Mallikarjun Patil’s When the Ground Shakes Beneath as a
Picaresque Novel - A Review
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Dr Mallikarjun Patil is a master
craftsman of words who has previously written novels like Two Generations. In
Shakespeare’s England is his most famous travelogue. In the present novel, When
the Ground Shakes Beneath Mr Patil pays a rich tribute to the hapless people who
died in the Gujarat earthquake of 26th January 2001. He asserts that he has
written the novel “in mourning of those who, by God’s design or by their own
misdeeds, went to heaven, or hell while they were yet to be here on the earth
when the ground shook
benath.”1
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When the ground Shakes beneath
has been divided into seven chapters. It is quite bulky. In the first chapter “A
Man on the Run” the writer describes Bangalore, the ‘garden city.’ Bangalore is
the birth place of Vinod Kanha who was an MBA graduate at Indian Institute of
Management (IIM)-Ahmedabad. His father Satyajit Kanha came from the town of
Haridwar in Uttarkhand. He first settled down in Mumbai.
He fell in love with Shilpa Paul, an actress there. The couple migrated to
Bangalore. But the reason for their migration seems to be mysterious. Satyajit
started a dal mill, a cement factory and a distillery. He became a millionaire
in a short time. He educated his son Vinod and daughter properly. The boy after
his graduation went toto IIM in Ahmedabad for doing his coveted professional
course MBA. There he falls in love with Geetabehn, his classmate. The young lady
was an agreeable beauty. One critic Dr P. Kannan comments that the two lovers
hailed from rich background and the same is an unusual combination for love.
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It is rather traditional and
arranged-type. Patil describes Geetabehn’s father Sanjay Pande, a business
tycoon in Ahmedabad. Geetabehn’s only brother Vasubhai who went to England
settled down there. He worked in the London tube. Vasubhai married a Spanish
lady Carmela. There is a nice description of the city of Ahmedabad. Vinod is
said to have taken inspiration from his uncle Veerlal, a professor in
Pampapattan in the South. Interestingly the city of Pampapattan sounds like R.
K. Narayan’s Malgudi. Vinod completed his three semesters of MBA and he was in
the final semester. He was asked by his parents to go home for dasara holidays.
His father and sister Gauri asked him to go there with his fiancée. The two went
down to Bangalore and they did holidaying in and around Bangalore and Mysore.
Their mixing up with the Kanha’s family is elaborate. Patil describes Mysore’s
history and mystery all together. Then they went to Panjim, the capital city of
Goa and to Ahmedabad later.
Geetabehn’s marriage was underway shortly. Her parents as well as Vinod’s
parents permitted their marriage although it was inter-caste. Even they had
altogether different backgrounds as well. The two married on January 26 in a
grand manner in Ahmedabad. As we know January 26 is a celebrated as Republic Day
in India. It is so in Ahmedabad on that day. The major characters of the novel
wanted to enjoy that day. be it as it may, Vinod and Geetabehn decided to go to
Nainital in Uttarkhand for honeymoon. Sanjay Pande sat before the television to
watch the RD activities in New Delhi. It was 8 o’ clock morning. Suddenly there
was a disaster:
‘G-od save me,’ cried Sanjay Pande suddenly.
‘Oh Shi-va!’ went many deep voices in the kitchen.
‘Hey mummy,’ cried the tiny tots sitting nearby.
‘Dud, dud dudddle—’
‘He-lp me.’
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‘The earth was shaking every few minutes. People were shaking out of their
houses with fear. People, regardless of dignity, fortune and status—ran out as
if they were invaded by some ferocious hordes of enemy countries.’ In the third
chapter “Precious Lives Lost,” the novelist describes the damage done by the
earthquake. Unfortunately Geetabehn’s room was far away and her sister’
Rashmibehn’s was nearby. Sanjay Pandey’s three storied building with as many
independent flats had crashed down. Rashmibehn was Geetabehn’s younger sister.
There was no clue about Geetabehn whether she was alive or dead ‘I’m afraid
she’s dead,’ Vinod thought of it nervously. ‘Rashmi,’ as endearingly addressed
by him, noticed Vinod’s blood shot eyes. She knew he was worried about his wife.
It was her ‘didi.’ Now the two were safe somewhere. Vinod and Rashmibehn passed
a day in the caved debris of their house. |
‘I love you,’ Rashmibehn told Vinod the next moment. She was smiling all over.
In another shake, both Rashmibehn and Vinod were wounded. Finally they are
rescued. This was after two days they after the earthquake. But Geetabehn did
not survive the debacle and she died after taking a promise from Vinod that he
should marry her sister, and they can meet in heaven. The passage reminds us
Thomas Hardy’s Tess getting hanged after she took a promise from Angel Clare
that he should marry her sister Liza Loo. The wish to joining in heaven echoes
Sir Thomas More’s wish of seeing his daughter in heaven. More said it to her
when she asked him to have a compromise with the monarch Henry VIII.
In the fourth chapter “Life in Chaos,” the novelist describes the havoc caused
the ‘Friday killer’ earthquake. People said, ‘Months and years will take for
recovery.’ ‘The January 26th earthquake has put the state back by at least ten
years,’ said Geetabehn’s father. In the fifth chapter, “Tragic Tales,” the
novelist narrates the Kahnas’ agony and pain. The TV news ‘Gujarat is shaken.
10,000 people are feared to be dead. The death toll may go high still. The tower
of Ahmedabad, Bhuj, Rajkot, Surrendranagar and others are affected by the worst
ever earthquake in the country” shook them. In the sixth chapter “The Man and
the Lady” the novelist narrates the conditions of social life in Kutch towns.
Already in response to the Prima minister’s appeal many nations had sent their
help and rescue teams. Britain, the Netherlands, Norway and Turkey were among
the first countries to announce emergency assistance for Gujarat earthquake
victims. Vinod and Rashmi passed their time together to look after the victims.
Of course, Rashmi’s mother was hospitalized in Bhuj. The novelist writes of the
recovery and people’s happy conditions in the last chapter “Aftermath.”
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‘Life is full of thorns,’ Vinod thought. The very hardness, dryness and thorns
of the cacti appear to symbolize the darker side of human existence. ‘A thorn’
Vinod thought ‘is an
elusive metaphor on man’s life.’ Sanjay Pandey built his new house and named it
after his late daughter. The novel ends with a happy note and with the marriage
of Vinod an
Rashmi. Malcolm Mckinnon, from New Zealand, writes in the foreword “This novel
is a universal love story crafted by the author’s academic specialty.”2 He
compares Mallikarjun Patil’s
novel to the English writer Thomas Hardy’s novels like Tess of the
D’Urbervilles. What is unique about the novel is that it looks like a
travelogue. It is in picaresque mode. The hero
Vinod Kanha is of a wandering type. No doubt, the novel makes an interesting
reading. |
References:
1. All the textual references are from Mallikarjun Patil’s When the Ground
Shakes Beneath, Shivanagouda Patil publication, Dharwad, 2008.
2. Malcolm Mckinnon, ‘Foreword,’ Ibid.
Contributed By:
Dr.
Ram Sharma, Lecturer in English,
Janta Vedic College MEERUT, U.P.
dr.ram_sharma@yahoo.co.in
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