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

[PatH]

For your heading if you choose to put it in again, Traude. 

[PatH]

Are we supposed to be talking about chapter 10 yet?  I've read it, have plenty to say, but will hold off for a green light.

[Frybabe]

I'm losing track too. Finished with my classes. Exams were today. Now I can get back to paying more attention to my friends (both human and books).

[straudetwo]

PatH, Re tour #160 and the header. It is no longer there. How could I have prevented its disappearance, I wonder, and how can it be restored  ?

Frybabe,  hurrah!  you must be relieved that the tension is now over !

Yes, we can go on to Chapter Ten if there are no more questions or comments on any details in Chapters Eight and Nine.
The discussion of Staying On is necessarily different from the one we had of the Quartet because of the very nature of the story : The Quartet dealt with world powers engaged in war in several parts of the world,  with the movements of armies, the return of the veterans from all fronts, the return of those who had been held prisoners in Germany (Col Layton),  to a changed India demanding independence.
 
Staying On is the story of two people who chose to stay on but became more and more isolated as the only whites left
in the claustrophobic confines of the Lodge (a far cry from Rose Cottage!),  the Club, Smith's Hotel, the Shiraz, the cinema, and the Church.   Lucy seems to be more personally  irritated and discomfited than Tusker.

There is litle of a plot, the end is foretold, the past is told in flashbacks, intermingled with reports of quotidian routines, through the eyes and thoughts of several protagonists. It is the same story  told seamlessly in acontinuous flow, even though the chapters sometimes overlap.  So I submit  to you that it is the thoughts and musings, and Lucy's imaginary conversations  that carry the action forward.

The Smalleys are keenly aware that time has passed them by and that they no longer have a role to play in Pankot. The new India has come a long way since independence, something that Lucy has difficulty admitting to herself. The changes are all encompassing, and they include the Church. On Christians holidays Lucy made an effort to overcome her disquiet and attended although she felt at a disadvantage because of her pale face. (page 93)

 The description of the two priests from Ranpur illustrates the changes very well. Father Stephen Menektar, the budding Bishop of Calcutta,
is a thoroughly modern man, compared to his old-fashioned predecessor , familiar with the new elite and a regular on the Pankot golf course.  He is clearly disingenuous when he tells Mr. B that Father Sebastian is not going to be is successor. Of Father Sebastian's plans we know only what he tells Mr B. : that he wants photos taken of the exterior and interior of the church for an article he is writing for a magazine in Madras that finds its way all over the world. (page 107)

The potographer, Ashok, appeared in one of the volumes of the Quartet as a small orphan, an Untouchable, who followed retired missionary Barbie Bachelor around when she shopped in  the bazaar and eventually became her eager helper for a few rupees. A small but welcome detail, appreciated by the reader,  that Ashok, no longer an "Untouchable", but a member of the Unscheduled Caste, has done well. Barbie would be justly proud of him.

[PatH]

Traude, I did not put the header in post # 160.  I merely posted a nothing in case you wanted to replace my post with the heading.  I always do this as a courtesy to DLs if I notice that mine will be the first post on a page.  It's up to you if you want to bother; I think our band of die-hards knows enough to look on the first page if necessary.

[PatH]

I do have one question about chapter 8.  When Father Sebastian first sees the church, he says: "What a fine example it is of British hill station church architecture.  1885 or so?"  (It's 1883.)  Later there are comments about how lovely the church is.  I have no notion whatever of what architectural style this would be.  Can someone enlighten me?

[Frybabe]

Here is a beautiful picture of Christ Church in Simla which was consecrated in 1857. Too bad it doesn't show interior shots, but then, the inside may have been redesigned and lost it's original look.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23268776@N03/4261494823/

Here is a pix of it in 1885. http://ogimages.bl.uk/images/019/019PHO0000096S1U00024000%5BSVC2%5D.jpg

[Jonathan]

Father Sebastian: "What a fine example it is of British hill station church architecture.  1885 or so?"

Why the photos? I think, Pat, it might be part of a money-raising scheme. Father Sebastian may be thinking of church  prservation and repairs for the organ, etc. He has, or contributes to a newsletter that is broadcast to the world. Perhaps he's trying to reach the sentimentalists back in England. The photos are also, a clever element in the story's plot. Especially the ones Lucy is going to send along to Sarah, of herself and Joseph hovering over one of the tombstones.

