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

[PatH]

Staying On  by Paul Scott
 

Please post below if you will be joining us.  

This slim gem of a book has been billed variously as a sequel, a post script, and a coda to Paul Scott's masterpiece, The Raj Quartet,  The fact is that the book stands alone, quite happily, and will continue to delight readers of historical fiction far into the future. This last book finally brought Paul Scott the recognition that had eluded him for so long. What irony of fate, then, that he was too ill to accept the prize in person and died not long after. Staying On tells the story of a British couple who, despite the lack of certainty or assurances of their future, chose to stay in India after the precipitous partition and the hasty departure of the military an civilian personnel. The story begins in medias res and is told in flashbacks twenty-five years after the British left. The locale is still the fictional Pankot of the Raj, the hill station refuge to which the British retreated during the heat on the plains, accompanied by  their servants. How much things have irrevocably changed in the space of a quarter century is shown in this book.  It is, I submit to you, at heart a love story told with compassion, sensitivity, even pathos.

Discussion schedule:   For the start of our discussion on the weekend of April 1 and 2nd, I suggest reading Chapters 1 and 2 and encourage any and all questions. It may be useful to keep a glossary, and I'll be mindful of that.

Related Links:

  The   Himilayan foothills, Northern India

Discussion Leader ~ Traude

[Jonathan]

Everyone is watching their pennies in this story. Lila, Lucy, Tusker and Ibrahim are constantly, it seems to me, checking their accounts. The straitened circumstances of the Smalleys speak in their favor. There were Englishmen who served their country in the outposts of the Empire without enriching themselves.

Such convoluted relationships among the characters. Nature has certainly paired them up in the oddest ways. Using Ibrahim's astrological way of explaining human nature, it would seem to me that Lila and Tusker would make a great match.

About Colonel Sahib, Ibrahim has this to say: 'He was born under the Ram sign of Aries. He must always be butting in, taking charge, solving non-problems, vindicating self and own beliefs.' Couldn't the same be said of Mrs Bhoolabhoy?

Billy Boy and Lucy are both caring persons concerned about the health and happiness of their mates. Migraines and heartbeats respectively. We'll learn more about Ibrahim and Minnie in the pages to follow.

The qestions for me, this early in the book, are, what killed the Colonel, and what will become of Lucy?

This Mr Pandey, up from Ranpur, with his business of 'transmitting or absorbing prana, may require watching.

We musn't think of Pankot of being too isolated. Just consider the choice of medicines available. Dr. Rajendra, with the western variety. Dr. Taporewala with his ayurvedic kind, and Dr. Battacharya with his acupuncture, that Lila has tried.

And Ibrahim, very dubious about it, comes up with a fourth, a European doctor down in Nansera. But he is an Austrian and a Catholic and the Catholics are worse than the Hindus because they believe in human suffering and uncontrolled birth-rates

I believe at this poing Ibrahim is the most reliabel narrator. With his wonderful, unintended humor.

[straudetwo]

Jonathan,
Perhaps Tusker was one of those men, civilian or military, who live entirely for their job and are lost in retirement, especially when they had no other hobbies and interests. Some become irritable with people around them and get exercised over inconsequential matters. It has been said that as we age we need to be needed for our own emotional well-being.

Tusker enjoyed  his get-togethers with Billy-Boy, who was an attentive, eager listener. What we read about their conversations, Tusker remained interested in political and world events, but there was no one of his own age, no white person left, only a man too young to have been an eyewitness, an Indian. No doubt it upset him that he and Lucy were once again renters, not in Smiths - where Mr and rs. Bhoolabhoy lived in the suite that had been occupied by the Smalleys - but in the Lodge, utterly dependent on Mrs Bhoolabhoy's good will -- not a trait she possessed.

In an essay titled When the Sun Finally Set, published in the Spectator i 2007, The eminent Canadian historian Margaret McMillan (Paris 1919 :  Six Months  That Changed the World), writes that,  "In 1980,  Granada Television filmed Staying On with Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson as Tusker Smalley and his wife Lucy, famously advertised it at the time "Reunion for the first time since Brief Encounter . The success of its first showing on British television in December 1980 encouraged Granada Television  to embarked on the much greater project of making The Raj Quartet into a major fourteen-part series known as The Jewel in the Crown, first broadcast in the UK in 1997 and subsequently in the US and many commonwealth countries. ..."

