Sunlight On A Broken Column

Attia Hosain
Chapter Wise Summary
Part Two
Chapter 1:22
The first chapter of the second part signals the change.
The narrator observes, “All those people who had so far been a
part of life were pushed father and father away.”
Abida and Zahra left for their homes. Majida stayed at
Hasanpur with Ustaniji, Hajjan Bibi, slowly getting consumed in
the “gloom of hypochondriac melancholy”; Ramzano went with
them.
Asad went to Delhi, living his “austere life”, studying and
teaching, while Zahid, being nearer home, made his visits
infrequent. Mohsin, who reciprocated Hamid’s dislike for him,
came no longer to the house. Karam Ali died a year after Baba
Jan and Nandi ran away with a “pedlar.” Only Saliman remained
and was decided as to be Laila’s personal servant.
Visits to Hasanpur became infrequent, confined to “estate
affairs” made on necessity. Laila went back to the Taluqdar
house in Lucknow to live with Hamid and Saira, but found
everything “changed.” She observes, “I remembered the past
and was sad.”
On the first night of their return Saliman came to her room,
troubled by “fears and loneliness.” That night, Laila
contemplates deeply about the change and finds herself
troubled by it. The “furious rain” answered her in torrential
downpour and heavy thundering
Chapter 2:23
The second chapter of the second part discusses in detail the
transformation that the ‘Ashiana’ goes through.
A new marble tablet is erected on the gates of the ‘Ashiana’,
proclaiming the “new master.” Saira, who did not observe
pardah like her sisters-in-law, begins to supervise the gardens
personally. Furniture and decollations are altered, changing the
“rooms” from “friends” to “acquaintances.” The narrator
mentions, “I missed the ghostliness of the drawing-room.”
The trophies of Baba Jan, the relics of the past, symbols of his
authority, are distributed between the “rubbish-heap, junk-
room and Hasanpur”, making the rooms seem “naked.” When
the narrator observes, “The rejuvenated rooms reminded me of
English homes I had visited with Mrs. Martin, yet they were as
different as copies of a painting from the original”, she suggests
that despite Hamid’s desperate efforts to become westernised,
he can only emulate them and come close to being “copies”,
and never be the original one.
The servants are also changed. The old cook is replaced by the
“khansamah” and instead of Karam Ali and Chuttan were Lal
Singh, Hamid’s “trained valet”, and Ghulam Ali. Instead of
Hakiman Bua comes Nizaman Bua with a heart like a “dried
mango seed”, and Saira’s Ayah, who often fought with the
former. Kamli Shah no longer came to extort charity, relatives
no longer visited the ‘Ashiana’, and even when Abida and
Majida came, they never stayed for long.
Hamid represented the Taluqdars. He was an influential person,
yet he seemed to struggle to retain Baba Jan’s “accepted
heritage.” He seemed to talk of nothing but “opposition and
obstruction, manoeuvring and manipulation, parties and
personalities in an increasing struggle for power.” Yet one
cannot perhaps entirely blame him, for times had changed. It
was no longer Baba Jan’s India, but a country torn by rupture
and conflict. Indeed social relationships had become complex in
the later part of the independence struggle’s era.
Hamid also demanded his wife to be active in social welfare and
various women’s organisations. Most of their time was spent in
giving and attending parties—something for with Laila was too
young. They meet at meal-times and rare occasions. The
narrator observes, “I posed no problems of upbringing. I was
outwardly acquiescent.”
Chapter 3:24
This chapter introduces us to Laila’s College friends.
Laila mentions that she felt as if she “lived in two worlds”, “an
observer” in an “outside world”, and “solitary” in her “own.”
Only her College friends made her forget about this rupture in
her self, this self-fragmentation.
Nita Chatterji, the girl with the “strongest character” is a
through rationalist and devoted to the cause of her country.
She openly talked about her opinions and criticised Laila for her
lack of a “sense of direction” in life. She often said, “The trouble
with you is you walk round and round in circles” and blamed it
on her wealth that had privileged her to be able to be in such a
state of oblivion. She herself has to earn a degree and get a job,
to support her life. Laila liked her nevertheless for her took our
“the sting” from what her “conscience” whispered to her. She
was like her inner voice who made her see the truth.
Nadira was the daughter of Begum Waheed, Saira’s friend. Her
family had recently earned their wealth and moved here. Her
mother was desperate to “defend their heritage” and so was
Nadira.
