A Passage to India-- Centenary year of a Novel

 

A Passage to India- Centenary year of a Novel.

  As part of academic curriculum most of us would have read  the famous  novel  “ A Passage to India ‘’ by the English author E.M.Forster.  It is the Centenary Year of this Novel, published on 6 th of April 1924. Though nominated for the Nobel Prize  22 times each time, Forster was not lucky enough to get the award. However, ‘A Passage to India ‘ was selected  as one of the 100 great works of 20^th century English literature by the Modern Library and won many other Prizes for fiction. Time Magazine included this novel in its “ All Time 100 Novels” list.

The novel is set against the backdrop of the British Raj  and the Indian Independence  movement in the 1920s. It is based on author’s experiences in India, and derived the title from another famous writer viz.  poet Walt Whitman’s  poem of the same name –A passage to India.

Long before Forster first visited India, he had already gained a vivid picture of its people and places from a young Indian Muslim named Syed Ross Masood, whom Forster began tutoring in England starting in 1906. Forster and Masood became very close, and Masood introduced Forster to several of his Indian friends.  By the time Forster first visited India, in 1912, the Englishman was well prepared for his travels  throughout the country.

Forster began writing A Passage to India in 1913, just after his first visit to India. The novel was not revised and completed, however, until well after his second stay in India, in 1921, when he served as a private secretary to the Maharajah of Dewas State Senior. Finally published in 1924, A Passage to India examines the racial misunderstandings and cultural hypocrisies that characterized the complex interactions between Indians and the English toward the end of the British occupation of India.

The story revolves around four characters: Dr. Aziz, his British friend Mr. Cyril Fielding, Mrs. Moore, and Miss Adela Quested. 

The story in brief :

 *A Passage to India is set in the city of Chandrapore. The initial segment, titled Mosque, features a group of Muslim friends conversing about the challenges of forging friendships their British overlords. A surgeon named Dr. Aziz is among the group and later has a significant encounter with Mrs. Moore in a mosque. The mosque exchange strengthens their bond, and Mrs. Moore introduces Dr. Aziz to a younger friend, Miss Quested, who is planning to marry Mrs. Moore's son Ronny.

Numerous efforts are undertaken to foster understanding between the Indians and the British including a clumsy, hybrid "bridge-party" at the English Club; Aziz's short-lived camaraderie with a junior officer during a polo game; and a unique gathering featuring the Muslim Aziz, Hindu Professor Godbole, Mrs. Moore, and Mrs. Quested at a tea party hosted by Fielding. The tea party's relative success encourages Aziz to extend an invitation to everyone in attendance to join him on a forthcoming trip to the Marabar Caves.

Miss Quested initially chooses not to marry Ronny Heaslop, but later reconsiders and the two become engaged. Miss Quested and Ronny are involved in a car accident which ultimately strengthens their bond and leads them to share the news of their engagement with Mrs. Moore. Meanwhile, at an event attended by Aziz, Dr. Panna Lal, and others, underlying tensions between Muslims and Hindus surface, despite the appearance of courtesy and decorum being maintained.

In the second section, The Caves, Aziz's journey to the Marabar Caves begins. Fielding and Professor Godbole are delayed, leaving Aziz to accompany the two women alone. Mrs. Moore becomes disoriented in the caves and leaves, while Aziz and Miss Quested continue. However, after an irritating question from Miss Quested, Aziz goes into another cave. Upon leaving, he sees her far away and makes up a story when Fielding, who has just arrived, inquires about her. Back in Chandrapore, Aziz is arrested on Miss Quested's accusation of attempting to "insult" her in the caves, a term that implies a sexual advance or assault.

The British community is outraged and incensed and Aziz is denied bail. Fielding's efforts to converse with Adela Quested prove unsuccessful. Mrs. Moore chooses not to stay in India for the trial headed off to England on a ship. Miss Quested insists on Aziz's innocence to her fiancé, but Heaslop takes no action. When Miss Quested testifies at the trial, she admits that she was wrong about the alleged attack.

Following Aziz's release, Muslims hold a celebratory procession. Fielding comes to Miss Quested's aid by escorting her to his garden home. Here, they discover that Mrs. Moore passed away at sea before the trial. Ronny Heaslop calls off his engagement with Adela, who departs for England. Fielding resigns from the Club. Aziz starts to doubt Fielding, suspecting that he aims to prevent Miss Quested from providing compensation and even that he is secretly involved with her.

In the concluding section, titled The Temple, several years have passed, and both Professor Godbole and Aziz reside and work in the Native State of Mau, governed by an elderly Rajah. The segment begins with Professor Godbole, now Mau's minister of education, and transitions into the Gokul Ashtami festival, which commemorates Shri Krishna's birth. At the event, Professor Godbole performs a dance to honor the deity and fondly remembers Mrs. Moore.

Aziz, believing that Fielding married Miss Quested, declines to read his letters. When Fielding, as the education inspector, comes to visit, he tries to reconcile with Aziz, clarifying that his wife is actually Stella, Mrs. Moore's daughter. Stella and her brother, Ralph, have accompanied Fielding to India. Initially, Aziz behaves harshly towards Ralph, but his memories of Mrs. Moore make him change his attitude. Meanwhile, the Rajah has passed away, but the news is kept secret.

Aziz and Fielding go on a final ride together, rekindling much of their previous closeness. However, Aziz maintains that India must achieve independence from Britain, a sentiment Fielding disagrees with. Despite their desire to be friends, the historical context prevents a true friendship between them.

  It  took 11 years to complete the novel, considered to be  a semi-autobiography of the Author. ‘A Passage to India’ was dedicated to :  “Syed Rose Masood and  17 years of our friendship.’’

‘A Passage to India ‘ has survived 100 years and even now sought after by book lovers all over the world.!