More from McMillan's essay :
"I first read the Raj Quartet in the early 1970s, when Paul Scott's decision to set his novels in the dying days of the British raj in India seemed an eccentric choice, almost as though he did not want readers. The British were tired of their imperial past. Who wanted to know the names of the long gone empire builders whose statues dotted cities and towns ? Only a few students wanted to study imperial history.
(I was one, perhaps because Canadians were acutely aware of how being part of a great empire had shaped them.) The empire to most people in Britain was an embarrassment, a joke, and a bore.  It must have been galling for Scott that critical recognition of what is an
extraordinary contribution to English literature was o slow in coming. Only The Towers of Silence and Staying On achieved success : The Towers of Silence with the Yorkshire Post Award in 1971, and Staying On with the Booker Prize in 1977."

McMillan also wrote a book Women of the Raj in 1988. More about that tomorrow.
Thank you for your posts.

[Frybabe]

I'm going to have to see if I can find a DVD of Staying On. I had no idea one was made.

[rosemarykaye]

Frybabe - I didn't know that either, but I have found it on Lovefilm - which is something like the US's Netflix - although i don't subscribe to it.  Here are the DVD details:

http://www.lovefilm.com/film/Staying-On/80539/?promotion_code=LFPPC14TITLEG&cid=lfppc&mckv=mkwid%7CsK1ClNysA%7Cpcrid%7C9334526251%7Cplid%7C%7Ckword%7C

Unfortunately no copy seems to exist in the whole of the Edinburgh city libraries network.

Hope that link works,

Rosemary

[Jonathan]

 I'm just on my way out to pick up the DVD of Staying On. If it has arrived. I put a reserve on it, of which our library has 12 copies. I'm thoroughly hooked on this drama that is playing out in the lives of Tusker and Lucy. Compressed into the few months between Tusker's initial heart attack and then his anticipated death. What a cruel situation they find themselves in. Abounding in mystery. Why is Tusker heard sobbing in the loo? The first time Lucy (or Ibrahim) has ever heard the tough Colonel crying. It came after Lucy had talked to him sternly about pride.

Thanks, Traude, for the background information. Did you know that Margaret MacMillan is now warden of St. Antony's College, at Oxford? Researching a book on the First World War. My newspaper features a weekly column, MY BOOKS, MY PLACE, in which the famous tell about their favourite reading. A while ago MM talked about her reading, and it included Years of Yesterday, the memoir by Stefan Zweig. You must be familiar with that book.

Wouldn't you know it. MM would have written about the women who lived the raj, after reading Scott. Isn't The Towers of Silence mainly about the women of the Raj? Staying On is certainly the story of one of those women.

'the dying days of the British Raj in India seemed an eccentric choice'

That's a curious thing coming from a professional historian.

[rosemarykaye]

I think Tusker is crying because despite all his attempts to keep up appearances - which would be vital to someone of his age group and background - he knows that everything has ended up badly.  He can't admit it even to Lucy, but he probably never expected to end up where he (and she) now is.

Rosemary

[Steph]

At elder hostel.book not with me.enjoying the discussion.

[Jonathan]

Everything has ended badly, for Tusker. I like that. Perhaps he can do something about it. He was a successful expediter, with his paperwork.

Enjoy your hosteling, Stephanie. You must tell us all about it when you get back.

I've just finished watching Stayiny On, with Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard. It's a wonderful film. Heartwarming and heartbreaking. A tragedy with a lovely ending. Of course, it couldn't possibly convey all the nuances in the book, but - the Colonel is tough; Lucy is charming; Mrs Bhoolabhoy is a vamp; and Mr B is a competent but frustrated manager (it's a bit droll watching them fall into each others' arms). Perhaps the only character not allowed to play his howling self is Bloxsaw, the handsome dog. Hot Chichanya really is hot stuff, even if she's not given a chance to do her 'red leather whip, Koshak dance' number. But I'm not telling you the half of it. Make sure you see it.

[PatH]

Jonathan, I totally want to see it, and it's in my Netflix queue, but I don't want to touch it until I'm a lot farther along in the book.  But I'm glad to hear it's a good job.

[straudetwo]

Rosemary,  thank you for the links to the film ad and reviews. The disappointment of readers that neither book nor film elaborate about characters from the Quartet who returned is not really surprising. Even reviewers of the book were uncertain what to call Staying On. It is certainly not a sequel; 'postscript', 'coda', or even the recently found'companion' is more to the point. It is a clear indication, of course,  how deeply engrossed readers became with the story told in the four original volumes.

