A Passage to India: Themes of Race, Religion, and Identity in colonial India | British India Novel | Cultural Clash | The Originals Unabridged Classic Paperback – 15 March 2021

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The book is about a picnic to Marabar caves organised by an Indian doctor, Dr. Aziz for two English Ladies, Mrs Moore and Miss Quested. Something happens in the caves and Miss Quested accuses Dr Aziz for sexually assaulting her. The only English person who sides with Dr Aziz is Mr Fielding, the liberal atheist schoolmaster. They become really good friends. No spoilers, so I will not tell what happens next. The story is good, characters are memorable and depiction of India is very very interesting. Few quotes follows.The most abstract the first:" Some kites hovered overhead, impartial, over the kites passed the mass of a vulture, and with an impartiality exceeding all, the sky, not deeply coloured but translucent, poured light from its whole circumference. It seemed unlikely that the series stopped here. Beyond the sky must not there be something that overarches all the skies, more impartial even than they? Beyond which again...""Most of life is so dull that there is nothing to be said about it, and the books and talk that would describe it as interesting are obliged to exaggerate, in the hope of justifying their own existence.""How indeed is it possible for one human being to be sorry for all the sadness that meets him on the face of the earth, for the pain that is endured not only by men, but by animals and plants, and perhaps by the stones?"His depiction of India is also very interesting. Without any effort to justify or bring meaning to things, he writes as he sees. Check this out:"Except for the Marabar Caves-and they are twenty miles off- the city of Chandrapore presents nothing extraordinary. Edged rather than washed by the river Ganges, it trails for a couple of miles along the bank, scarcely distinguishable from the rubbish it deposits so freely.""Immediately below was the scurf of life that an elephant always collects round its feet- villagers and naked babies."Written from an 'Occidental' perspective but with no allegiance to any particular creed, the book is deeply moving. The author has thrown in his own philosophical points about life and things in general at many points, and sometime it becomes difficult to differentiate between a character and the author, but still you better listen to what he has to say. He has many things to say, not only about India but about life, human nature and many other things.I liked his style of writing. Highly recommended to those who are interested in Colonial India, life during British Raj, Communal questions, Friendship between an Indian and Britisher. Good touch of humour:"Perched on the roof of a shed, the station-master's hens began to dream of kites instead of owls.""Her death had been a real grief to his warm heart; he wept like a child and ordered his three children to weep also."

The book arrived in good condition. It is good to hold, floppy paperback, new and original.

Very interesting novel.

Notwithstanding the hype around the book, I found the writing style very dry. It felt like reading a 300 page newspaper.

This book gives a brief description of the exploitation and racial discrimination of Indians by the British government during the colonial period. The writer rightly reflected the mindset of Indian people and religion cast based discrimination too. One of the best books to read about colonial period.I also loved the book cover. Its amazing.

It is a classic, depicting the British period of India.

Badiya hai