Joan was an Anglo-Indian, who neither identified with
“English”, nor the Indians, but neither hated the later. She was
from a humble, small and unpretentious family. Her mother
was a widow. Whenever Laila went to her house, she felt a
sense of “deprivation” by the “love and understanding” Joan
shared with her mother; their worlds were not separated by an
age of ideas.
The final in the group was Romana, different from the others in
every possible way. She never took sides in their discussions
and thus was amused by them. She looked too much part of a
fairly tale.
Together, the friends questioned and dissected life. They were
bounded by books, and the voices that spoke through them
were of great men, profound thinkers, philosophers and poets.
It was Laila haven, her refuge, her escape.
Chapter 4:25
This chapter represents, perhaps, Laila’s first vocal rebellion.
One fine day, after coming from College, Laila has herself called
by her aunt, who had visitors over—Begum Waheed and Mrs.
Wadia, a “haughty and critical” woman who was “prouder” of
Western culture than the British themselves. Unable to have
changed her “cotton” sari, she goes consciousness, afraid of
being judged, and quietly takes her place. Then Begum and
particularly Mrs. Wadia set their eyes on her like hawks.
In the conversation, that is dominated by Wadia’s sense of
superiority, despite the fact that she nothing to do with the
issues, we come to know that Begum Waheed’s husband do not
believe in women’s education. Laila soon understands why she
has been summoned by her aunt. Nadira has expressed her
modern opinions on one occasion to make sure that she may
not be selected by a groom’s family for marriage. Saira has
asked her to be there to mediate the tension caused by this
between her and the Begum. Laila trips plates of samosas,
sandwiches and spices.
The conversation soon drifts towards a Muslim girl from an
orthodox family, who has run away with a Hindu boy from the
neighbouring boy’s college and married him. The boy’s family
has disapproved of the marriage, and after the boy’s money
was spent, he has abandoned her to return to his family. The
girl has committed suicide.
While the women express their nasty opinions of her and her
condition, Laila is filled with rage and ultimately blurts our, “She
was not wicked”, in the girl’s defence, when accused of bring
thus by the women. The women, and especially Saira, are
astonished, and when Begum Waheed asks if she had been her
friend, Laila courageously answers, “No, but I wish she had
been. She must habe been brave and clever to educate herself
in a poor, background home and get a scholarship. The poor girl
must have suffered terribly.” This is enough to infame the
women and they began to accuse the girl even more critically.
Laila finally gives the example of literature in the girl, as well as
her defence, which is filled with such examples. Saira could not
take this anymore and Laila is asked to go to her room.
Chapter 5:26
This chapter marks the return of Nandi.
Returning to her room, Laila goes and lies down on her bed, her
mind amazed at the “strength” of the girl that enabled her to
break the barriers of “tradition and fear” and questions
desperately, “Why in seventeen years I have not learned the
answer?”
Suddenly, she is called by Jumman who asks her to read the
Quran to her wide, the “mother of Nandi.” She had given birth
to a “still born” a few days ago.
Nandi agrees to come, and she goes to fetch her Quran,
Saliman comes and informs her that Jumman’s wife is possesed
by “devils.” When Laila interrupts to say that the woman must
have been admitted to a hospital, Saliman expresses her
orthodox conservative views that to give birth in front of the
male doctors is shameful and death is better than that.
When Laila enters the ill-ventilated room, she finds the
woman’s face “twisted feverishly”, and in a moment of horror
she runs out. Thereafter she gives Saliman some money to give
it to Jumman and to ask him to take his wife to the hospital.
Then, she returned to her room and cried.
Jumman’s wife soon dies of, what is discovered to be gangrene,
and Nandi returns, her “forgiveness” now being “easy” as
Jumman had “need” of her. Nandi cries in front of Laila, and the
later picks her up by her “hands” made “coarse and rough with
work”, Nandi express that she was glad to be back, and Saliman
stood and sobbed because she was happy “that a part of our
girlhood had been restored to us.”
Chapter 6:27
In this chapter, Abida, Majida and Zahra return to the ‘Ashiana’
for a visit.
