THE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI

SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSH

About the Author :

Amitav Ghosh (11 July, 1956 – Present) has contributed remarkably in the development of partition literature and historical fiction. He shows, through his writing, how the memories of communal riots along with its bloody reign of terror remain alive in the psyche of the people. He deals with the bitter memories of partition that deeply haunt the people in The Shaddow Lines. Through his non-fiction writings like Dancing in Cambodia and at Large in Burma shows identity crisis, existential crisis, displacement and Homelessness metaphorically. Some of his notable works are The Calcutta Chromosome, The Glass Palace, The Hungry Tide etc.

He was awarded 54 th Jnanpith award in 2018. He got Sahitya Academy Award also. The Ghosts of Mrs. Gandhi deals with the violent mobs that executed bloody slaughtering of the Sikhs following the assassination of Mrs. Gandhi. It also shows the humanitarian side during the outbreak of the riots.

Summary :

Amitav Ghosh begins his essay by saying that nowhere in the world, the year 1984 hit worstly the ways it did to India. Then, he goes on mentioning the “apocalyptic portents” like separatist violence in the Punjab, sending of military to attack the great Sikh temple of Amritsar, assassination of Indira Gandhi with its subsequent riots and unrests, and the tragedy in Bhopal. In this time, people of New Delhi felt so threatened that they had to gain enough courage to open news paper in the morning.

The hellish occurence hit the author most was the assassination of Mrs Gandhi along with the subsequent emergence of sectarian violence following it, that burn the businesses, and houses of Sikh people and burnig them alive.

The author lives at Defence Colony in New Delhi and he was born in Calcutta. Mrs Gandhi was shot dead on 31 st October a few miles away from his residence. The 28 years old Amitav Ghosh reached the Delhi university, his place of profession, traveling by bus as he does everyday but, till then, did not notice any unnatural response among people throughout his ninety minutes journey, though passengers used some words related to the assassination. Having reached the university, The author could not notice the usual playing by basket ball players.

He sees a small group of people with a transistor radio trying to listen broadcasting of her assassination. An young boy from that small group came to Amitav Ghosh and asked him if the author had heard of the assassination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi. Nobody in the campus was sure of the news of her assassination, but whispering was going on everywhere. It was spreaded among themselves that Mrs Gandhi had been shot dead by her two Sikh bodyguards to take revenge for her sending military troops to raid the Sikh’s holy Golden Temple in Amritsar earlier in 1984.

Amitabh Ghosh entered the classroom to deliver the lecture, but notices the anxiety among the students. The author felt moved by this assassination though he was not a great follower of Mrs Gandhi. The first reliable declaration about the assassination was made by the broadcast from Karachi at around 1.30 p.m. At afternoon, he took the bus to reach home along with his friend, Hari Sen.

Realising the emergence of upcoming riot, a sikh man entered the bus hurrily in his attempt to save his life. The bus was stopped at a place as the linched mob got fired to stand and kill the sikh people whereever they can be. The sikh passenger got highly threatened but ultimately got saved as both the driver and the passengers answered negatively when they were asked if there had been any Sikh among the passengers.

The author wakes up in the next morning to be shocked unimaginatively to witness the burning of the houses of the Sikhs by the follwers of Mrs Gandhi getting protected by certain politicians. The mob began to zoom the city, and assembled to identify and burn the sikh people, especially the young ones alive. A surviving sikh woman natrated the burning of her husband along with three sons alive. With in next few days, number of death crossed 2500 though the actual number of death will never be known.

Seeing the neighboring Sikh houses getting burnt, Hari’s mother, despite being a devoted Hindu woman, phoned Mr and mrs Bawa to take shelter in their house and after some initial hesitation and firm belief of not getting attacked for not having any soft corner for villanious Sikh people, they hurrily come to save their life keeping their Hindu cook alone in their house. Despite the hellish activities of the riots, government didn’t take any repressive steps to check this riots. The mobs began to march here and there causing much distress to the author and Hari.

To prtest against the violent mobs, an organization was set up which will be known as Nagrik Ekta Manch or Citizen’s Unity Front consisting of eminent personalities like Swami Agnivesh, Ravi chopra, Chander Sekhar and fifty percent member of it was women who making an wall kept the male members at centre, protected their organization. They aim to protect Sikh people and to recover homeless Sikh people providing them foods, water, dress, and shelter. They aim to face the mobs who went on slaughtering.

The author also extended his helping hand to the poor and working class people who became the worst sufferers in this riot. Many people extended their helping hands by providing living sustenance showing the humanitarian side of this riot. This organization, later, started to publish a pamphlet entitled Who Are the Guilty which became a searching indigment for the politicians who encouraged these mobs and this pamphlet later became a hammer for the politicians to the great surprise of the author.

Then the author talks of his upcoming novel entitled The Shaddow Lines which is immensely influenced by these this particular catastrophe. He then went on saying the reasons behind his not writing an account of this particular event which is not only the political pressure, but also the fear of presenting carelessly that would seem as endorsement of terrorism or repression. He also finds himself conflicted between his identity as author and citizen though ultimately, as he says, he chose his identity as citizen to narrate the unforgettable happenings following the assassination in terms of both its cruelty by the mobs and the humanitarian side.

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THE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSH THE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSH

THE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY

GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSH

THE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSHTHE GHOSTS OF MRS GANDHI SUMMARY BY AMITAY GHOSH

 

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