Our public library has the film  (HA!)  and I've ordered it.  Luckily,  Margaret MacMillan's Women of the Raj : The Mothers, Wives, Daughters of the British Empire in India is likewise available from a neighboring branch in the system.  In the book, the author recreates the lives of women in India, how they adjusted to the hardships of a murderous climate in an alien, often hostile environment,  from the letters and memoirs,  novels, and interviews with survivors. Their principal task seems to have been to replicate Victorian society in India. And Lucy, as Steph has said, was a perfect example.

Jonathan, I'm so happy to hear you liked the movie.
incidentally, it is probably no accident that MacMillan's first book was Women of the Raj : her maternal grandfather, Dr. Thomas John Carey Evans, served in the Indian Medical Service. He was the personal physician of the Marquess of Reading during the latter's tenure as Viceroy from 1921-1926.   Oh yes, I know of MacMillan and Oxford.  I've held her in high regard ever since we discussed her work Paris 1919 here in 2004, now archived,

Stefan Zweig was one of my favorite authors of all times. The original title of his autobiography is Die Welt von gestern (*). I bought it on one of my trips to Europe. One book of his I especially enjoy is Sternstunden der Menschheit, (**) 12 'miniatures' of flash points, so to speak, significant, singular, decisive moments in the lives of famous people. It was translated into English but I can't recall the title now and will look it up.
 
Stefan Zweig, an Austrian, was a European in the truest sense of the word, a pacifist who envisioned a united Europe and one government (!). He was a good friend of Romain Rolland and the composer Richard Strauss (and there is more on that score).  In 1934, four years before the "Anschluss" of Austria, he fled the Europe the loved, fearing the destructiveness and insanity of Hitler's regime would engulf all of Europe, as it nearly did.  In 1942 he and his second wife committed suicide. He was born in 1881 and awarded the Nobel Prize in 1915.

Steph, enjoy your stay at the hostel and the fellowship with the people ! I hope you will tell us where you went.

(*) literally Yesterday's World
(**) literally Starred Hours of Mankind

Will answer the question of The Towers of Silence tomorrow.

[Jonathan]

malum: means understood?

Pat, I think you're wise in saving the film for later. On the other hand I find myself returning to the book with greater zest than ever. You pointed out the good use Scott makes of the understatement. To assure a balanced picture he than uses its opposite. A comic use of overstatement.

Ibrahim hears Lucy calling at an awkward moment:

'Coming, Memsahib!' he cried when he realized who it was. The overstatement of the week. Withdrawing, stifling Minnie's anticipated shriek of outrage with one hand he hissed in her ear, 'Be quiet. Intruders.'p45

Traude, I have three or four of Sefan Zweig's books. One I particularly liked was his biography of Joseph Fouchè, the crafty, unscrupuous French politician who survived the Terror, Napoleon's Empire, and the reinstatement of the legitimate Louis, whose father(?) was given the 'push' in 1789.

I have The World of Yesterday. Wouldn't it make a good discussion? And then there is his Der Kampf mit dem Dämon. My German isn't quite up to it, despite my trying every so often. Zweig himself seems to have been the victim of the demonic times.

[Jonathan]

Fouchè served them all as chief of police. Like J. Edgar Hoover? Without casting any character aspersions on the latter.

[straudetwo]

Jonathan, yes,  I believe that is the meaning of malum.

It has been time-consuming to trace the terms in Indian-English dictionaries, not all are helpful. Some are hard to read with white print on a black background.  Malum could not be found. But like you I believe you  I believe this  is  English definition because it makes sense. I'll try to compile a list for our glossary as soon as I can.

On the artistic association between Stefan Zweig and Richard Strauss :  He provided the libretto for the opera Die schweigsame Frau (The Silent Woman) and did not, as ordered,  remove Zweig's name from the program. That prompted Göbbels  not to attend the première in Dresden on June 14, 1935.The opera was banned after three performances.  But that was not the end of the collaboration between Zweig and Strauss.
The  title of theEnglish translation of Sternstunden der Menscheit is The Tide of Fortune : 12 Historical Miniatures.
All finely styled, poignant - brilliant.

The Towers of Silence, vol. 3 of the Quartet, is a continuation of the story line about all the characters,  and the women include two Britsh missionaries, Edwina Crane (whom we met in vol. and who dies by self-immolation),  and Barbara (Barbie) Bachelor. Both are looked down on by the British wives.  Barbie, retired from missionary work, becomes a paid  companion of the mistress of Rose Cottage, Mrs. Mabel Layton Sr., hated by her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Layton Jr. (We'll talk more about Rose Cottage in connection with our book.)