Hamid was as critical of Laila’s outburst as of the purpose of
Begum Waheed’s visit because of the “notorious reputation” of
her brother. Saira’s pride softened with time but inside Laila, “a
core of intolerance” hardened against the “hollowness of the
ideas of progress and benevolence” preached by her aunt and
companions. She observes, “Rebellion began to feed upon my
thoughts but found no outlet.”
Zahra came for a visit from her “European holiday” and Abida,
Majida, Ustaniji and Hakiman Bua came to “complete the family
circle.”
For the first two days, Abida devoted all her time to her
husband’s comfort, and the first night after he left, Laila went
to her. She finds her reading her favourite volume of Ghalib’s
poetry and observes that Abida had the only one of her aunts
whom she ever saw with a “book in her hand.”
Abida asks Laila if she had been reading her the Urdu books she
gave her. When she answers in the negative, Abida says, “I
thought you would learn on cannot live fully out of what is
borrowed. You must learn your own language and heritage.”
This perhaps beings the larger issues of the time that plagued
the Indian writers and divided into two halves, namely,
whether to write in English or in their native tongue.
She then observes, “Sometimes I must have seemed very hard.
But it had to be so. I had to prepare you for the hardships life
brings. We cannot control what happens to us, but we can
control our behaviour. One must never blunt one’s sense of
duty.”
Zahra had returned in the week of the Viceregal’s visit and the
roads and building had been decorated for the occasion. She
found more in common with Saira and enjoyed her present
social life. While in England she had seen Kemal and Saleem
and this also made her a “tangible link” with them. Naseer was
a man defined by “ambition” and similarly preferred Hamid’s
company.
Chapter 7:28
In this chapter, Asad returns.
Zahra comes tired from the races, and crashes on Laila’s bed,
complaining of her high heels. In their conversation that
follows, they talk about the world, though from each other’s
point of view. Asad enters, commenting on a remark of Zahra,
mistaking it of Laila’s. A moment of awkward follows. Both of
them notice how both have changed drastically and Zahra
comments, “I’m not a girl any more. I’m a married woman.”
Laila is elated to see Asad and the later informs her that he is
here on work. Zahra tries to express her superiority that she
has gained with her rise in power after marriage when Naseer
comes and asks her to get ready for the “cocktail party” at Sir
John’s. Zahra marks one last attempt to fault her wealth by
asking her husband as to which sari to wear, both being
exceeding exotic and costly as revealed from their description,
before she leaves.
Naseer enquires about Asad but cuts him short, thereby
reflecting that he is only interested in patronising and
expressing his superiority over others. The world indeed is a
board of chest, and their lives a constant struggle for power.
After he leaves, Asad, much like Laila in chapter 20 of part one,
comments on the frivolity of these powerful people and their
attempt to always use power to assert their dominance through
the humiliation of the weak, “Strange how they try to make one
feel insignificant by flaunting power and importance.” When he
observes, “It shouldn’t bother me, it’s not important” he
indicates at a mind similar to Laila, torn with questions perhaps,
that has learned to see the reality of things.
We learn that Asad has been studying and teaching the poor
and “illiterate.” He has been working for the poor, going
amongst them, in villages, organising meetings. He comments
that when he is doing these things, problems do not seem
“immovable mountains” to him. He also observes that these
things give him a “sense of satisfaction” and Laila notes that
Asad’s “voice” has gained a “new note of confidence, though
his eyes were still those of a dreamer.”
Asad explains that the “Viceregal’s circus” has spread
dissatisfaction amongst the students who have planed to stage
a demonstration. There are rumours of a “clash” and so he is
here to stop any such thing, as he is against “violence.” Laila
mentions about Nita and her radical ideas to Asad.
As Laila and Asad join the elders, namely Abida, Majida and
Hakiman Bua for dinner, it seems like “nothing has changed.”
Laila observes, “As if our yesterdays had returned” to which
Asad adds, “When we were inpatient for our tomorrows.”
Chapter 8:29
Chapter 28 introduces an interlude before Laila’s entry into the
social world.
The reception given by the Taluqdars of Oudh in honour of the
Viceroy was a grand event, preparations for which had been
made in advance. Laila observes, “Zahra could not have chosen
a more splendid occasion for my introduction into her social
world.”
That afternoon Zahra comes to Laila’s room where they share a
conversation. In it, a few things are mentioned to the readers.
Firstly, Zahra observes that she has learned in England to be
“proud of her breeding”, for the English are “no better.”
