Hello everyone,
This blog is in response to the task assigned by professor Dilip Barad sir as part of a thinking activity. The task is about the Novel - The ministry of utmost happiness written by Arundhati Roy.
Who is Arundhati Roy:
Arundhati Roy, full name Suzanna Arundhati Roy, Indian author, actress, and political activist who was best known for the award-winning novel The God of Small Things (1997) and for her involvement in environmental and human rights causes. In 1997 Roy published her debut novel, The God of Small Things to wide acclaim. The semi autobiographical work departed from the conventional plots and light prose that had been typical among best-sellers. Composed in a lyrical language about South Asian themes and characters in a narrative that wandered through time, Roy’s novel became the biggest-selling book by a non expatriate Indian author and won the 1998 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.
Brief Introduction of the novel:-
In the novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Arundhati Roy dissects life in India in the wake of the partition through the eyes of two characters: Anjum, a transgender woman who comes into her own only to find herself redefined by tragedy, turning to a cemetery in Delhi for refuge, and Tilo, a trained architect who journeys to the Kashmir region to reignite her on-and-off-again love affair with Musa, a freedom fighter.
2) Three points mentioned in the photo of board-work.
1) CHARACTERS
In the novel there are many characters, and that's why characters are divided into four parts.
Khwabgah | Graveyard / Guest House | Janatar/ Mantar | Kashmir |
Ahlam Baji – The midwife who delivered Aftab/Anjum | Anwar Bhai – A brothel owner who brings one of his girls, Rubina, to the graveyard to be buried
| Biplab Dasgupta (Garson Hobart) – Deputy Station Head for the Intelligence Bureau. Married to Chittaroopa (Chitra) and has two daughters, Rabia and Ania
| Ambassador Shivashankar Hariharan – Naga’s father
|
Anjum (Aftab) – A Muslim Hijra (hermaphrodite) and founder of Jannat Guest House | Imam Ziauddin – The blind imam who visits Anjum in the graveyard | Dr. Azad Bhartiya – On a prolonged hunger strike near Jantar Mantar. | Ashfaq Mir – Deputy Commandant of the Shiraz Cinema JIC |
Baby and Heera – Muslim Hijras at the Khwabgah | Ishrat – A beautiful, ostentatiously dressed Hijra who travels with Anjum to the protests near Jantar Mantar
| Dr. Ghulam Nabi – A “sexologist” who sees Aftab
| Assistant Commandant Pinky Sodhi – A beautiful and brutal interrogator for the Central Reserve Police Force
|
Bibi Ayesha – Anjum’s oldest sister, died of tuberculosis | Begum Renata Mumtaz Madam – A belly dancer buried in the graveyard | Dr. Mukhtar – The doctor who performs Anjum’s surgery
| Begum Arifa Yeswi – Married to Musa, mother of Miss Jebeen the First |
Bismillah (Bimla) – Manages the kitchen and guards the Khwabgah | Zainab – Anjum’s adopted daughter
| Miss Jebeen the Second (Miss Udaya Jebeen) – A baby abandoned at Jantar Mantar
| Comrade Revathy Maase – Mother of Miss Jebeen the Second |
Bombay Silk – A beautiful Hijra who first leads Aftab to the Khwabgah | Zakir Mian – A friend of Anjum’s father and proprietor of A-1 Flower who accompanies Anjum to Ajmer, where they are caught in a riot | Shehravat | Gulrez (Gul-kak Abroo) – A simple man who lives on Musa’s houseboat |
Bulbul and Gudiya – Hindu Hijras at the Khwabgah |
| Saddam Hussain (Dayachand) – A former untouchable who works odd jobs including in a mortuary and as a security guard and owns a white horse named Payal. Wants to kill Sehrawat, a police officer, for the role he played in Saddam’s father’s death
| Jalib Qadri – A lawyer and human rights activist murdered by Amrik Singh. Shooting breaks out during his funeral procession |
Begum – Anjum’s mother |
|
| Khadija – An associate of Musa who travels with Tilo
|
Changez Khan |
|
| Major Amrik Singh (Spotter) – Military officer in charge of counterinsurgency operations in Kashmir. |
Mary – A Christian Hijra at the Khwabgah |
|
| Musa Yeswi (Commander Gulrez) – An important militant fighter for Kashmiri Azadi (freedom) |
Mulaqat Ali – Anjum’s father |
|
| Nagaraj Hariharan (Naga) – A journalist working in Kashmir with ties to the Intelligence Bureau |
Razia – A somewhat crazy resident of the Khwabgah and Bismillah’s companion |
|
| Nimmo Gorakhpuri – A young Muslim Hijra who becomes a beautiful goat magnate outside of Delhi |
Saeeda – A younger, newer member of the Khwabgah. Anjum’s rival |
|
| Ram Chandra Sharma (R.C.) – A colleague of Biplab Dasgupta at the Intelligence Bureau, Naga’s “handler”
|
Ustad Kulsoom Bi – The head of the household at the Khwabgah |
|
| S. Tilottama (Tilo, Ustaniji) – Architect and publisher of Azad Bhartiya’s pamphlet. Attended architecture school with Musa, Naga, and Biplab Dasgupta. Takes the abandoned baby from Jantar Mantar |
Baby and Heera – Muslim Hijras at the Khwabgah |
|
| Salim Gojri – A friend and partner of Amrik Singh who participated in the kidnapping and murder of Jalib Qadri |
Mulaqat Ali – Anjum’s father
|
|
| Showkat Yeswi (Godzilla) – Musa’s father, a building contractor who works closely with the Military Engineering Services
|
Saqib – Anjum’s younger brother |
|
|
|
SUMMARY / PLOT
Story starts with the Graveyard,
She lived in the graveyard like a tree.