The story progresses, and the perspective in this book is entirely Barbie's. Some reviewers have described this volume as a paean to Barbie, and it is true.

The title The Towers of Silence is a reference to the circular raised structures used by Zoroastrians for the exposure of the dead on platforms at the top of the hill.
Small groups of people in India and Iran still practice these ancient rituals, but there is no specific term for the structures themselves. The  common dakhma ordokhma[/color  ( from Middle Persian) originally denoted any place for the dead.  In the Iranian provinces of Yazd and Kerman, the technical term is deme or dema.

Back to our story, later.

[Jonathan]

I'm reminded of what Kipling had to say about the Towers of Silence. It consisted of very early childhood memories as told in Something of Myself. Of being taken for walks in Bombay, by his ayah:

Our evening walks were by the sea....I have always felt the menacing  darkness of tropical eventides....There were far-going Arab dhows on the pearly waters and gaily dressed Parsees wading out to worship the sunset. Of their creed I knew nothing, nor did I know that near our little house on the Bombay Esplanade were the Towers of Silence, where their Dead are exposed to the waiting vultures on the rim of the towers, who scuffle and spread their wings when they see the bearers of the Dead below. I did not  understand my mother's distress when she found 'a child's hand' in our garden, and said I was not to ask questions about it. I wanted to see that child's hand. But my ayah told me.

Only in India.

[straudetwo]

Today I spent endless precious hours waiting. Of course I had our book with me. 

We've been together here for a week, and I believe this is a good time to reflect on what we have read. I'll start us off tomorrow.
Until then - take care.

[Steph]

Back from my week away. What a lovely elderhostel it was.. If anyone loves history in the US.. The 450 years of history for St. Augustine , Fl. is a delight. Amazing..The Spanish owned eastern Florida a lot longer than it has been a state.
Now back to the book.. I find myself impatient with Tusker. He is the type of person, that I spend a lot of time avoiding.. But Lucy.. I like Lucy.

[straudetwo]

Steph, welcome back !  I'm sure you had a wonderful time in St. Augustine. I was there years ago with my family. We were 'just  traveling through', but I insisted we stay overnight.  It took some doing because my late husband was impatient and a reluctant traveler.
My teenage daughter, her schoolfriend Christine and my small son still remember the Fountain of Youth Park.

Back to our book. It begins in medias res with the death of one of the main protagonists - definitely a shock to readers, but at the same time a powerful enticement to go on reading and find out what happened -- in flashbacks.

The circumstances of the protagonists' lives first emerge in chapters 1 and 2. The Smalleys are the last British couple in Pankot, who had elected to stay on in India when British rule and the Empire officially ended. Lucy and Tusker have adapted after a fashion to the
new order.  Both, especially Lucy, hanker after the good old days - even the mixed ones of her youth. Her reminiscences are heartbreaking.

To try to understand Tusker takes a bit longer. Though of an "inferior" regiment, he performed his work well. Any job well done entitles one to pride.  For Tusker, pride was all important - as it is for all of us. To find himself tied to and dependent on the greedy Mrs. B was of course a thorn in his side.
He was outraged about his beloved wilting, unwatered  calla lilies,  and the uncut knee-high grass, because that should have been seen to by Mrs B's mali, according to the stipulations int he lease.  A close inspection of the lease by Lucy and Tusker in Ibrahim's presence reveals that he does not have a leg to stand on. The battle lines are drawn.

We've talked about Mr. B before.  Whatever his flaws as a human being, he is a good man, his heart is in the right place.. The same is true also for Ibrahim.
 
If there are no more comments on the first two chapters,  perhaps we can we  move on to discuss chapters 3 and 4. Please weigh in.

[Frybabe]

Jonathan, I would have been upset too, had I found a hand in my garden. I shall have to read more of Kipling.

I am about caught up with my other reading, so I am ready to go on to the next chapters.

[Jonathan]

Welcome back, Stephanie. It's nice to hear that you had a good time. I almost made it to St Augustine once, years ago. My wife and I had been driving for several days, and we found ourselves in the Savannah and Jekyll Island part of Georgia, and stayed on. A lot of history there, too.