Secondly, though Zahra observes that she is only doing her
duty, Laila soon proves in though the nails-and-scissors trick
that she actually enjoys her life and is not merely doing her
duty. Thirdly, Zahra does not think about her marriage or that
she will be married, i.e. she has no plants of marriage. This is
revealed in the observation, “No, Zahra, look in that mirror. See
the face of an old maid.”
They are finally interrupted by Asad who had come to summon
Saliman for Abida.
Chapter 9:30
Chapter 9 of part two marks Laila’s entry into the social world.
Ignorant of “certain social rules” and unprepared, Laila is
initally mocked by Saira for her dress. Zahra however
beautifully grooms her in one of her “saris, coral pink, scattered
with golden stars.” All the women in the house are amazed to
see her. Aunt Abida is proud and Asad full of admiration. Nandi
adds, “Bitia smile! You look like the moon hidden behind the
cloud.” Only Saliman remained sad and silent.
In the ‘Baradari’, where the reception is taking place, Laila sits
with Zahra who informs her about all the personages in the
room. Soon Laila begins to recognise her friends and sons of
friends of her grandfather and uncle. A witty passage follows
(151) which hint at the potential of time to alter things,
comments on human nature in general, and highlights the
dynamics of the social class of elites.
The nitty-gritties of the event are carried out, after which Laila
and Zahra are to move to the terrace where Naseer has
arranged sets for them near the chief guests. While moving,
however, Laila’s sari is caught in a nail, and she is separated
from Zahra. The crowd hurls her in one direction, the babblings
of a drunk man puts her in panic (given that she had never seen
a drunk man) and as she steps in the empty hall, the lurching of
a man in the “black achkan” frightens her so much, that she
runs blindly to the farthest end of the room before crashing
into a man.
The rest of the chapter takes places in an atmosphere of
heightened and sensuous consciousness, framed from a
cinematic angle, and marked with sense of dreaminess and
transience. The nameless man calms her and takes her to the
terrace to convey her to her relatives. All the while even the
slightest of information about him or his appearance is
withheld from the readers; all that is told is that Laila “felt safe
holding his arm.” Amid the burst of fireworks and their dazzling
lights that momentarily coloured the sky, the man hands her to
Zahra and Laila sends the rest of the night staring “a young,
smiling face with large, widely spaced eyes, and dark hail on
which a black cap rested at a gay angle.”
Chapter 10:31
Chapter 10 of part two marks political unrest.
The day after the event, Saturday, the Viceroy was to lay the
foundation stone of a new hostel at the University. Authorities
and taken action in advance to avoid any kind of student
demonstrations, and initially the situation had seemed to be
under control. Recent rumours however had been heard, so
much so that the event was planned to be cancelled. Yet, it is
carried out at the last moment only to end in a disaster.
Zahra leaves for the event happily only to return “shaken with
fright.” Everything had gone well until it was time for the
Viceroy to leave, when students had suddenly began to
demonstrate. The professors, protectors and plain-clothed men
had immediately gone to attend the protesters, while the
Viceroy had been safely driven out.
On Sunday, heavy police patrol falls on every corner of the city.
On Monday it is rumoured that students were arrested and
beaten inside the University campus by the police—a place
where the later had no right to be. On the day of the Viceroy’s
visit nationalist had been “kidnapped” and left-wing student
leaders driven miles out of the city and left stranded on country
roads.
The air is rife with tension and anger. University students
threaten to march in procession to the Council Chamber, and
appeal for solidarity at all schools and colleges.
In Laila’s college, the Principal delivers a diplomatic speech,
making it clear that anyone who supports the protesters will
face “expulsion.” Amongst the group of Laila’s friends, quarrel
breaks out over whether to react or not, and as to what is the
thing to do, and Nita observes, “I will do something.”
Chapter 11:32
In Chapter 11 of Part Two, Laila learns the name of the man
from the party.
The next day Laila stays at home. Hamid summons her and
enquires her about her views on the present unrest. He
questions, “What do you think about it?”
Laila answers, “I’m sorry, I consider the question irrelevant.”
When Hamit sarcastically questions if she had no “freedom of
thought”, Laila curtly answers, “I have no freedom of action.”
Hamit, thought angered, reminds her that she is still under his
guidance, before giving her permission to leave. The
conversation marks Laila’s first vocal rebellion in front of the
authority of Hamid.
