as a manly ideal and comparison.

Further on in Chapter Six she begins to pour out her heart - in a modified stream of consciousness - to this Mr. Turner, a friend of the Perrons, a virtual stranger, who is planning a study trip to India and a visit to Pankot.  This narrative technique allows Paul Scott to fill us in about the main characters' past.  There were hundreds of characters in the four volumes of The Raj Quartet, some mentioned only once, but Paul Scott unfailingly tied up all the loose ends.  In this book, though,  we must be patient, for what the  "debacle"  was all about will be revealed very late in the story.

More tomorrow.

[Frybabe]

Jonathan, PatH, do you think that men are more likely to rationalize poor choices? Perhaps because they don't want to admit to themselves they have in fact done so?

Lucy's letter cracked me up what with her little unwritten thoughts. Similarly, I thought her outburst amazing and must have been stewing in the depths of her mind for a long time before she actually said them. She played the dutiful wife all those years and never spoke her true mind about things as they happened. So now it comes spewing out, all at once. I can just see an astonished Tusker sitting there with his mouth open and maybe a little bug eyed.

Traude, I suspect that Tusker's choice of Lucy for a wife may have been as unambitious as his attitude toward his work. If he knew he should have asked permission of the Commandant, was this also form of rebellion as you suggest?

I remember the air mail combo letter/envelopes you mentioned Traude. They were also very thin paper so as to way as little as possible.

[rosemarykaye]

Frybabe - I also remember the air letters.  My mother's sister lived in S Africa, and always used these to write to family at home.  My mother always felt that she chose these because you couldn't get much in them (aunt had big writing)  - there were numerous festering issues at home (eg care of aged parents) that aunt studiously ignored whilst telling them all the sunny details of her ex pat life.  At the time this caused huge resentment, but later it emerged that her life out there had not been as easy as she made it sound.

I am not keeping up with Staying On very well at the moment, but I have read it previously, and I do remember how lovely it was to read Sarah's letter and to know what had happened to her and the gorgeous Guy (well I suppose I mean Charles Dance really!).

I think both Tusker and Lucy are disappointed people.  Things have not turned out well for them, just as things did not ultimately turn out well for the British in India.  Even now there is a great deal of rose-tinted nostalgia amongst some of the older generation here for the Empire and how everything was apparently better then - they are still hanging on, if not staying on; clutching at the notion that things can - or should - stay the same in a new world that has emerged whilst they weren't looking.

[Gumtree]

I've been reading through the posts and now my mind is in chaos - so many threads and I can't seem to grasp any of them. (so what's new, you might ask)

I found the first few chapters a little hard going for some reason - it didn't seem like the Paul Scott I know and love from the Quartet but more like the Scott of Six Days at Mayapore which I found somewhat laboured at times  ... but then ... I read chapter six and there was the Scott of the Quartet again - the wealth of information, the drama and above all his fluid and beautiful prose telling us the story.
I loved the way he ended Ch 6 with Tusker asking Lucy "Who's Mrs Guy Perron"  telling us in just those few words that Sarah and Guy had actually married - in the Quartet their relationship was left up in the air though one surmised the outcome. Naturally, I had to read on.... and how superbly Scott recaps some aspects of the Quartet in these letters from Lucy and Sarah.

I loved the internal chat Lucy is having with the unknown Mr Turner -
And what an earful Lucy gives Tusker - so much pain and suffering bottled up for years - I imagine that once she started she couldn't stop. And Tusker sitting there stunned to the core - 'bug eyed' is just the right description for him just then Frybabe -

Isn't it a trifle surprising that despite Tusker's ability to handle paperwork well and efficiently - or so we're told -  he fails to read or appreciate the his lease agreement with Mrs Bhoolabhoy? One would think it would be a matter of importance and indeed pride to him to personally ensure that it was all in order and in accordance with the original terms.