[PatH]

That's a lovely church, Frybabe.  I thought of Simla when Lucy was describing Pankot in her imaginary conversation with Mr. Turner--it's widening vistas as they go up the hill.

[straudetwo]

Frybabe, thank you for the great link to Christ Church in Simla.  What a beautiful building, inGothic style, and clearly well maintained. I will see to it that it  (and previous pertinent links) are included in the header as a permanent record. Ditto for the glossary (thanks Jonathan)..

The fictitious Pankot may well have been patterned after Simla, surely one of the most beautiful hill stations. The Viceroy and the entire government moved there for the worst months of the year, making Simla quasi the  temporary capital. Cal;  Calcutta (now Kolkata)  in Bengal served as capital of British India until 1911,  when Delhi was declared the capital. A number of large and handsome building are testimony to the days of pomp and glory.

Jonathan,  I agree. Faster Sebastian was probably after donations - a clever move, given the fact that the donations were for Christian churches. Somehow this made me think of Jehovah's Witnesses who used to come to the door with their Watchtower.  It's been a long time since one of them was here.

PatH, Lucy was acutely aware of the physicality of males :
* She was conscious of Joseph's smell when they bent over the gravestones to decipher the names.g.

* In one of her musings, after reading Sarah's letter and hearing of Guy Perron, she says :

" I remember him, Mr. Turner. He followed me home and for a night or two haunted our bedroom at Rose Cottage. I mean Tusker's and mine, standing there in the corner in the dark waiting for a snore from Tusker and a sign from me. He was the right height, the right breadth, perhaps a bit too tall, but his hair was fair and his eyes blue-grey. But the smiled too often. Look at him grinning here (the old photograph). A vivid imagination, and undying dreams ?  

* However, she was wrong in her interpretation of Mr. B's erratic behavior in the cemetery. He did like and admire her, but I believe he would never have remotely thought of flirting with her.


I too have a question and it concerns the type of financial "program" Tusker had with the law firm for which Lucy worked. It could have been an annuity, or perhaps a trust.  Tusker did not have life insurance, Lucy tells us,  and  he never saved a penny.  Whatever account it was, it paid interest and they were glad of it. But why would the capital remaining on Tusker's death be automatically passed on to the uncle's son  ?No last will and testament is mentioned by Lucy. Of course I don't know whether English law would recognize stipulations or bequests in a last will supplanting  arrangements made decades earlier.

More imaginary conversation and revelations with Mr. Turner in Chapter Ten.

[PatH]

The law firm where Lucy worked was evidently handling the estate of Tusker's grandfather.  Tusker, an orphan, had been raised by an uncle.  His grandfather had bequeathed him a life interest in what Tusker and Lucy call the "capital sum".  That means the money isn't his, but he gets the benefit of its earnings as long as he lives.  When he dies the money will go wherever specified in the will.  If not specified, I presume it would go wherever the rest of the estate went.  In this case, it seems to go to the son of the uncle who raised him.

[PatH]

We learn more about Lucy's financial expectations in her imaginary conversation with Mr. Turner.  She knows more than I thought.  She will get a small income from the Indian Military Widow and Orphans Fund, which might be supplemented by a Royal Warrant Pension, whatever that is.  She says Tusker never carried much life insurance, implying there is a little.  That seems to be it.  If they're poor now, she's going to be really poor.

[Jonathan]

Chapter Ten is just about the most poignant thing I have ever read. The portrait of a marriage, a la Raj, as told by Lucy. As a legal secretary at Coyne, Coyne, Smith and Coyne, she was familiar with the Smalley case. Tusker was known to her long before she met him. A well-meaning grandfather had made a small provision for his orphaned grandson. A capital sum was set aside, the interest to be paid to T. U. Smalley of the Mahwar Regiment. For as long as T. U. S. lived. The correspondence between law firm and Smalley in India caught Lucy's imagination.

Amid all those dusty boring files and boxes and deeds which were nearly all about dead people it was this unknown young officer serving in India who provided the single element of mystery and romance in my life, Mr Turner.