Greatly troubled, Laila walks towards Abida’s room to “escape
the questioning that seethed inside” her. “What was one to
believe in? Why was I different from Zahra? What was wrong
with me?”
Later that day, the women are calmly sitting in the veranda,
when they are suddenly started by a “distant noise of
shouting”. Laila rushed towards the roof and sees road “alive
with defiant, determined young people. The sound of their
marching feet and angry voices was a surging sea, a roaring
tempest.” The sight of the “group of girls” in front of them
reminded her of Nita. She returns and explains it to the others.
The other women comment critically and ignorantly on the
protesters; Abida however keeps quiet. As time dragged, Laila
begins to think about Nita, Asad, about her own “inaction”, and
the last time something similar had happened.
Asad returns supported by Zahid, bleeding from his head, tired,
yet quite teasing. He had been with the protesters and had
received a lathi on his forehead. Abida bandages it and
arranges for his rest. On Laila’s enquiry, Asad observes that Nita
was present in the protest and it was her he was protecting
when he received the wound.
When Saira returns, she observes how this will infuriate Hamid
and Abida suggests not to tell him.
Political situation worsens. Political groups join in, in support of
the students. There are firings and a 24 hour curfew is installed.
Public opinion automatically drifted towards the protesters. As
a compromise, two students, who actually attached the police
are rusticated, and no action is taken against the others. Hamid
capitalises upon the situation, wining favours for the elections.
He stands against the Government for the firing and has Saira
visit the hospitals.
Laila asks Asad, “Why do you not taunt be another inaction as
Nita does?” and Asad answers in an illuminating moment,
“Because the urge for action must come from within you.”
Zahid comes in to inform Asad that Ameer has come to see him.
Asad asks Laila to stay, but she leaves nevertheless. Yet, as she
is leaving the room, her eyes meet Ameer’s and she
immediately recognises him. It was him at the partly that night;
and now, she knew his name.
With a sensed of puzzled realisation, she observes, “And now a
name I could recognise, and a common bond in Asad.
Yet not even Asad must know, because it had no meaning
outside of me, nor any explanation. It was a nakedness to be
hidden by each element of my will and feeling.”
Chapter 12:33
This second last chapter of Part Two sets things in motion.
Nita is rusticated and silently sent home. Laila did not get to see
her for the last time. Romana and Joan, who lived in the same
hostel and helped her pack, informed Laila that she “appeared
cheerful and unrepentant.” She leaves a farewell note in which
she addresses something to everyone. For Laila she writes,
“Your actions will, I hope, one day coincide with your beliefs.”
Two days after her return, she died suddenly as a result of
injuries to her brain in the lathi charge. Laila observes, “Her
death was to me a martyrdom.”
Then Romana left, being selected by the Begam for her son.
Laila notes, “Romana was sentenced to a life of luxurious
incarceration.”
The time of Abida, Majida and Zarah’s department came close.
Laila informs her that Hamid admired the “ordered, individual,
Western way of living” and disliked the “joint family system”
and was quite happy at their departure. Moreover, the sale of
their “neighbour’s house”, that of the Raja of Bhimnagar, due
to his debt, quiet disturbed him, for it ensured “privacy” to the
‘Ashiana’. The land had been bought by Laila’s childhood friend,
Sita Agarwal’s father, Harish Prasad Agarwal. The narrator here
indicates at the flux the society is undergoing where the
feudalists, the once-powerful are now falling down, being
succeeded by the capitalist, or the new-emerging classes,
bearing witness to Marx’s theory of social class.
Chapter 12:34
The last chapter in the second part of the novel marks a climatic
moment in Laila’s life.
Laila discovers that Saliman is to leave with her aunts too and
despite her protests, Saliman has to leave.
Nandi revels to her that Nandi had been fooled in a liaison by
Ghulam Ali and was now pregnant. She thus has been removed.
At this point Nandi makes Laila realise how terrible is the fate of
a poor woman in a world dominated by men. She must suffer.
And Ghulam Ali could not be blamed. He is Hamid’s favourite.
No one would believe Saliman or Nandi’s word for they are
poor and women.
The bitter truth of the world is too much for Laila and it shakes
her to the core. That night she sees a strange, puzzling and
mortally chilling dream and wakes up crying. But Nandi bends
over her and says, “Bitia, do not cry. You are not alone. I am with
you.”