B.A. (Hons.

) English – Semester VI Core Course

Paper XIV : Postcolonial Literatures Study Material

Unit-3
(a) Ngugi wa Thiongo (Kenya), The Trial of Dedan Kimathi
(b) Indra Sinha, Animal's People (Tape 1, 2 and 3)

Edited by: Nalini Prabhakar

Department of English

SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING

University of Delhi
 Paper XIV – Postcolonial Literatures
Unit-3

(a) Ngugi wa Thiongo (Kenya), The Trial of Dedan Kimathi

(b) Indra Sinha, Animal’s People (Tape 1, 2 and 3)

Edited by:
Nalini Prabhakar
School of Open Learning
University of Delhi
Delhi-110007

 
SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING
UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
5, Cavalry Lane, Delhi-110007
 Paper XIV – Postcolonial Literatures
Unit-3

Contents

S. Title Writer Pg.

No. No.

(a) Ngugi wa Thiongo (Kenya), The Trial of Dedan Shashi Khurana 01

Kimathi

(b) Indra Sinha, Animal’s People (Tape 1, 2 and 3) Binoy Bhushan Agarwal 19

 
SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING
UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
5, Cavalry Lane, Delhi-110007
 Unit-3

(a) The Trial of Dedan Kimathi

Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Micere Githae Mugo
Shashi Khurana

Bio-Literary Perspective of Ngugi wa Thiong’o

Born in the village of Kamirithu in 1938, Ngugi was known as James Ngugi until his
symbolic decision in 1970 to reject his Christian name and revert to his Gikuyu name-Ngugi,
son of Thiong’o. Ngugi grew up in the white-settler dominated Kenyan Highlands. He
studied in both mission-run and independent Gikuyu schools. Ngugi was still a schoolboy
when the Mau Mau guerrilla warfare between the Land Freedom Army and the Kenyan
colonial government began in the 1950’s. His deaf and mute brother was shot dead during the
State of Emergency and his mother was held in solitary confinement after his older brother
joined the resistance movement. The Mau-Mau struggle became an important symbolic
source for shaping much of Ngugi’s writing.
By the mid 1970’s, Ngugi had become increasingly involved in active participation with
the Kamirithu Community Educational Cultural Centre, where along with Ngugi Wa Mirri,
he prepared a script for community participation is a self-help scheme to promote literacy.
This experience was to change his relationship with the masses. Ngugi reported, “You can’t
possibly write for a peasant worker audience in the same way (or perform the same things) as
you would for the parasitic jet set age in Africa.” (Writers in Politics,1981). In 1997, he
legally changed his name from James Ngugi with his determination to make visible the
hitherto invisible history from below’. Ngugi co-authored The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976)
with Micere Githae Mugo, (1942) a play on the captured Mau-Mau guerrilla leader Dedan
Kimathi. The Mau-Mau, hitherto a source of history, develops into a central motif in the
tradition of struggle among the racially oppressed.
Literature and its Contexts
The passion with which writers believe in issues colours their literary products. The
composition of a piece of Literature, according to Ngugi is a complex process which weaves
together ideology and history within an aesthetic framework.
“Literature does not grow or develop in a vacuum, it is given impetus, shape, direction
and even area of concern by social, political and economic forces in a particular society. The
relationship between creative literature and these other forces cannot be ignored, especially in
Africa, where modern literature has grown against the gory background of European
imperialism and its changing manifestations : slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism. Our
culture over the last hundred years has developed against the same stunting, dwarfing
background.