Of course it's easy to become impatient with Tusker. What a difficult time Lucy has with him. And then, what a difficult time Frankie (Mr B) has with his wife Lila (Mrs B) One couple is a foil for the other. But impatience turns into understanding in the end. I finished reading the book last  night, and found myself in a melancholy frame of mind. Wherever did the author find this sad tale.

Thanks, Traude, for the outline of the first two chapters. The rest of the book gets into the details.

Some interesting words: bas! - enough!

dak - post

pukka - proper

tamasha - spectacle

HE - His Excellency

I've found a book on my shelves with a short gloss of Anglo-Indian words.

[Steph]

Lucy seems caught in a web of remembering. I think she is so very lonely. Ibraham comes closest to being a friend. That is sad when you think of it.

[PatH]

I agree, Traude, we should start on chapters 3 and 4.

[Jonathan]

It is a time to remember. In a time of crisis. We should have gone home, Tusker....We should have gone home after the debacle. Now it's too late.

Chapter 2 ends with a very worried Lucy. Her husband's health is a matter of grave concern. He has just suffered a heart attack, and will in fact die in a few weeks time. Only the reader knows that. Lucy is preoccupied with doing whatever might help in restoring Tusker to good health.

To Ibrahim, their servant, she says, You must be patient with Sahib. We must both be patient. Very patient. You must please forgive him for what he said. Doctor Mitra is very worried. And I am worried. The Sahib simply isn't himself....When a man who has always been active, and suddenly finds himself inactive he tends, how shall I put it, to exaggerate every teeniest little thing, malum?

The tiny things are the long grass and the tired canna lilies. And the missing mali (gardener). And that bitch, the propieter, who has deceived him regarding the terms of the lease to his cottage. (Of course Lucy and Ibrahim are also to blame in the deception). A stressful time for Colonel Smalley.

What's to happen to you if I drop dead?he asks Lucy.

But Lucy has her own problems with deception in Chapters 3 and 4. Self deception. What is that all about?

[Jonathan]

canna lilies

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=canna+lilies&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=

[Jonathan]

The Amazing Grace canna lilies are beautiful. Is that Joseph admiring them? Lucy finds a bit of amazing grace along the way. I forgotten where it was.

[Steph]

Lucy seems to be struggling between hope and cold fact in these chapters. Tusker really can only blame himself for not reading the new lease..His landlady is quite bent and he really knows this.

[straudetwo]

Ibrahim was an 'ear' witness to Tusker's death from a massive coronary at about 9:30 a.m. on the last Monday in April 1972. 
He heard Sahib's angry outcry, the scraping of the rickety verandah chair, and the fall. The Letter was hand-delivered by Minnie, and he took it right in to Tusker, who yelled at him furiously to leave - now.

In fact Ibrahim should not have been there.  A short while earlier Tusker Sahib had given him his wages, then brusquely sacked him.  It was nothing new. Both of his employers had taken that action before and, in time, revered themselves.  So he stayed around waiting for memsahib to return from the beauty parlor.
In the earliest chapters of this book the author clearly places great importance on recording the exact timeline of regular minutae of that day.  What is a possible reason for that ?

There is no direct followup of Lucy's return and her reaction to Tusker's death. Instead the narrative (from Ibrahm's perspective) takes us back to the object of Tusker's contention, the wrongful neglect of the  grass, the untended calla lilies,  the alleged violation of the lease --- and in due course Tusker's box of valuables containing said all important lease.  Lucy stalls from producing the box; and when she reluctantly does, on Ibrahim's advice, Tusker discovers the shattering truth that they have no lease at that point,  a  fact deliberately obscured by the tortuous wording of the curent (lasgt year's) agreement, countersigned by the Smalleys in good faith. Now begins the final battle.

[straudetwo]

Then Lucy embarks on "Operation Mali" wih Ibrahim as he co-conspirator.  It is to be undertaken without tusker getting any idea that Lucy is behind it, but the conspirators realize that "Management", Mr. Bhoolabhoy, would have to be informe. At first Ibrahim is unsure, and his curiosity a  piqued, why Memsahib is looking to "buy" a young strong boy. Once he understands he agrees to help,  they talk about costs, lodging and, especially,  how to get gardening tools.

But it is Mr. Bhoolabhoy who finds the boy, by a coincidence at St. John's Church.  His name is Joseph and he is a Christian and has a fair grasp of English, is eager, willing and capable of working minor wonders in the arid, dusty yard.  He comes from Ranpur where he has tended gardens before, specifically at the Sisters who run a Home for the Mentally Ill. (That is in fact where Barbie Bachelor spent her remaining years in the Towers of Silence, but here of course only of marginal importance.)

