Summary: 20 March

In this diary entry is a change mentioned. After the night of the incident with Ritu (mentioned in the diary entry from 10th March), Inder Lal`s mother and the narrator have become friends. This diary entry deals a lot with Inder Lal`s mother, especially her character, behaviour and what she`s doing in her free time. She`s often doing jaunts and sometimes she takes the narrator with her and her friends. One of the jaunts is described by the narrator more in detail, thus the reader gets to know about some rituals and some cultural and religious things (e.g. suttee shrines).

Description of Inder Lal`s wife (10 March)

Ritu is the wife of Inder Lal. She has three children and is living with them, her husband and Inder Lal`s mother in some very small and not very comfortable rooms. She can only speak Hindi and is a very shy person, which is reflected in her behaviour with the narrator, who doesn`t speak good Hindi, thus in general with difficult situations. She`s in a way physically weak. Her appearance is also not very strong. She`s very thin and has very thin arms on which her bangles slip about. Not just her appearance, but also her mind or will is not very strong. Describtion

Summary: 10 March

In the diary entry of the 10th March the narrator firstly tells about her relationship to Inder Lal`s wife Ritu. Secondly she
tells that it`s very hot now in the town where sche`s living and for that reason she now has to sleep outside with all the other people. Doing that she now feels really arrived and integrated in the community of people. In the end she describes an incident, happened with Ritu one night.

Analysis of the relationship between the narrator and Inder Lal

Inder Lal, the landlord and the narrator, the hirer, an English woman, who came to India to retrace the steps of a distant relative, really do have a good relationship. At the beginning Inder Lal seemed, in the narrators eyes, being ashamed to be seen with her (p.50, ll.21,22). One reason for that could be that they both look a little bit strange together, he`s much smaller that her (p.50, l.23) and it`s strange walking with her through the area. By the time he got use to the situation and seemed even proud walking with an English friend (p.50, ll.25f.). At first their relation was just for practical reasons, Inder Lal wanted to improve his English (p.50, ll.27f.). Telling this to the narrator shows that they deal very honest and open (open-minded) with each other, which is a good foundation for a good friendship. Bit by bit he didn´t only talk to her for practical reasons, but also because he enjoyed the conversations (p.50, ll.28f.). Inder Lal is very frank with the narrator and he can tell her everything he wants to, also personal things and problems (p.50, ll29ff.). Things like that you can`t tell to everyone, just to very good friends, persons you trust in.

All these things show that Inder Lal and the narrator have a very good relation.

Summary: 8 March

The diary entry of the 8th March is about different things, the narrator experienced in India. Firstly she writes about Olivia and her acting after the picnic with the Nawab. Olivia doesn´t tell Douglas bout that. Then the narrator informs the reader about Marcia`s life ( the sister of Olivia). After that the reader gets to know how the narrators daily routine is. In the following she tells about her relationship to her landlord Inder Lal and about what he told about his wife Ritu. In the end there is again something about Inder Lal, for example his appearance.

biography

Hoi

My name is Thomas. These guys here told me they are interested in the stories of people and for this reason, I will tell you about my life now:

I´m Thomas (like I already said) Meier. I was born on 24th of February in 1946, in a little town called Zwolle in the Netherlands. I went to school like every everyone. Then I started to work. That wasn`t always fun, but I had to do for earning money and so on. I didn`t really like it where I lived and always wanted to go to a foreign country. I went on working and started putting money aside. When I was 20 I had saved enough and started my big journey. I went by ship. Arriving in India I was overwhelmed by the country. But also here I had to work. I got a job in a textile mill and so I earned a living. That were my first three years in India and I really enjoyed the whole situation in my life. But then I lost my job and didn`t find a new one. I started travelling around for seeing more of this amazing country. And thus I ended up here in Bombay. Every year I stay, the whole situation gets worse, but I can`t do anything against it. I don`t find a job and so I also have no money for food and much less for an accommodation. Thus I`m now living on the streets with this monkey sitting by me and being so nice to take the lice out of my hair.^^

Maybe I would have a better life in the Netherlands now, but I can`t change my situation. But that isn`t that bad, because I`m always a positive thinking man and particularly I`m in such an nice country. And who knows what will happen?! Maybe I`ll get a job soon and everything will turn good.

People mentioned in the first diary entry

narrator:

-appearance: -young woman

-probably she´s wearing clothes she also wears when she`s at home in England

-> she`s looking english, like a tourist

-state of mind: -careless

- naive

-not knowing much about India (just from the letters)

background: -young english woman in India (Bombay S.M. hostel)

-isn`t really arrived (because of watch- English time)

aims/ wishes: -goes to India to retrace the steps of Olivia, adistant relative who moved to india in the 1920s as the wife of a British administrator

Neighbour “guardian of the watch”:

appearance: -woman

-looks like a ghost

-wears a white night-grown

-has tied her hair in one dropping plait

-paperwhite

-vaporous

-thin and white

-though & thoughened-up

-ghost with backbone

state of mind: -helpfull (guardian of the watch, gives tips e.g. food)

-religious (for 30 years she has lived only in His (gods) will)

-”You can´t live in India without Christ Jesus”

background: -woman

- has been in India for thirty years

-hates Indian food

-when she comes to Bombay, she always stays in the S.M.

-knows Mrs. Tietz for 20 years

-has seen many bad things (“I`ve seen everything that yuo can see an this earth” (lived through a Hindu-Muslim riot, small pox epidemic and several famines))

aims and wishes: -having a good life in God`s will (if God wants her to die in India, she will do soand if He wants to bring her home first, she will do that)

Miss Tietz:

background: -she´s Swiss

-came out with Cristian Sisterhood

-last 10 years has been looking after the S.M. and the kitchen herself

The first diary entry

The first thing described in the diary entry is the setting, the city Bombay, in India. The reader gets to know the first things the narrator experiences in India. For example, that it´s not really clean and you`ve to boil water and can`t eat the Indian food in the beginning. The narrator distinguishes between their food and our hostel. “They” are there (Indian) and “we” are here (English). The narrator`s watch is still on English time, what shows, that she hasn`t really  arrived by now. She has read about India and now her expectations are, that in India things are often stolen. It appears an image of India and Bombay, namely that the city is still awake and restless. The narrator`s style and language also arises. She narrates in short sentences, which seem more like thinking than rewriting.

The introduction

In the introduction is explained why the narrator goes to India. It`s also told about all characters who are being involved in the story (later). There is foreshadowing in the introduction, because it´s told that the narrator will change in a way and other things going to happen are mentioned. This literary term makes the reader to concentrate on how and why things happen and not what happens.

If there is a change, maybe this story is a novel of initiation.

Quotations on India

IV. Quotations taken from Salman Rushdie`s novel The Satanic Verses:

” Wherever the English settle, they never leave England.”

The author of this quotation is an Indian. He criticises the English people, because they don`t adapt themselves to the Indian culture and lifestyle. In the opinion of the author the English should conform much more to the Indian culture. The English just come to the country and do their colonial policy. For feeling at home they bring they`re own things and don`t diverge from they`re culture. Thus it becomes apparent in this quotation that the English don`t care about the Indian culture.