Then one day he walked in.

My officer from India! Heavens, how thrilled I was. I was only a little nervous....He seemed impressed by my knowledge of the estate and of the changes the trustees had made in the investment of the capital sum Tusker had a life interest in.

Lucy was very knowledgable about Tusker's financial means and how it affected her. The interest from the capital sum, after Tusker retired, went, according to Lucy, into the Indian Military Widows and Orphans fund. The Royal Warrant sounds like a general government pension.

Lucy and Tusker hit it off, and before long she is off to India as Mrs Smalley. What a disappointment looking back forty years later.

...when I look back on it, when I sit back and concentrate on it, I feel that India brought out all my very worst qualities. I don't mean this India (1972), though Heaven help me I sometimes don't  see a great deal of difference between theirs and the one in which I was a memsahib, but our India, British India, which kept me in my place, bottled up and bottled in, and brain-washed me into believing that nothing was more important than to do everything my place required me to do to be a perfect complementary image of Tusker and his position.

It was like she had been taken back to the vicarage from which she escaped to London and the law firm. The Mudpore interlude was sweet because she and Tusker were the only English in that princely state. For a short while she enjoyed the real India.

[Frybabe]

I hadn't thought of it before, but do you think that Lucy's romantic imagination regarding Tusker before she met him colored her view of him and India a la the Toole imaginings? There is a good chance many people who went to India imagined it more romantically then the actuality warranted. Many of the men went for adventure. But the women, were they swept up in the White Knight syndrome hearing about these "heroic" adventures? To be sure there were a few adventurous women, but the majority, where they just trying to break away from the stifling atmosphere of  Victorian England?

[PatH]

I'm sure rou're right, Frybabe.

Then, when Lucy finally met Tusker, he wasn't as romantic as her imaginings, but she still found him appealing.  She probably would have felt the same about India if she hadn't felt so squashed by the rigid, heirarchical social structure.

[straudetwo]

Thanks for your posts, PatH and Frybabe.
Yes, Jonathan, I too believe that Chapter Ten is the most poignant  chapter in the book and beautifully written. Paul Scott has an brilliant touch for portraying female characters with singular empathy. And he did the same thing for the male characters in the Quartet, where the depiction of the two main protagonists and antagonists, Hari Kumar and Police Inspector Ronald Merrick, one of the classic arch villains in literature, are extraordinary and unforgettable.

The depth of Lucy's feelings is palpable, and her endless patience and self-negation to further Tusker's professional life and enhance his standing is nothing short of heroic. Her fantasies and imaginings made he life in the  vicarage more bearable, and if they helped her later to suffer disappointment in her marriage and in India, more power to her ! True, she chafed at the rigid hierarchy and at the pettiness of the superiors' wives, but she carried on, undeterred, keeping her thoughts to herself. In those days, and later, and in other parts of Europe, that was the role of a military wife as complement to and adornment of her husband.* (I have had the occasion to watch that in my own family.)

Their friends at the Gymkhana Club in Pankot who thought the Smalleys  "dull",  but were half wrong. Tusker probably was, but Lucy had a more open mind and more resources - at least up to a point: she never seriously questionrf the hierarchy of the class system -  indeed she believed it necessary, we read, but the tactlessness and cruelty of the superiors' wives in looking down at her because she had had to work for a living. But it started earlier, when she overheard one of the partners in the law firm refer to her as "The virgin of the vicarage". (Times have changed but, alas, tactlessness is alive and well in the twenty-first century. Inappropriate remarks and indiscreet questions are
regular occurrences for which one mght prepare a snappy comeback, unless silence is preferred.)

Lucy expected India to be gorgeous - and the brief assignment in Mudpore at the Maharaja's esate proved that India could be gorgeous, even during the endless rains of the Monsoon season, because both Lucy and Tusker were happy there.
What do you make of Tusker's "personal change, as Lucy calls it ?
What could have been the cause of it?
Is it possible that Tusker had realized they had no future other than Pankot, forever counting pennies, doomed to be the last relics ?
Was that a profound disillusionment that made him daily more contrary and sarcastic ?
But why inflict his scorn and his silences on Lucy ?
Didn't they share the same emotions on Independence day ?
And why, after all these years, does Tusker expose Lucy to unnecessary embarrassment  and more grief by making himself a laughing stock ? (Chapter Eleven).
Twice in Chapter Ten is the "debacle" mentioned, once directly, about the final compensation for Tusker's service ("Yes, all gone. But I mustn't talk to you about that. And I forgave him long ago."