Ibrahim is beautifully drawn - I think that in a way, he too is 'Staying On' by remaining with the Smalleys though one wonders what else he would have done.  When he hears Tusker crying and Lucy talking to him he moves off to give them their privacy. It showed such a delicacy in him as did Scott's writing in that 'scene'.

I remember the 'airmail' letters and have indeed used them and they really were a trial to open. Later we used writing pads and envelopes of onion paper to keep the weight of the letters down.

I must go and rest ... hope to come in tomorrow.

[Frybabe]

Isn't it a trifle surprising that despite Tusker's ability to handle paperwork well and efficiently - or so we're told -  he fails to read or appreciate the his lease agreement with Mrs Bhoolabhoy? One would think it would be a matter of importance and indeed pride to him to personally ensure that it was all in order and in accordance with the original terms.

What a catch, Gum. It hadn't struck me, but you are right. Why wasn't he more careful? An assumption that there were no changes in the lease agreement from the year before? Obviously, changes were not pointed out at that time by either Bhoolabhoy. Deceptive maneuver, that.

[PatH]

Goodness, you're right, Gumtree, Tusker should have caught the change in terms.  But the Bhoolabhoys were clever about it.  They raised the rent, and when Tusker complained, they said OK, no rent increase, we'll renew clause 2 as written.  Presumably he was so relieved at no rent increase that he overlooked the trap, but an experienced paper hound should have caught it.

[rosemarykaye]

Maybe it's another example of everything falling apart - Tusker used to be so on top of the paperwork, but now he is losing his grip and realises it (something with which I can readily identify......yesterday I wasted half an hour of my life trying to negotiate Marks & Spencer's food hall, then trying to pay - for one item! - at one of those self-service tills.  Of course it wouldn't accept my card no matter which way i put it in - felt like breaking it into little pieces and feeding them into the slot one by one - there was a huge queue behind me, I ended up abandoning it all, then couldn't even find my way out of the shop.  I think I need to go and live in the country 

Rosemary

[Frybabe]

I rarely use those self pay things at the grocery store. The only one that seems to consistently work for me is a BJ's, which is a wholesale club store.

[Jonathan]

'Why wasn't he more careful?'

'Tusker should have caught the change in the lease renewal.'

'Another example of everything falling apart.'

Good observations. Tusker is not his old self. Something that Lucy has seen and is worried about. Perhaps Tusker himself is worrying about it. He has taken to crying over little things. Of course he still has a lot of strength of character left. And so does Lucy, despite her 'little me'ing'.

Their situation is a most interesting one. 'We're Raj leftovers', was Lucy's thought when Tusker made fun of the table dhoti menu at the Shiraz. Visitors to India are brought to see them. We should write to Cooks...and ask them to put us on the tourist itinerary, Lucy suggests to Tusker.

There's an aspect to this story that fascinates me. Perhaps an aspect of lives of a certain age. And Scott does a marvellous job of keeping up the tension of juggling with time. Past, present, and future are always there and taken into account.

As for the question of rationalization as a gender tendency...that is a good one. Aren't husbands and wives always wondering about the mental processes, each of the other? Off the top of my head, certainly, men are more likely to look for reasons, because they spend more time trying to convince each other about this and that, while women's thinking has something existential about it, pragmatic and intuitive.

[Jonathan]

Damn it! I locked my keys into the car, at the market this morning. I never used to do that. But take note. I'm swearing, not crying.

[Jonathan]

 Rosemary posts, in 104, 'I think both Tusker and Lucy are disappointed people.  Things have not turned out well for them...they are still hanging on, if not staying on; clutching at the notion that things can - or should - stay the same in a new world that has emerged whilst they weren't looking.'

A lot of good points in that. My used copy of Staying On has an interesting note written on the flyleaf. Paul Scott did some book reviewing to make ends meeet. The subject matter referred to must have been published memoirs and accounts of the Raj experience. The note:

unctuous half truths of nostalgia, Scott in TIMES, Nov 24, 1975.

