Analysis of ENGLISH, AUGUST: An Indian Story by Upamanyu Chatterjee Part -2

    In the second half of the novel, Agastya returns to his uncle’s home in Delhi for a Diwali break.  Here also the narrator cites examples to show the misuse of power by civil servants. He travels with Kumar in first class. Later, Kumar refuses to accept train ticket charge-450 rupees-and receives a hundred rupees from Agastya as token of friendship. Agastya guesses that Kumar might have assigned a police menial to buy train tickets for them and doesn’t pay him. Perhaps, police man may get the reward as promotion. They catch a taxi from Delhi railway station and quarrels with a taxi driver over fifty rupees. Kumar misuses his power and threatens the driver. But the driver drives off abusing thus “Tell him to get his arse-hole stitched with the fifty rupees”. Agastya plans to drop his job to work for a publishing firm owned by his second cousin, Tonic. His father exhorts him to keep up the profession and his uncle also encourages him to maintain his job by reminding him of the security of a government position. Before he comes back to the Madna, he realizes that Dhrubo is also in preparation for civil service and unlike others of his age, he has no worries about the job hunt and financial insecurity. Yet, he envies them and feels guilty.

Back in Madna, collector Srivastav orders Agastya to guide an English man named John Avery and his Indian wife Sita, who are in search of the spot where John Avery’s grandfather was attacked and killed by a tiger. Later, Agastya is posted as a block development officer in Jumpanna where half of the population (12,000) is tribals. Here, he rides in a jeep with additional district health officer Tiwari to visit Baba Ramanna’s Rehabilitation home in Gorapak. Agastya excuses himself from the revenue meeting enacting like a sick one and writes to the collector that he is going to consult the doctor Multani. Doctor is also greedy for wealth and has no call for the profession.

    Later on, Agastya discovers certain meaning to his profession and works for the benefit of the people. He acts as a responsible officer when he receives a complaint from a tribal woman on shortage of water in Chipanthi. Though the region is notorious for the presence of Nexal militants, he brushes away security concerns and visits the place. His meeting with a Nexalite named Rao equips him to understand the plight of tribals in rural India and the exploitation they suffer from bureaucrats. He also learns from Rao that the forest officer Mohan Gandhi has seduced a tribal woman and the men of her village have cut off his arms as punishment.  Later, District Development Officer Bajaj talks about tribal’s ignorance and points at the fact the mainstream Indian society has not engaged with them since independence in 1947. Measures taken by government has helped only to “ruin distinctive tribal cultures without providing any real compensation”.At last, he gets a post of Assistant Collector, in Koltanga; it is one-tenth the size of Madna without industries and hotels. Shankar has also transferred into Koltanga by greasing the palm of a minister. Agastya affirms that he is not going Koltanga, but he has to go home and think about. Before his recourse, he writes to Dhrubo informing that he is taking a year off to discover himself. He starts his last journey giving “the last false promise” to Srivastav and Kumar.

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