There's also mention of the changing color of Lucy's eyes , something Ibrahim had noticed. Isn't it lovely how Paul Scott doesn't lose sight of even small things?
Now Tusker's birthday is ahead, th celebration of an Indian holiday and Easter.
Thanks for writing

[Jonathan]

Traude, your marvellous post goes a long way in illustrating the complexity of plot and character in Staying On. I have to think about the many points you make, before replying. I'm glad that you agree with me about the poignancy of Chapter Ten. Now, Chapter Eleven, is all pathos for me. The plight of these two is so obvious in everything they do and say. Yes, Lucy is annoyed and embarrassed by Tasker's behavior at the Joli party. To me  it looked like a desperate man, clinging to life, doing a danse macabre. And here's an irony. All these years Tusker has been protecting his wife, 'the virgin of the vicarage' from the facts of life, the truth of the symbols of Joli.

[PatH]

Traude, All these years Tusker has been protecting his wife, 'the virgin of the vicarage' from the facts of life, the truth of the symbols of Joli.

Tusker tried to protect her, but that worked out as poorly as those efforts generally do.  At her first Joli party, Lucy innocently asked about the significance of the colors, a hugely embarrassing gaffe.

Traude, I agree with Jonathan, your insightful, detailed posts are helping me to get every last drop of enjoyment from this book.  Your last post pointed out something important--Scott is good at portraying women.  This isn't always easy for male writers (of course the opposite is equally true; women aren't always good at male characters) but Scott never strikes a wrong note, and totally knows what Lucy is about.

[Jonathan]

'Scott is good at portraying women...never strikes a wrong note, and totally knows what Lucy is about.'

Of course, you're right, Pat, and that's reassuring, because much of the enjoyment I am getting from the book, is trying to understand Lucy. In fact I find myself wondering if Lucy knows what she's about. I have to think what she said to Ibrahim early on: What webs we weave, when first we practice to deceive. Then it was about the mali, now it's keeping Tusker in the dark, so as not to annoy him. Annoyances, she thinks, might kill him.

I do believe these two have become strangers to each other. It might explain Lucy's opinion that Tusker has undergone a personality change. On the other hand, Scott's insight into marital relationships also very keen, is he suggesting that Lucy and Tusker have never become intimate, despite forty years of marriage?

What is this great 'debacle' that Lucy is always talking about? It seems to me that it has to do with the problems Tusker had in going from a military life to the box-wallah civilian life, to his moral and financial ruination. Now he is only a shell of what he was. Unsure of himself. Uncertain about the future. I'm not surprised at the silent thoughts that remain unspoken. The ones that Lucy never hears.

[straudetwo]

Fine posts, PatH and Jonathan, thank you.
I find myself wondering what Paul Scott's object was in writing this deceptively simple book.  From the body of his work it is clear that India was in his  blood. Writing of the four volumes that make up Jewel in the Crown was a tour de force, but originally disregarded. Clearly, he was reluctant to let go and had more to say. So he returned to the same hill station and shows what has happened to the last couple who remained.

The story of how they fared is both plausible and credible. The reader is privy to the observations, thoughts and reflections of different protagonists, and that is in fact the plot. Neither the Partition nor the withdrawal of the British forces and civilian personnel were surprises - only the suddenness of the decision and the imprudently short deadline. But the Indian army has taken over seamlessly and is doing a good job, according to Lucy - "most of the offices had been to Sandhurst or were Harrowians ..." any way; dinners at Rose Cottage are  looked forward to and pleasant, although, disconcertingly, guests would sometimes ignore the magnificent cutlery and use their fingers for eating.

The Smalleys are still included in the official military events, but there is no longer any need for their advice. By the time the book starts, two wars have been fought with Pakistan, and Lucy applauds the Indian victories, calling it a "walk-through". The Menektaras are gracious hosts and beautiful Coocoo in her elegant saris is self-assured and confident, which does not escape Lucy. And so we come to the Menektaras Holi party.