That is about the time Staying On was being written. Was Scott trying to set the record straight. 

[straudetwo]

Gumtree is right : Tusker's faiure to examine the lease agreement carefully was uncharacteristic for such a methodical man with a head for figures, budgets and long-term projections. Lucy tells us that Tusker became a changed man when he retired from his army  in 1949; it was then that he began to use bad language and became irascible.   Returning from the daftar for the last time, he flung his cap on the floor and shouted an expletive that shocked Lucy.

Both were disappointed, as Rosemary said, two unhappy people who had nothing to say to each other any more (if they ever had), whose lives no longer had a goalor a purpose. Lucy has mixed emotions reading Sarah's letter : delight in new contact,  renewal of contact,  envy of a life so free and open, nostalgia for Pankot as it had been.  Tuker admits his confusion and uncertainty about the mali and the work he did, wondering whether he was a victim of hallucinations. Now he is reading Mr. Maybrick's self-published book about Pankot, a library copy, and appends notes on the margins of factual errors - a new source of irritation for Tusker. (Mr Maybrick was the organist at St. Jonn's C of E.) Both Lucy and Tusker are living in the past.

As Lucy is mentally composing an answer for Susan, she thinks of Tusker's failing health, of Dr. Mitra's words that a new attack could well be fatal, and realizes that in that case she would be alone and perhaps destitute. The subject has never been discussed and she is suddenly frightened.

Frybabe,  'rebellion' may ot have been the best word for me to use, and "defiant" may have been more accurate regarding Tusker's attitude on failing to inform his commanding officer of his marriage to Lucy in England. It is not entirely clear whether this was a requirement or not, but even if it was not, it should have been extended as a courtesy.  "I was pushing thirty", Tusker tells us.  Was that relevant ? or did it serve as an excuse ? Apparently not.

Jonathan, I must look up a reference before I answer your last post.  Give me a few minutes, please, I'll be back.

[straudetwo]

Jonathan, when I did research for the discussion of the three other volumes of the Raj Quartet I found references to other books written by English authors about the Raj, some by women.  I have not been able to lay my hands on them in thee last few minutes.  
I'll keep looking.

Yes, I believe that  Paul Scott meant to set the record straight, and did, specifically of the last years of WW II.  There are ideological debates (which make for absorbing reading) interwoven in the action and fit perfectly in the plot. The decline and fall of the Empire were inevitable, and what Paul Scott said with such clarity has since been confirmed by later historians.  The miracle has always been that one hundred thousand British could rule millions of Indians.

Gumtree, I hope you are feeling a little better every day.

[straudetwo]

Jonathan, In re # 112 and "unctuous half truths of nostalgia", it would be interesting to know what writings had occasioned those disparaging words. It is possible, however, that books written about India after WW II and Partition that were being reviewed had perhaps  been written with more nostalgia or bathos than as arealistic appraisal.

An excellent resource is available on line under Literature of British India  by J.K. Buda. I hoped to link the URL but was unsuccessful.  But I will list it here; you may be luckier than I.

http://www.f.waseda.jp/buda/texts/litindia.htlm

If it does not work, the bolded title abovewill lead you to it.
The article is a balanced, concise summation of historical background, social background and an overview of the literature of the Raj, and includes the work published after WW II and Partition.  Very popular were the works of M.M. Kaye, 1908-2004. She was born in Simla, the famous hill station with a view of the Himalayas where the Viceroy and his administration spent the unbearable hot months.
The author's grandfather, father and brother all served in India.  Among her large body of work, which includes children's books and a three-volume memoir, is the novel The Far Pavilions. Like Scott's The Raj Quartet, several novels by M.M. Kaye have been made into TV productions.