Anjum lives in the graveyard. There is one man who knows English and the person is Anjum' customer.
ANJUM DON'T HAVE WORRIED LIKE OUTSIDE WORLD HAS , BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS INSIDE OF HER.
In the second chapter there is the introduction of the Anjum. Setting of this part is Khwabgah from where we came to know about the past of Anjum. Introduction of Anjum is like - SHE WAS THE FOURTH OF FIVE CHILDREN, BORN ON A COLD JANUARY NIGHT.
Everything was either masculine or feminine,man or woman. Everything except her baby. We have language for men and women but we don't have language for third gender.
When Jahanara Begum came to About Aftab she took him to the dargah of Hazrat Sarmad Shaheed, near her house. Jahanara Begum doesn't know the story of Hazrat Sarmad, in fact nobody knows the history of Hazrat Sarmad. Some people made up stories by themselves. Then after listening to all the stories about Hazrat Sarmad, Jahanara Begum started to tell the story of him to whoever wants to listen.
For the few years of Aftab’s life, Jahanara Begum’s secret remained safe. Finally when Aftab was nine years old she told everything to her husband.Her husband, Mulaqat Ali, was a hakim, a doctor of herbal medicine, and a lover of Urdu and Persian poetry. Then there is the introduction of Hakim Abdul Mazid, under whom Mulakat Ali worked. Changez Khan, son of emperor Chagatai.When Jahanara Begum told him about Aftab, perhaps for the first time in his life Mulaqat Ali had no suitable couplet for the occasion. It took him a while to get over the initial shock.Then there was the introduction of Dr.Ghulam Nabi - who called himself a 'SEXOLOGIST'.Dr Nabi prided himself on being a straight-talking man of precise and scientific temper. After examining Aftab he said he was not, medically speaking, a Hijra – a female trapped in a male body – although for practical purposes that word could be used. Aftab, he said, was a rare example of a Hermaphrodite, with both male and female characteristics, though outwardly, the male characteristics appeared to be more dominant. He said he could recommend a surgeon who would seal the girl-part, sew it up. He could prescribe some pills too. But, he said, the problem was not merely superficial. While treatment would surely help, there would be ‘Hijra tendencies’ that were unlikely to ever go away. Here Fitrat was the word he used for ‘tendencies’. He could not guarantee complete success. Then Mulakat Ali was involved in arranging money and started to list down the name from whom he can get money, and he also told stories to Aftab. But when he heard the story of how Temujin – Changez Khan – won the hand of his
beautiful wife, Borte Khatun, how she was kidnapped by a rival tribe and how Temujin fought a whole army virtually single-handedly to get her back because he loved her so much, Aftab found himself wanting to be her. Over a period of a few months, by running errands, carrying
their bags and musical instruments when the residents went on their city
rounds, by massaging their tired feet at the end of a working day, Aftab
eventually managed to insinuate himself into the Khwabgah. Finally the day dawned when he was allowed in.
There is an introduction of Other Hijra who live there. One spring morning Aftab saw a tall, slim-hipped woman wearing bright lipstick, gold high heels and a shiny, green satin salwar kameez buying bangles from Mir the bangle-seller who doubled up as caretaker of the Chitli Qabar. He stored his stock of bangles inside the tomb every night when he shut the shrine and shop. Aftab had never seen anybody
like the tall woman with lipstick. He rushed down the steep stairs into the
street and followed her discreetly while she bought goats’ trotters, hair clips, guavas, and had the strap of her sandals fixed. He wanted to be her. The woman Aftab followed could dress as she was dressed
and walk the way she did only because she wasn’t a woman. Whatever she was, Aftab wanted to be her. He wanted to be her even more than he wanted to be Borte Khatun.