Holi is still a popular spring festival in India according to information I found http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/holi

And then at the Holi party, Tusker does not join the Indian officers and Dr. Mitra but goes over to the children and plays the clown. I agree it was the action of a desperate man.  Lucy, we notice, has not become adjusted to the separation of officers and wives.
More later

[Frybabe]

Interesting info on Holi, Traude. I hadn't looked it up before. I was surprised to see that it actually comprises up to sixteen days. The party portrayed in the book is the main event, but not the only one.

[straudetwo]

Frybabe, yes, the Holi information is interesting, and so is Lucy's description of the segregation between genders before and when dining. Women line up for the buffet first,  then congregate on in chairs  in a circle on the lawn,  while the men remain standing  in their own  tight circle. Another manifestation of the New Order, one to which Lucy has not become accustomed.

It must have been an almost superhuman effort for Lucy and Tusker to lead such a diminished existence with the stunning realization that they would never be needed again to give feedback or advice,  and that their opinions no longer mattered.  Lucy seems to bear hwhat is surely a heavy burden  better than Tusker.

Do you believe that Tusker really had a personal(ity) change late in life ?
I am not sure I believe it is possible for a rather laid-back, methodical man, whose life's work is straightening accounting books and repairing administrative flaps, to suddenly develop a choleric temper, constant irritation and irascibility - unless such latent tendencies already existed. My experience has been that people generally retain their basic traits and, simply put, remain what they are, only more so.  For example, one who is a bit of a tightwad can turn into a miser - and I knowof others.

Could Tusker's change of attitudes have been caused by his belated awareness that he has miscalculated,  nothing turned out as plannned, that there is no comfortable, smooth future ahead, especially now that he is seriously ill ? ? Just what makes him lose control and heap invective on Dr.Mitra  and subject Lucy to the same ?  Or has his physical fcline affected his mind and his psyche ?

There's more in Chater Ten to talk about. Tomorrow

[Frybabe]

I've forgotten when this personality change came about. Will have to try and find it. At any rate, if it was round about retirement, it doesn't surprise me. Often men, once their main occupation is gone and they don't have a hobby to fill in the time, get out of sorts, cranky, picky, just "vegitate" and don't want to do anything, or get over helpful and underfoot. But part of the problem is that the women are used to a routine around the house without hubby in the way, and once he is there all the time, that routine is broken. It is at times a difficult adjustment for both.

[Frybabe]

Oh, almost forgot. I get the impression that Tusker recognizes that he may not have much longer to live and is trying to come to grips with things not done or said that perhaps should have been. Not only is he out of character in the Holi incident, but all of a sudden he is paying more attention to Lucy and what she likes to do, wanting to join and share in her activities. What of the gardening episode? Was he trying to get himself off his butt and establish or reestablish a hobby, to get physically active again? Then there is the church visit. It appears that he is using the new vicar as an excuse to go to church to check him out. He actually participates during the service and insists that the vicar have dinner with them. Trying to get right with God? Wanting to become familiar with the person who will likely be the one officiating at his funeral?

[Jonathan]

"I've forgotten..."  "Oh, almost forgot".... Frybabe, those expressions lend your posts a certain charm. Forgive me, but I'm reminded of Tusker's expressive Ha!'s. What can we read into them? With Lucy, we can at least read between the lines; but what can we make of a Ha!? No wonder that it's such a problem for Lucy.

Your forgetting comes with very good explanation and recall.  When DID Tusker's personality change come about? I believe Traude is right when she says that 'Tusker is being himself - only more so.' Why can't Lucy see that? Is she too wrapped up in herself? Like he is. They were in a way, a boring couple. With hardly a mention in the original Quartet. Neither had an overly charged personality to begin with.

So, I think you're right on with your second case of forgetting. And remembering. 'Tusker recognizes that he may not have much longer to live.' Of course. And he is preparing himself for that. He is very much alive in his interests and occupations, but he has also found a little empty spot at St Johns where he could be buried.

