CC - III: Briefly discuss the role of Bakul in Anita Desai's novel "Clear Light Of Day"

 

    Bakul is married to Tara, the younger Das sister. He had met her at the Roshanara Club while he was still a trainee for the Indian Foreign Service. When the novel begins, Bakul is visiting Delhi with his wife. Their two daughters are said to join then later. We first meet him in the Das house having morning tea with Bim, Tara and Baba. He gets bored, restless and irritated with his wife for wanting to sit with her brother and sister "doing nothing". In fact, through Bakul, Desai throws light on the personalities of the Das sisters- i.e., Bim possess the qualities of decision, firmness and resolve-Which Tara lacks; besides, Tara is gentler and more tender of the two.

                                        Bakul's reason for visiting Delhi is to keep up with his Indian roots. He tells Bim, during one of the evening at their neighbor, Misra's place, "part of me lives here, the deepest part of me, always". When the older Misra son asks Bakul as to how he explains the poverty and corruption in India to foreigners, Bakul responds, "why talk of local politics, party disputes, election malpractices?" He generally informs the foreigners only about the best and the finest aspects of his country; he believes in projecting India abroad as "The Taj Mahal, the Bhagavad Gita, Indian Philosophy, music, art, the great, immortal vales of ancient India of ancient India".  

            Bakul's most significant role in the novel is his request to Tara to arrange for Bim and Raja to meet in order to sort out their misunderstandings over the letter that Raja had written to her after he had inherited Hyder Ali's property. Bakul, though a minor character, makes important contributions to the novel. It is through him that  Desai gives us an outsider's perspective on the Das family.