He began to divide his time between his music classes and hanging around outside the blue doorway of the house in Gali Dakotan where the tall woman lived. He learned that her name was Bombay Silk and that there were seven others like her, Bulbul, Razia, Heera, Baby, Nimmo, Mary and Gudiya, who
lived together in the haveli with the blue doorway, and that they had an Ustad, a guru, called Kulsoom Bi, older than the rest of them, who was the head of the household.After he came to know that the place called- KHWABGAH - the House of Dreams. Mary was the only Christian among the residents of the Khwabgah.Gudiya and
Bulbul were both Hindus and did occasionally visit temples that would allow them in. The rest were Muslim. Aftab’s first real friend in the Khwabgah was Nimmo Gorakhpuri.
One day Nimmo asked Aftab - ‘D’you know why God made Hijras?’
Aftab says, 'No, why?’
‘It was an experiment….He decided to create something, a living creature that is incapable of happiness. So he made us.’
There are very meaningful conversations between Nimmo and Aftab about happiness of Hijras where Aftab says that we don't have problems which normal people have to face because everything is inside of us like- the price-rise and school-admissions and beating husbands and cheating-wives are all inside us.
“The riot is inside us. The war is Inside us. Indo–Pak is inside us. It will never settle down. It can’t.”
One day he finally decided to leave his house and shift to Khwabgah where he felt more happy than anywhere else. And he became a member of the Hijra community and finally Aftab became Anjum.
Over the years Anjum became Delhi’s most famous Hijra. Film-makers
fought over her, NGOs hoarded her, foreign correspondents gifted her phone number to one another as a professional favour, along with numbers of the Bird Hospital, Phoolan Devi, the surrendered dacoit known as ‘Bandit Queen’, and a contact for a woman who insisted she was the Begum of Oudh who lived in an old ruin in the Ridge Forest with her servants and her chandeliers while she staked her claim to a non-existent kingdom. In interviews Anjum would be encouraged to talk about the abuse and cruelty that her interlocutors assumed she had been subjected to by her conventional Muslim parents, siblings and neighbours before she left home. On Anjum’s eighteenth birthday Kulsoom Bi threw a party for her in the Khwabgah. Hijras gathered from all over the city, some came from out of town.
For the first time in her life Anjum wore a sari, a red ‘disco’ sari, with a backless choli. That night she dreamed she was a new bride on her wedding night. Then there is Introduction of Zainab - Adopted Child of Anjum. Then there is the 1976 incident when emergency was declared by Indira Gandhi, that lasted twenty-one months. Her spoiled younger son, Sanjay Gandhi, was the head of the Youth Congress, the youth wing of the ruling party, and was more or less running the country, treating it as though it was his personal plaything. Civil Rights had been suspended, newspapers were censored and, in the name of population control, thousands of men (mostly Muslim) were herded into camps and forcibly sterilised. A new law – the
Maintenance of Internal Security Act – allowed the government to arrest
anybody on a whim. The prisons were full, and a small coterie of Sanjay
Gandhi’s acolytes had been unleashed on the general population to carry out his fiat. Then there is the incident of Gujarat riots where Anjum and Zakir Mian, but they didn't harm Anjum due to bad luck as they have fear that if Hijras gave some bad luck or something. Here Arundhati Roy introduced the prime minister of Gujarat at that time - GUJRAT KA LALLA.
Novel talked about every aspect of society, with references to Sanjiv Gandhi, Riots of Gujrat, Reference of Hijras in Ramayan, Narendra Modi talked about Gujarat riots etc…
In the second part there is Introduction of Sadam Husain and Sangita Medan. Sadam Husain who wants to take revenge for his father. Shehravat is a police officer. Anjum came to know about the past of Sadam Husain as he is not Muslim and why he chose the name Saddm Hussain! In this part many events take place like, Anna Hazare Movement, Manipur nationalist, Fight of Mr. Agrawal and Gujrat ka Lalla. This part end with the surprising entry of a newly born baby coming and goes, Anjum and Sadam Husain all are searching for the baby.
In this part Arundhati Roy also wrote about blind faith of people towards Gujarat ka Lalla, how people appreciate him and love him..