Like it or not. That theme runs through the book. It was announced on page one. Tusker Smalley will die of a massive coronary at approximately 9.30 a.m. on April 24th, 1972. Now what is the reader to make of that? Watch this sweet old couple come to terms with it. They seem to have had a peaceful ten years of retirement in Pankot. We know they used to go for walks in the hillls. With the dog.

[Jonathan]

Traude,should we put STAYING ON on the backburner for a while? I would so much like to keep Tusker alive. And you must be preparing for OLD FILTH. What a fascinating book. I managed to find a copy of it yesterday and am almost through it. All I can say is that the Smalleys were wise in staying on.

[PatH]

Traude,should we put STAYING ON on the backburner for a while?

I'm good with whatever anyone wants to do.  I've enjoyed the leisurely pace of this discussion, but am willing to speed up or slow down as needed.  Either way, I'm with you to the end.

[Frybabe]

Me too!

[straudetwo]

Thanks for the posts. The bizarre weather of New England has slowed me down. The heat was on earlier this week, spring bypassed us altogether, and today summer set in with full force, and now the A/C is on.  Sorry about my delay.

We have come this far together in our discussion and I believe we should stay the course and complete it.
Will be back.

[Frybabe]

I'm glad I am not the only one who thought summer is getting here a little too early. I sincerely hope we don't have a whole summer of high humidity like we did last year, but it is starting to shape up that way. My air conditioners up here on the second floor can't handle such high humidity.

This year I am having an attic fan, vents and new windows installed in my attic. I am told that the attic fan will drop temps up here about 10 degrees. Right now, the attic gets stifling and it is hard to keep temps reasonable. The house is old and has no insulation, apparently. My contractor thought about blowing in insulation, but he dropped that idea when he saw the siding is vinyl. At least the bathroom is insulated now. When we redid the room, I had them tear out the plaster walls and install drywall with insulation on the two outer walls. Any more rooms that I have the walls tore out will get the same treatment. Right now, I have other things that need done and my budget won't cover everything. Waaahhhh! The house is pretty much dictating what needs done. I would like my kitchen remodeled, but the porch roof is leaking and the timbers holding the bank at the bottom of the hill are rotted. I don't want that to go on much longer, otherwise it might give and spill onto the alleyway below.

[PatH]

Aaarrrgghhh, Frybabe, the joys of homeownership.  I have an attic fan and it helps a lot.

[straudetwo]

Following up on last night's posts I would like to express my gratitude to you for coming along on this journey with me. No doubt all of you have finished the book by now. Our presumed task was to track the Smalleys' life in Pankot in retirement.  There is no doubt about the ending because Tusker's death is announced in the first chapter of the book. Paul Scott's goal apparently was to explore their lives together in India,
their decision to stay on, and he does so convincingly.  He also provides a wonderful picture of Pankot before and after the departure of the British. Lucy's and Tusker's backgrounds are revealed, slowly, over successive chapters.  In our discussion I have tried to follow both the events as they evolved and the protagonists' recollections of the past.

We have covered part of Chapter Eleven = the Holi festival and Tusker's "derailment" and its consequences. I feel confident we can discuss the rest of this chapter, and possibly the next one, tomorrow.
Gratefully, Traude

[straudetwo]

Jonathan, yes, I will be co-leading Old Filth because it ties so neatly in to the stranger customs of the era, like sending small children back to England, making them de facto orphans.

But that does not mean I would give up this discussion, which was after all a commitment exempt from the 4-week rule.
But the story is coming to its inevitable end and I must complete the task I set..

[straudetwo]

There's a new awareness that time is passing switftly, the author marks the days and dates again, and Tuker may not have many left. But since the incident on the Holi festival he has shunned hard liquor and taken only beer, and no much of that. When Tusker announced that he and Billy-Boy would get together on the Monday following Palm Sunday, Lucy went to the pictures, adhering to the norm for fear any departure from the usual pattern might have a bad effect on Tusker. On her return the house is dark and empty, making her think that her worst fears have come true. But Tusker had left a note saying he and Billy-Boy had gone to the Shiraz.

