Upamanyu
Chatterjee’s debut novel, ENGLISH, AUGUST: An Indian Story (1988) depicts the journey
of a young urban Indian to self discovery. The story is told from the view
point of an omniscient narrator and the title, ‘English August’ refers the protagonist
‘Agastya Sen’ who is named after a mythological Hindu rishi. His friends anglicize
‘Agastya’ into ‘August’ which connotes the feeling of un-Indian or western in
Indian soil and they call him ‘Ogu’, ‘the English type’, hey English’, and ‘hey
Anglo’. This multiplicity of naming hints at the fragmented identity and alienation
he undergoes.
The central character, Agastya Sen, is a twenty-four year old
civil service trainee and the son of a Bengali father, Madhusudhan Sen, and a Goan,
Christian mother. Unlike his friends who have opted for higher studies in
western universities, Agastya Sen joins Indian civil service training to
satisfy his father’s wish for his son to have a stable government job. He is
directionless and finds solace in marijuana, masturbation and the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. The novel
brilliantly satirizes the degeneration of Indian bureaucracy and reveals the
urban rural divide in India.
A
conversation between Agastya and his friend Dhrubo on the inconveniences of
joining civil service training marks the beginning of the novel. As the two of
them belongs to urban upper class family, they look down at and make fun of
going to small towns. He soon joins the Indian administrative training in a small
town named Madna which is described as one of the hottest and unhealthiest places
in India. The novel is a socio political document as it reveals the
transformation of Indian villages from thick forests to industrial small towns.
Agastya Sen feels alienated in this hostile climate and culture. During the
training period, he has to deal with various district offices and he stays in a
government rest house with an unhygienic servant Vasanth and his family. District collectors enjoy power and prestige
in rural India. The novelist spares no chance to crack fun at the expense of
these corrupt bureaucrats who take advantage of the veneration of the villagers
towards them.
The comic features of the novel are drawn largely from the portrayal
of bureaucrats with their exquisite mannerisms, personal enmity and narrow
social life. These officials are scandal mongers, corrupt and willing to defend
their interest by any means. The novel throws light on the hitherto unexpressed
life of these degenerate civil servants and it also narrates the consequences
meted out by those who have tried to break open these impositions. The case of
district collector Antony, who is made a scapegoat in a Hindu-muslim riot and is transferred by corrupt politicians, is a perfect
example of how genuine officers are paid for their service by the corrupt public servants. The reports in Dainik newspaper, which is famous for its sensational
news about the collector, minister and other bureaucrats, shows the stagnation and
sterility of the life of people in the small town.
The
first half of the novel introduces characters, especially the corrupt bureaucrats,
and life in Madna. Agastya is disinterested and disgusted with his job and he lives
three life; the official, the unofficial and the secret one in his room. He
feels self-alienated, frustrated and dissatisfied. Agastya attends duty at 11
in the morning and works until lunch. He is sensible of the scandal loving
people of Madna and tells a number of lies regarding his age and family. He
says he is twenty-eight years old in his twenty-four.
Though discontented with
the life, he befriends with Deputy Engineer Shankar, Mr. Sathe who professes
yellow journalism, Chief-in Police Kumar, Forest Officer Mohan Gandhi and doctor
Multani and keeps in touch with a college mate, Mahendra Bhatia. But, Agastya
makes use of these relationships to cover up his alcoholism during work hours. Gradually,
readers realize the extent of corruption these officials are delved in and their
lack of any commitment to work. His relation with District Collector Srivastav is
also hollow as Agastya depends on the latter for delicious lunch or dinner. He
is attracted to the collector’s wife, who is a teacher in Janatha College. He “had
begun to stone more” in Madna and suffers from insomnia.
His self alienated,
intensely personal life helps him to survive in Madna for the time being but
later on it falls apart and life become unbearable in the small town. In the
meanwhile, he exchanges letters with his girl friend Neera and also
communicates with his father. His notion of marriage tells us the protagonist’s
attitude to life.
"Eventually, he knew, he would marry, perhaps not out of
passion, but out of convention, which
was probably a safer thing. And then, in either case, in a few months or years
they would tire of disagreeing with each
other, or what was more or less the same thing, would be inured to each other’s odd and perhaps disgusting ways, the way
she squeezed the tube of toothpaste
and the way he drank from a glass and didn’t rinse it, and they would slide into a placid and comfortable unhappiness, and
may be unseeingly watch TV every day, each
still a cocoon."
The conflict between
the intense personal life and the world outside is narrated in this quote.
Click here to read Part-2 of the summary