In the last part there is first person narration by Biplab Das Gupta. Previous two parts have third person narration but in this part there is first person narration. S.Tilottama, introduced in this chapter - she and Biplab were in the same college, along with Musa and Nagraj Hariharan. In the present, Musa joins a terror group and becomes a terrorist and Nagraj works as a journalist. Tilottma get married to Nagraj.
Chitra is wife of Biplab and they have two daughters - Radhya and Ania. Tilottama and her group, during the college time they play drama but she didn't participate but she helped her group members as she is interested in architecture.
Azad Bhartiya who connected these people and works as Journalist. And he got some news about these and wants to write about them and in which Tilottama helping them.
On the other side, the missing baby was found, name - Jabeen, the second.
On the other side Musa' s wife's name is Arifa and daughter of him - Jabeen. Another character came in this part name - Captain Amrik Singh, his wife Lovely Singh, ACP Pinky Sodhi and Balbir Sodhi.
Jalil Quadri is a social activist. Amrik Singh is a terrible officer who killed Arifa and her daughter Jabeen. And Jalil Quadri too. And now kashmiri people want to kill Amrik Singh and that's why Amrik Singh and his family ran away to America and now they are living in California. One day news came that Amrik Singh killed his family and then killed himself.
In this chapter Arundhati Roy talks about the story of a terrorist, that whoever was a terrorist in the past, someone from their families was killed by a military group and that's what makes these people part of the terrorists. Revathy is a mother of Udaya Zabeen, Azad Bhartiya is the person who links all these things. In the memory of Tilotttama, Udaya is known as Jabeen but she is the daughter of Revathy. Revathy raped by six person and got pregnant and the child born named - Udaya.
UDAYA CHILD OF SIX FATHERS AND THREE MOTHERS- Anjum, Tillotama and Revathy.
When news came about the death of Amrik singh and his family, Biplav asked to Mussa that, DID YOU KILL AMRIK SINGH?? But he denied.
But after some findings data came that, Mrs Loveleen Singh
and Mr Amrik Singh both suffer from severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This degree of stress is definitely indicative of individuals that have suffered destructive and traumatic events such as torture, indefinite periods of incarceration and separation from family. They deeply fear that if they return to India these events will be repeated. There is no question that there are persons at large who still seek revenge and carry out their vendetta in various blogs of the World Wide Web. Given these facts I highly recommend that Mr and Mrs Amrik Singh and their family be given protection and asylum here in the United States of America so that they can begin to lead a normal life to the extent that it is possible for them. So they had nearly pulled it off, Mr and Mrs Singh. They were on the verge of becoming legal citizens of the United States. And yet, a couple of months later Amrik Singh chose to shoot himself and his whole family.
Mussa said that there are many people who wanted to kill Amrik singh but we didn’t kill him but we created an environment where he killed himself and his family too, He destroyed himself. Mussa told this to Biplav that whatever they do with Amrik singh , one day Kashmir will do with India, where they don’t kill but create a situation in which they kill themselves.
How
to
tell
a
shattered
story?
By
slowly
becoming
everybody.
No.
By slowly becoming everything.
Everybody is sleeping, except for Guih Kyom the dung beetle. He was
wide awake and on duty, lying on his back with his legs in the air to save the
world in case the heavens fell. But even he knew that things would turn out
all right in the end. They would, because they had to. Because Miss Jebeen, Miss Udaya Jebeen, has come. With the one insect story ends, Dung Beetle. Novel is dedicated to unconsoled and their story is always shattered story.
FACT & FICTION
FACT IN THE NOVEL:-
2002 Godhra riots- Gujarat
Leaching of Dalits (lower class) in Una Gujarat
Gulf war between Iraq and America
Hanging of Sadam Hussein by America
Anna Hazare movement 2011-12
All the Jantar Mantar protests
The madness of adopting names
Naxalite Maoist movement
Sanjay Gandhi and Emergency
Narendra Modi and his case of suit
FICTION IN THE NOVEL:-
Gujarat ka Lalla
Trauma to Anjum; their visit to Gujarat
Dayachand’s father’s killing in Haryana for taking a dead animal’s skin
Inspiration for Dayachand to adopt the name, Sadam Hussein
Tubby Gandhian at Jantar Mantar in TV and news
Dr. Azad Bharti
Letter from Revathy
CLICK HERE FOR 1) Read - The Reader’s Digest Book of English Grammar and Comprehension for Very Young Children By S. Tilottama - Give answers to the questions asked regarding any three stories. Questions are given at the end of each story.
2) Write about any one theme or character of the novel with the help of Chat OpenAI GPT. Ask to Chat GPT and put a screenshot as well as copy-paste the answer generated by this response generator.
Thank you!!!!