He was stone sober when he came home and explained that going to the Shiraz was the only remedy to cheer up Billy-Boy.  Tusker is making an effort to be more accommodating but Lucy is not ready to forgive him. When he says they ought to go to church at Easter,  she replies, "I thought you'd given up noticing things like Easter." Ignoring her sarcasm, he says he'd like to take a "shufty" at the new priest Mr.B. told him about. "...it might fall to him to ash us both to ash and dust us both to dust."

They go to church together and Lucy takes comfort from his presence, and pleasure in Father Sebastian's ringing voice.  She looks up and sees hat his eyes are closed, and she is surprised that he is speaking the words by heart. After the service Tusker lingers, waiting to meet the priest -another new experience - and then spontaneously and insistently invites Father Sebastian  to dinner next time he'd be up in Pankot, the 23rd. But Father has other  commitments and Tusker made him promise to come the following day, Monday, the 24th.
The forceful approach makes Lucy wince and hey have words.

On Tusker's  71st birthday Ibrahim and Minnie bring garlands for both Tusker and Lucy and, according to a long-standing custom, Lucy has small gifts to Ibrahim and Minnie and hands to Ibrahim  backsheesh  to distribute to the servangs at Smiths and Joseph. The mail brings cardsfrom friends - and a letter from Mr Turner. When Tusker ask whether anything other mail came, Lucy hesitates and then says "Only bills".   Tukser insists on taking her to lunch in the Mountain Room and, in the evening,  on accompanying her to the cinema,  where he falls asleep and cries Ha! The film is a comedy and the laughter in the audience wakes him. He does have a high old time. The next day he turned into his grumpy old self again.

Tomorrow I'll summarize Chapter Twelve.
Thank yo.

[PatH]

It's backtracking a little, but I'm particularly touched in Chapter 10 by Lucy's description of what she calls "the sun" in her marriage, by which she means a sort of nourishing emotional warmth.  It was there during their courtship, then started to fade when they got to India, and had to deal with the expectations of army life.  Lucy felt that she didn't please Tusker any more.  Perhaps he was a little soured by the realization that marrying her messed up his army career, but to his credit he doesn't seem to have reproached her about it.  It's not clear she even realized it.

The warmth came back in Mudpore, where they were both happy, free from the picky demands of normal army life.  But when they left Mudpore, it left too, for good.

What a sad waste!  They only had a bit of the potential of their marriage.  It wasn't a bad marriage, but it could have been so much better.

[straudetwo]

[Of course it is all right to back track. b]PatH,[/b]. And I agree.  The Smallaeys' marriage could have been better - if they had been able to confide in each other, talk to each other, rather than of lapsing into morose silences, for nothing is more corrosive in a relationship than sudden unexplained silences.  And why the secrecy and dishonesty about Mr. Turner's imminent visit ?

Let me take this opportunity to bring up another point H hadnt mentioned before, the lone English hippy who lives from handouts in the bazaar and has developed an extraordinary skill to catch coins tossed at him. Ibrahim has seen him on his errands, hes tossed the man a coin and watched him with a mixture of curiosity and shame for the white man.

In Chapter Twelve it is Saturday and the weekend of April 23,  the scene is  Smiths hotel.  A phone call from the lawyer in Ranpur has so infuriated Lila Bhoolaboy that she calls her husband a fool in front of the servants, humiliating him further by laying her hand on him and pushing him.  Summoned to her room, the argument resumes, Lila hurls more invective at Mr. B, threatens to fire him, giving him notice, and ordering to write the Letter.   He protests ("he is my friend, I cannot write such a letter, it would kill him ..." )  , he demurs,  makes excuses, untl then threatens him with divorce, and nastily brings up his extracurricular activities in Ranpur.

Nothing was right or peaceful for on Sunday in church. The schedule had been changed without his having been so informed, and he waited for a long time for Father Sebastian and Susy Williams. At the end of the service, he piest remained standing at the altar longer than and the parishioners  didn't move because he he did not move. Then - surely a miracle - loud and clear, the sound of he organ. A stir went through the congregation. "And they didn't even tell me the instrument was being restored..." Mr. B. thought bitterly. Even his church was excluding him.
Lucy's musings in this chapter will be discussed briefly tomorrow.

[Frybabe]

I can really "feel" for Mr. Bhoolaboy and Lucy at times.