There is action as well as new information in Chapters Three to Five (pp. 31-59), so why don't we discuss as much as we can of these chapters.  And there are the wonderful similes Paul Sctt weaves into the story,e.g.

"No box", she repeated. She vibrated in every frail bone. Her eyes wee b pp/ 1right lavender, her skin like cracked fine china.
In the morning her eyes were grey again." pp. 13-14

[Jonathan]

'Tusker can only blame himself for not reading the new lease.' That's a good observation, Stephanie. Now that he has read it he is beside himself. And shifts the blame for his ignorance of the terms on to Lucy and Ibrahim. But we must remember that he is a very sick man, and is not, as Lucy points out to Ibrahim, his usual self. The forebearance Lucy and Ibrahim show is remarkable.

Ibrahim is very fond of both the Colonel and Memsahib: 'He had spoiled them both' with his careful attentions. The lease, by the way, is not a new lease. It's last year's, due to expire in a few months. That hasn't hit Tusker yet. He's too anxious about the neglected grass and flowers.

We know that he will be dead before that. You're right, Traude, wondering why the author is so determined that we know that. Date and time are specified several times. You pointed out in the pre-discussion that every detail in the book is significant. This narrative trick reminds me of a Thomas Hardy poem dramatizing the Titanic disaster, in which the listener knows what awaits the passengers on their voyage. We should be asking ourselves, why was Lucy having her white hair blue-rinsed and set that Monday morning in April.

[kidsal]

Book finally arrived today and have finished two chapters.  There was a note inside the cover from a man to woman dated 1978 -- best wishes.  Always curious about these people.

Imagine the old Indian servants were as disturbed as the English in the interruption in their way of life.  Ibrahim had worked for a British couple for many years and after they left they sent him cards for a few years but did't answer his request for them to help him find a position in England.
Probably not much use for their services now and no pension plan!

[Jonathan]

Is it a first edition, Kidsal? The Smalleys couldn't have managed without Ibrahim, could they? What a devoted servant. But he's not without ambition.

Writing a novel such as this, it seems to me, must be somewhat like knitting a garment. Such as the patterned and colourful pullovers that Lucy used to knit for Tusker. Intricately designed, isn't it? What a maze of deception is created in tricking the Colonel back to good health, in this curious web of relationships of the Smalley circle.

Enter Joseph, the new mali, a fresh-faced little healer if ever there was one. He'll bring things back to life. A sense of mission is created: And Joseph, as though summoned by a disciple, had risen...and followed Ibrahim to Smith's tool shed....The boy stood at the entrance as though it were a holy grotto. Taken to Tusker's neglected, overgrown, jungled lawn, Joseph stood as if rapt, then knelt and touched the grass. Bhoolabhoy Sahib pointed at the bed of canna lilies....

Those ominous, foreboding canna lilies.

Back to the knitting. I believe Scott should have unravelled and started over with this row of slipped stitches: (Operation Mali is the infinite web of deception and self-deception woven in catering to Tusker's needs.)

Otherwise the operation had so far worked out well. It had been mounted with the precision that Lucy brought to most of her activities, including knitting which however awful the final result she was prepared to spend hours over, unravelling row after row if she saw a slipped stitch or decided that the tension was uneven.

Ibrahim deceives himself if he thinks he might confuse this old lady. God bless him.

[Frybabe]

I like Joseph. He has a passion for gardening and lawn work. He loves to make things grow.

[Steph]

Joseph is quite interesting. He comes to the story and inhabits a sort of off kilter sort of role..

[straudetwo]

I've been working on my taxes, preparing for an appointment in the morning, and will see you when that is behind me.
May thanks for your posts.

In haste.

[Steph]

I am probably reading ahead, but the book grows progressively darker. I had hoped for a lighter touch.. But should have known. I will keep on, but I am still having problems with darkness in my reading. 17 months after the accident, but I still have flashbacks and nightmares and dont wish to disturb my peace of mind.

[Jonathan]

I'm sorry if I have made it seem darker than it is.

'Sadness of world,' is the clipped answer when asked by Minna, 'What is worrying you, Ibrahim.'

I'd better get my taxes done, too. I've been putting it off.

[PatH]

I'd better get my taxes done, too. I've been putting it off.

