CASTE AND COMPROMISE
By
DALE LUIS MENEZES
Love triumphs all, is a theme that is not new to any of us. We have experienced
this theme in movies, TV soaps and literature: the lovers go against all odds
to assert their love for each other and to gain acceptance in a wider society
of their (generally) clandestine affair. I have always felt that such
narratives provide a utopian picture of the real world for us. Things are not
always as black and white as they are made to appear…
Pandharinath D. Lotlikar’s debut novel Toddzodd joins the long list of such
narratives. He is no stranger to the readers of Konknni, having contributed to
various magazines and having written both in Romi and nagri. Formerly with the
All India Radio and Durdarshan, he decided to publish his first novel in the
Roman script because he wanted his novel to reach a wider audience all the
while acknowledging the important contribution of writers in this particular
script to the corpus of Konknni literature.
The story that Pandharinath Lotlikar sets out to tell is one which moves
back-and-forth between many identities: Catholic-Hindu, rich-poor,
upper-caste-lower-caste. The protagonist of the novel is Suzan who is Catholic,
as the name suggests. Suzan is also a girl coming from a financially modest
family and as suggested by the narrative of the novel, one can safely presume
that she is of low-caste birth. She falls in love with the son of her boss and
their amorous affair eventually leads Suzan to unwed pregnancy. Although the
son, who is known as Babush, agrees to marry her, there is a lot of opposition
from his family. Hence, Suzan has to abort the child and due to the stigma
attached to unwed pregnancy, along with her mother leaves for the Gulf where
her father is employed.
Suzan has a very sympathetic and ‘modern-thinking’ uncle. He is of the opinion
that narrow barriers such as caste and wealth should not come between the union
of two people. To that effect, Suzan’s family visits the house of Babush to
discuss the marriage arrangements. But they are driven out very unceremoniously
and due to influential contacts of the father of Babush with the police, they
even get arrested. Babush is cast as a playboy, who even after the fiasco with
Suzan does not stop his philandering and hedonistic ways. After a few years
Suzan returns back to Goa.
Due to his immoral behaviour, Babush receives a lot of infamy and his chances
of a happy married life are impaired because of his previous record. Babush
starts to drown his sorrows in alcohol, which concerns his parents. His parents
Mr. and Mrs. Khomvtte (Khaunte) are these elitist bigots who like to keep their
distance from the ‘others’ and who never fail to insult those people who are
low-castes, for instance Subhada’s friend Udai. The story takes a turn when
their daughter Subhada elopes with a boy from Bihar. It is here they realize
that Subhada’s friend Udai, who was from the barber’s community and who had
just completed his studies in medicine could have been a suitable match for
their daughter.
The bigoted parents realize their faults and set out to make amends. Bubush now
has to redeem himself in the eyes of Suzan because he realizes that he still
has feelings for her. Since Babush helps Suzan’s family in a nasty property
dispute involving an unscrupulous builder from Delhi, things start to change
for the better. In the end they get married and even the estranged daughter and
son-in-law of Mr. Khomvtte are reunited with the family. Happy ending!
Although there is a happy ending to this novel, I believe that there are many
issues that the author has raised and some that he has glossed over and such
issues need to be critically examined. In order to break the narrow shackles of
caste, Pandharinath Lotlikar suggests and in a way endorses least possible
interference by adults when the question of their children’s marriage is
concerned. But the rubric of adlem chintop (old thinking) is too broad or vague
to discuss caste divisions or religious divisions. There are no clear-cut
indications of whether the author is pointing towards caste or religion. The
idea that inter-caste/religious marriages can lead to greater social justice
and general happiness is not something that one can easily accept because the
power and gender relations of caste and marriage are much more confounding than
the simplistic view that we find in Toddzodd like, for instance, “Vornna
vevostha” or Varna hierarchy is no longer existent in contempo
rary and technologically advanced times.
Although Suzan is the protagonist of the novel, her role is that of the passive
bystander. Most of the decisions pertaining to her life are either made by her
uncle, Antao or she is shown as having no other option but to accept what fate
has in store for her. When Suzan gets married she is shown to have converted to
the religion of her husband and even gets her name changed to Suman – one who
has a good/pure mind. The author here doesn’t dwell much on this aspect of the
story; it is treated as something very natural in the course of events of the
story. Suzan’s voice is not her own and it is in the treatment and construction
of the character of Suzan that the contradictions, conflicts and dichotomies of
such thinking, like that of Pandharinath Lotlikar, come to the fore. It also
exposes the shaky arguments that are made by the author against
caste/religion-based inequalities for on one hand a call is given to abandon
the old (read as bad) and burst forth into the new, w
hich is egalitarian and good; but on the other one can find such practices of
not only asking a woman to convert but also fundamentally changing her identity
by way of giving a new name. And because the author has not bothered to comment
and clarify his stand on this glaring contradiction, I feel that it has been
glossed over. Although the idea behind this novel is the compromises that
parents should make when marriage of their children is concerned, Suzan the
poor and presumably low-caste Catholic girl seems to be making the most
compromises.
Politics of representation and caste aside, Pandharinath has a beautiful way of
writing Konknni. It is simple yet mellifluous. There are some genuine
laugh-out-loud moments in the novel such as the prank that is played on Babush
during the Carnival ball! If we beak the title Toddzodd into two equal halves
we get two different words: todd (=to break) and zodd (=to join). I feel that
one needs to break a lot of casteist mindsets before we start building a new
society. Perhaps then toddzodd or compromise may not be required.
Comments/feedback @
http://daleluismenezes.blogspot.in/2012/07/caste-and-compromise.html
END OF ARTICLE
Toddzodd by Pandharinath D. Lotlikar (Panjim/Ponnji: Dalgado Konknni Akademi),
2011; pp. 155, Rs. 50/-; Phone: 91-0832-2221688 (Available at Dalgado Konknni
Akademi, Panjim)
