CC - III: Briefly discuss the impact of partition as expressed in Anita Deasia's novel Clear Light of Day?/The political dimensions?/ Comment on Raja's approach to the Hindu-Muslim riot in the wake of partition?

 

  Anita Desai's "Clear Light of Day" although  mentions  the late 30s and a few days in the 70s, is set in the summer of 1947. But she does not foreground the political happenings of 1947 as the main theme of her novel. Instead, she highlights the Das family history as it emerges through the turbulent happenings of national history. as it emerges through the turbulent happenings of national history. In fact, personal emotions in the novel parallel national storms.

                                         In the Novel, the happenings of 1947are viewed from the perspective of the Das sisters-"yes, what a summer", Tara murmured. isn't it strange how life won't flow, like a river, but moves in jumps...?". Again, the fires of 1947 burn on the horizon and the violence of the partition is only glimpsed at by the Das sisters- "The city was in flames that summer. Every night fires lit up the horizon beyond the city walls....?".

                                       interestingly, almost all the characters in the novel refer to the Hindu/Muslim problem. During the partition riots in the country, Raja was ill with T.B. and felt frustrated that he could not help Hyder Ali and his family. When Bim assuages his fears by saying that he must be safe, Raja explodes- "safe? For Muslims? Here in India? It will be safe after every Muslim has had his throat slit". In fact, Raja is secular in his approach to the Hindu/Muslim problem in the country. Bim wonders at his ways of thinking and feeling which are so different from the others. When Raja's father dissuades him from joining Jamia Milliaa Islamia for a course in Urdu, he is surprised by the reasons offered by his father "If you, a Hindu boy, are  caught in Jamia Milliaa, the center of Islamic studies... you will be torn to bits, you will be burnt alive..". While in Hindu collage, Raja experiences Hindu fundamentalism, and decides to withdraw from political activities in collage. Later, after his father's death, when Bim asks him to help out with their father's business, he sharply retorts-"... the city's burning down. Delhi is being destroyed. The whole country is split up and everyone's become a refugee. Our friends have been driven away, perhaps killed..". He is one who foresees the political violence that follows India's independence. And as predicted by him, we come to know that during the partition riots of 1947, the Alis had to leave Delhi and sell most of the houses to their Hindu tenants for a song.                  

                                                  Thus, the partition of India symbolizes the break up of the Das family. like post independent India, which was looking for a new direction with its new identity, the Das children also face a crisis relating to their past. Moreover, Alis leaving Delhi indicates the locked house symbolizes the Das childhood and past, i.e. pre-partition harmony existing between Hindus and Muslims- ä whole, a perfect pattern".