Frybabe, I checked Tusker's musings again toward the end of Chapter Six, and he was very clear about his on lack of ambition.
He was quite aware that both he and Lucy were considered  "dull". He kept a low profile deliberately, he was even content about being billeted at Smiths Hotel because it helped him "merge unobtrusively with the background.  My only ambition ever has been to survive as comfortably as possible." (pg. 69)  The French have marvelous saying for this : Je m'en fiche  = I could not possibly care any less.

There are a few other revealing comments, one makes clear that it had been expected of him to seek approval for his marriage to Lucy. Before going on his long home visit he was working as an adjutant and had anticipated that, on his return,  he would be appointed, which never happened.  He shrugs it off by admitting that he was never "regimentally-minded".  He was not intellectually curious, but was he innately lazy ? Is it possible that he felt no disappointment of having somehow fallen short, especially in his treatment of his wife ?
Is he a a sympathetic character, I wonder ?

We must not forget here that Billy-Boy is quite the appropriate companion. He too does not have a lot of ambition beyond being manager of Smiths, but he has taken pride in his work for St. John's C. or E.

Frybabe,  I saw the reference to which you had called attention of a 'pink' subaltern with an attitude who ducked out of an appointment as an aide to a general because that general had originally been only a Gunner!  The man later died in North Africa.  I'm sorry but I cannot think of anyone like that in the earlier volumes.

What sounds familiar, on the other hand, is another subaltern whom Tusker refers to as "punk" who fancied Lucy when they were stationed in Ramnagar, where Lucy was the only white woman within miles around. (She was obvlivious, Tusker comments.) Later the young man followed them to Lahore where what he had been after was in abundant supply. Later still he was discovered in bed with the wife of a senior officer in Quetta and killed himself -- justtwo an hour before the legendary earthquake reduced the bungalow to rubble.   He could have saved himself the bother," remarks Tusker, coldly.
This episode, I believe, was mentioned in an earlier volume, and I'll try to find it.

I'd like to review Lucy's musings at the end of Chapter Six and then g on to Chapter Seven, if you agree.

[Jonathan]

Yes, I think Tusker is a sympathetic character. I find a lot of honesty in his curious musings - along with the rationalizing. Lucy is still by his side after fory years. Still caring for him. I trust her judgment. Still, I find myself wondering why, after forty years in India,  Lucy still thinks of England as home, after giving us reasons for believing she was happy to get away from England. Until now. Not surprising, really, after reading Tuskers thoughts.

We were in Quetta the year after the 'quake. Whenever we packed up to go to another station Luce used to describe it as setting out again on our little wanderings.

What a thorn in the side that subaltern must have been. The 'punk' who took a fancy to Luce. Of course Tusker must have turned jealous. And it was the punk who made the name Tusker stick to Colonel Smalley:

(he) once said I must be called Tusker because it took me as long to work out a problem as it took  a pregnant cow-elephant to drop its calf, that's to say twice as long...etc.

We can believe the punk. Tusker himself has revealed more than enough about his working habits to substantiate the subaltern's comment.

I've been meaning to ask Rosemary, Do you have any connection to M. M. Kaye?

Chapter Six has such an interesting ending:

And so in the pale dark, and the stillness, a dark lightened by the white net, and a stillness punctuated by Tusker's snores and the yelps of distant jackals, she had found herself remembering Toole and re-creating him him. She had been doing so (for years).

Now Tusker had conked out.

And was about to be 71.

And Lucy sets about planning a birthday party for him.

[Jonathan]

Traude, I am looking forward to reading your thoughts on Lucy's musings at the end of Chapter Six. There is so much on her mind, poor soul.

[Jonathan]

Is there any way to access the TIMES archives for Scott's book reviews?

[straudetwo]

Jonathan, to consider your question in your # 117 first :

According to Hilary Spurling, Scott's biographer and author of Paul Scott, A Life (1990), he wrote book reviews for The Times, The Times Literary Supplement, New Statesman. and Country life.    Rosemary could give us an idea how to go about approaching these sources for further information.

I'll be back later with more comments.