As a child, I very often felt left out or on the outside. Being a "ninety pound weakling" I was usually the last to get picked for team games. I don't remember often getting invited to parties. I found out much later that I was, but Mom nixed the then popular slumber parties without me even knowing I had been invited. So I know how Mr. Bhoolaboy felt when he thought he was being excluded.

Lucy and I had something in common. Although I rarely catch myself doing it these days, I often held conversations with people in my head - what I would say given the opportunity or what I should have said during a past conversation.

I was a bit of a mouse or wallflower when I was young. Yeah, hard to believe it now. 

[straudetwo]

Frybabe, I believe you and understand.
My mother was a perfectionist, and they are difficult to live with,  she was hypercritical, and often unkind. She didn't like the man I married and was opposed to our emigrating.  If I had known how difficult it would be, I might not have done it, but it finally released me from my mother's tight grip.

Mr. Bhoolabhoy had good reason to feel excluded, even by Tusker who had not mentioned that he had invited Father Sebastian to dinner. Mr. B.  had to hear it from the priest.

It's getting late again, and I'll continue in the morning.
Thank you

[Frybabe]

I am sorry to hear your mom was difficult Traude. Mine wasn't, just insecure, I think, that and the fact I was a (shhhhh!) bed-wetter. She was trying to save me (and her) embarrassment, but she never explained that to me. Sigh! I don't think I really ever shook my lack of confidence and insecurity until I met George. It was he that practically forced me to stand up for myself, like myself, and have confidence in my abilities and knowledge. He is also the one enough about computers for me to install hardware, software, and troubleshoot and fix some computer problems. Now, when he comments on the time I spend with my computer, I tell him he is the one that created this monster. HAH!

Now affairs are beginning to come together in our book, and I've managed to read ahead one chapter without realizing it.

[straudetwo]

Apologies for my 2-day absence.
We had violent weather in Mass. on June 1st with tornadoes and extensive damage in the western part of the state;  in the east, thankfully, only downpours and a series of unending thunderstorms.

Frybabe, thank you for your last post and and your compassionate words.  I  keep personal matters private, but Paul Scott has an infallible understanding of human nature,  and the portrayals of his characters  sometimes "hit home", so to speak.

In these last chapters of our book the action proceeds increasingly through Lucy's ruminations.  
In Chapter Twelve, on that (last) Sunday, April 23rd, she attends the service and follows it mechanically,  although her mind is elsewhere. The reader sees the continuous flow of her thoughts in what is clearly stream of consciousness. Her thoughts first focus on Mr. Turner's visit. She hopes he isn't too much of an intellectual and wouldn't mind her talking about the "common and garden things" that interest her : films, plays, popular music = indoor things  that were not recognized proper subjects for enthusiasm in India   in her day,, which makes her very middle class.. She imagines telling Mr. Turner that "the upper classes and all the people who think they are,  are not happy unless they are competing about something, "what they call a full life".

(In big parentheses, isn't our generation exactly like that when it comes to competing in something outdoors ? My grandchildren, for example, have a schedule of extracurricular activities that make my ead swim. Never mind the adults.)

In her "indoor things"Lucy can imagine to be anything and anyone, which reminds her of silent movies to which  her twin brothers took her, and teased for crying. She recalls that John Gilbert's doughboy uniform had "first electrified her with a recollection of Toole, her first sexual object".  (Toole, an enduring fascination - an obsession, a standard by which to measure the men in her life,  like Guy Perron for instance, who bore a certain resemblance to Toole. Lucy had seen him briefly at the farewell party for Col. Layton, the last Commander of the Pankot Rifles.
Over the years she'd seen a Toole or two sometimes among the rank and file of British soldiers,, enduring church parade, who kept seated to let the officers and wives ("the gentry"), leave in strict order of precedence.  Ha!

The glorious, unexpected sounds of the restored organ bring Lucy back to reality.  Greeting Father Sebastian, she confirms the invitation for dinner the next evening  -  and spontaneously invites Suzy Williams, organist, long-time hair stylist  and a Eurasian, to come as well.
 Walking home, Lucy begins to regret her impulsive invitation,  and is ashamed. Suzy, her family and the status of Eurasians are described in Chapter Thirteen.
Back tomorrow evening, deo volente.