Me too, alas.

So I said I was ready to move on, and then clammed up for two days.  But I've caught up now.  I'm not just seeing a dark side, I'm enjoying the gentle humor, for instance Ibriham's brief misunderstanding of the purpose for which the Colonel-Memsahib wants a young man, whose duties she is willing for him to use too, and the way Tusker can watch her knitting a sweater for months, but only complains about the pattern after it is given to him.

[straudetwo]

Here I am, the necessary task accomplished. The movie is here, and so is Women of the Raj, which has interesting pictures. I plan to see he movie on the weekend; it can keep it until the 21st.

Kidsal, indeed there is no question that the Indians suffered a great deal during the unrest and skirmishes of protesters in the last years of the Raj, and collectively even more unfathomable hardships  during the upheaval that followed Lord Mountbatten's announcement on June third 1947 that the Partition would become effective and had to be completed by August 14/15, 1947 - too short a period of time by far for such a monumental endeavor.

By 1972, in which our book is set,  two wars  had been fought between India and Pakistan and one involving Bangladesh. Scuffling over Kashmir is ongoing even now; it ebbs and flows. A Google map showing Kashmir as Pakistani property has been labeled incorrect.

Pankot seems to have had less violent a time. The book describes the formal transfer of power from the British to the Indian commandants, the lowering of the Union Jack and the rising of the Indian flag accompanied by tumultuous applause.  But there's still poverty; with the British gone, fewer jobs are available.

Steph,  I am sorry that some things in this book bring to your mind the loss with which you are still coping and which is still fresh. The same thing happened to a participant in our discussion of Little Bee.  It is life that has a way of reminding us of its transitoriness and the impermanence of happiness, just when we believed ourselves in calmer waters. The human condition.

PatH, this is a quiet little book where ostensibly nothing earth-shaking seems to happen, but looking more closely,  tensions and
discord are rife. Paul Scott is a master at the charming detail, the brief asides, the interior musings of the characters - if only they could bring themselves to utter them, how helpful it would be for Lucy and Tusker !

Ibrahim is an endearing c haracter. He respects memsahib, he admires her.  He knows her moods, has heard the rows between husband and wife, knows of Lucy's love of popular music of her ime and her record collection, and her love of movies - which he shares. But the word 'débȃcle' eludes him.  (We readers too have wait for the explanation of what happened in Bombay so long ago.)  One evening Ibrahim puts her jewelry in a glass with some gin in it to clean; he then removes it carefully and replaces it in her jewelry box. A kindness, almost tenderness. He drinks the gin, but is aware it's against his religion.

On the night of Tusker's sudden illness, when Lucy summons him, he carries Tusker into bed, then waits for Dr. Mitra, makes tea, pads back and forth between bedroom and kitchent o fetch whatever is needed. After the doctor leaves, he spends the night at the Lodge in front of the dying fire.
To reiterate, this is not a book to be read in a gulp or in a hurry. Unless we savor it slowly, we miss the beauty and the message.
As we read on, we may wonder if what the message, or theme if you will, might be.

Jonathan, thank you very much again for the link to the calla lilies and the Indian words. I will ask JoanP to put the link - and Frybabe's link of the Himalayas - into the header, an will d work on the glossary.

More tomorrow.

[Steph]

Ibraham has great steadiness. He is quite close to a son to Lucy.. Tusker,, he admires and understands possibly better than Lucy does.
I guess I have problems with the pettiness of some of the characters and the downright incredible malice of the landlady.. Her husband is kind, but ineffectual..She is just flat out a monster thus far.

[Jonathan]

I can't agree with you, Stephanie. Mrs Bhoolabhoy is not a monster. She's the new India. The new Mother India, busy at redevelopment and retrenchment, as she puts it. The Smalleys are in her way. She is a real problem for the Colonel, of course. But he's small potatoes, a has-been. The British are now a mere irritation. It's the Punjabi Mafia that she has to cope with. Crooks and criminals. She decides to join them to get the better of them.

You're right, Pat. Gentle humor by the bushel in this book, some of it seen through tears. The thoughts that go through Ibrahim's head, when he hears Lucy asking for the services of a young boy are a bit of a shock, but he is obviously looking for sunshine in a dreary world.

Right on, Traude, with your obsevation that 'this is a quiet little book, where obstensibly nothing earth-shaking seems to happen.'

Looked at closely, however, it's an upside-down, shattered world for poor Lucy.