The Refugee (Passages for Explanation)

 

Passages with Explanation and Comprehension

1.      There had been inter-communal riots in the past—‘It was a fever of the mind, son, which seized the people now and then’—but never had they been involved in any unpleasant incident. This time the fire of hate and violence raged more fiercely than ever before, but even then Maanji was sure that it would soon cool off. Her son wrote from Bombay asking them to come there but Maanji would not agree to abandon her beloved Rawalpindi. Many of her relations and Sikh and Hindu neighbours went away to East Punjab, but she stayed on in her house. Whenever anyone said that it was dangerous for Sikhs to live in West Punjab, she would say, ‘Who will harass us here? After all, the Muslims who lived around us are all like my own children—aren’t they?”

Reference to the Context:  The present lines have been taken from the lesson The Refugee written by a distinguished Indian film director and novelist K.A. Abbas. The lines refer to those times in history when due to certain political events, communal faith and mutual cordiality took a back seat but people with a pure and innocent heart still retained their basic goodness and generosity.

Explanation:  The character of Maanji in the story embodies and exemplifies this purity of heart and character. Maanji, while living in Rawalpindi, in the midst of Muslims, Sikhs, and people of various other communities, always believed that inter-communal riots were associated only with power politics. She strangely believed that there did not exist any such fear or hatred in reality in common life. She could never imagine Hindu-Muslim riots. Her son, who was living in Bombay, tried to persuade her that things were different during the ‘tragic storm’ of August –September 1947 and that Rawalpindi was no longer as safe and secure as it used to be in the past. Yet Maanji is not able to believe it. She continued to stay there without any fear whatsoever even though many of her neighbours had already begun to move to safer places. Maanji was sure till the end that no one could cause any harm to her since everyone around in her neighbourhood was like her own child.

 

2.      Seeing her you would never imagine that she is a refugee who lost and suffered so much. She never proclaims her tragedy. She never curses or abuses those who made her leave her home. She still remembers her Muslim neighbours with affection and brightens up whenever her husband reads out a letter received from Rawalpindi. Only very occasionally, a soft, cold sigh escapes her lips, as she says: ‘Your Bombay may be a great and grand city, son. But we can never forget our Rawalpindi—those pears and apricots and apples, those grapes and melons and baggoogoshas that you never get in Bombay….’

Reference to the Context:  The present lines have been taken from the story “The Refugee” written by a distinguished Indian film director and novelist K.A. Abbas. The lines refer to those times in history when due to certain political events, communal faith and mutual cordiality took a back seat but people like Maanji with pure and innocent heart still retained their basic goodness and generosity.

 Explanation:  Though Maanji had suffered huge losses, yet her human values were still intact and she never blamed or cursed anyone for the tragedy leading to partition and huge scale displacement. She still, remember her Muslim friends with love and affection and any news about them through some letter or otherwise was enough to excite and enthuse life in her. In spite of living in a great city like Bombay, she all the time missed those little pleasures associated with Rawalpindi, especially the local fruits and delicacies like pears, apricots, grapes, melons, and above all the baggoogoshas which were nowhere available in Bombay.

Comprehension Passage      

1. The town of Rawalpindi was the whole world for Maanji. She had never been elsewhere. Her son worked first in Lahore, then in Calcutta, and finally in Bombay. But to Maanji these cities belonged to another, far-off world. If she had her way, she would never have allowed her son to go far from home. She often argued with him, ‘what’s the use of earning money, my son, when in those cities you get neither pure milk nor ghee neither apricots nor peaches, neither grapes nor apples. And baggoogoshas? Why, in the city they don’t even know what that is!’ At home they had a buffalo of their own, giving no less than 10 seers of milk every day. After churning the curds to take out butter, she would distribute the butter-milk to the whole neighbourhood. Everyone would thank her and say, ‘May your son live a thousand years, Maanji’---but that would remind her of her son, eating hotel food in a city, and that would make her sad.

1.      Who is the speaker of these lines and what is his relation to Maanji?

Ans. The speaker of these lines is the narrator and the author of the story “The Refugee.” Maanji is the mother of one of his Sikh friends who had to shift to Bombay along with narrator’s mother as a refugee.

2.      Why was the town of Rawalpindi the whole world for Maanji?

Ans. The town of Rawalpindi was the whole world for Maanji’ because she had never visited any other place in her life and was completely satisfied with everything in Rawalpindi.

3.       Why would she not allow her son to go to faraway towns?

Ans. Maanji would not allow her son to go to faraway towns because she apprehended that he would not be able to get various fruits like grapes and apples nor get to drink pure milk drawn from one’s own buffalo which were easily available in his hometown.

4.      Why would everyone in the neighbourhood thank Maanji and what would they say?

Ans. Everyone in the neighbourhood would thank Maanji for her butter-milk which she used to distribute freely to the neighbours.

5.      What impression do you gather in the above passage about the nature of Maanji?

Ans. The above passage clearly shows that Maanji was a kind and pure- hearted woman. She loved every one like her own son.

 

 

Brief Character Sketch of Maanji.

 

Maanji, one of the refugees in the present story, was a kind and pure-hearted woman who loved every one with the same intensity and compassion. She led a very contented and comfortable life in Rawalpindi. She lived in her own double-storey house. She enjoyed a very cordial bond with all her neighbours irrespective of different castes or religions. Everyone in the neighbourhood would thank Maanji, for, she would distribute the butter-milk to the whole neighbourhood. Yet, the cruel blow of partition forces her to leave Rawalpindi and migrate to Bombay where she lives in a small one room with none of the luxuries of Rawalpindi. Yet she has no complaints against life or any community and maintains the same hospitality towards one and all with her meagre resources. What Maanji misses the most in Bombay is not her own house and other property but the delicious fruits that she enjoyed in plenty in Rawalpindi that were not to be found anywhere in Bombay.