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 There is no area of our lives which has not been affected by the social, political and
expansionist needs of European capitalism: from that of the reluctant African, driven by
whips and gunpowder to work on the cotton plantations of America, the rubber plantations of
the Congo, the gold and diamond mines of southern Africa, to that of the modern African
worker spending his meagre hard-earned income on imported cars and other goods, (razor
blades and Coca Cola even) to bolster the same Western industries that got off the ground on
the backs of his peasant ancestors and on the plunder of a continent”.
Homecoming (Introduction)
The concerns to which Ngugi gave his attention in the early period were numerous: he
responded to most issues of topical public interest. However, viewed in a historical
perspective, his articles record the beginnings of coherent body of reformist thought which in
later years veered considerably further to the left. They reflect the conciliatory humanist-
moralist orientation which dominated Ngugi’s mood at the time: their common theme was to
urge justice and fair play in human affairs.
The first aim of the struggle in colonized Africa was political independence. However,
Ngugi saw this as only the first step towards total liberation spiritual and mental of the
African. Such complete freedom presuppose self-supporting economies which ensure decent
living standards for ordinary citizens, genuine and incorruptible democracies which depend
for their survival and growth on the mental maturity of the people and the nurturing of a true
nationalist spirit. Consequently, Ngugi foresaw Independence developing in three stages
which he defined in 1963 in his last newspaper column.
“The first of these stages is political independence: an African country becomes free of
foreign political authority and power passes from Whites to Blacks. The immediate benefits
go to members of the educated elite who rise to positions of responsibility, influence and
affluence as a result of the nationalization and Africanization of public services and the
private sector. The second stage is that of economic independence which aims at improving
the financial condition of the uneducated and underprivileged masses whose only stake in
political freedom lies in the improvement of their material well-being– the only possible
measure of their ‘sense of dignity and self-respect’. The third stage is psychological
independence. At this stage the people should have attained such a level of well-being–
material and spiritual– and such a level of mental maturity and confidence that they no longer
feel the need to assert their independence, their personality or their culture aggressively. They
also outgrow the urge to avenge the injustices which they have suffered at the hands of alien
races. The ultimate outcome is that the African ‘be free from fear and destructive anxiety,
physically free to journey towards the heights he can reach, and ready to affirm the worth of
life, in spite of its tribulations.” ‘As I See It: The Three Levels of Independence’ Sunday
Nation. October 1963.
Thus, in this early period, Ngugi saw freedom from colonial hegemony as merely a
prelude to the realization by the African of his full human potential. In his fiction and non-

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fictional writings, opposition to colonialism is depicted not merely as a historical
phenomenon, but as a process of growth. In a nutshell, Ngugi wrote to urge the African to lift
himself above colonialism and its continuing constraints on his mind and thought, and above
all such other limitations and circumstances which could hamper his aspiration towards true
equality of status with all people of other countries.
African History and Theatre
Ngugi and Mugo encompass a vast vision of history in the play, The Trial of Dedan Kimathi
“the pre-colonial wars of resistance against European intrusion and European slavery,
through the anti-colonial struggles for democracy, to post-independence struggles against
neo-colonialism.” The focus of the play is on the peasants’ and workers’ struggles before and
after constitutional independence. The play “is not a reproduction of the farcical ‘trial’ at
Nyeri. It is rather an imaginative recreation and interpretation of the collective will of the
Kenyan peasants and workers in their resistance to sixty years of colonial torture and ruthless
oppression by the British ruling classes and their continued determination to resist
exploitation, oppression and new forms of enslavement.” The play traces the social
conditions in modern Kenya in a historical continuum.
The play belongs to a theatre of consciousness-raising and encouragement to struggle. It
seeks to mobilize popular will against neo-colonialism and the new capitalism which were
seen as widening the gap between the Kenyan rich and poor. The play re-defines the role
which the Mau-Mau movement played in gaining Kenya’s political autonomy and socio-
Cultural re-identification. In one of her interviews, Mugo states. “We were using drama
specifically in order to conscientize our people, to review our history with them and theirs
with us to be able to answer the questions, ‘Where are we?’ and ‘Where are we heading?”
The play portrays a true folk hero and to make his life and death meaningful for modern
Kenya. The play is based on Kimathi’s trial at Nyeri which began on 19 November 1956. He
had been captured on 21 October by Ian Henderson after a year-long manhunt, and charged
with unlawful possession of revolver and some rounds of ammunition, which was a capital
offence under the 1952 Emergency laws. He was sentenced to death on 27 November and his
appeals were dismissed. On 18 February 1957, he was hanged and his body was buried in
Kamiti Prison.
The Preface
It is not without significance that Ngugi and his co-author Micere Mugo offer a much longer
than usual preface explaining the thinking behind the text, the kind of questions which
prompted it ----whether, for instance, the theme of Mau-Mau was now exhausted, or whether
on the contrary, it had ever been adequately treated in Kenyan Literature. Researching the
play showed Ngugi and Micere not only how important the memory of Kimathi still was to
the people of his area, but also that direct personal knowledge contradicted standard or
official accounts of the man. One common belief was that Kimathi had acquired military skill
through having served with the British in World War 2, rather than, as now appeared to be

3
the case, from his own abilities and the circumstances of the independence struggle against
the British. The Kimathi play was envisaged as just the first series which would resurrect the
history of Kenyan resistance to foreign invaders ---again highlighting the importance of a
sense of connection and continuity, with Mau-Mau as only the latest example of Kenyans’
refusal to accommodate themselves to foreign occupation, as well as part of a continent-wide,
ultimately worldwide, movement of anti-colonial resistance. The play has been considered as
a transitional text---Ngugi’s first collaborative project, jointly written, but with input from a
number of others; It is his last play written in English and makes more extensive use of
Gikuyu, the native language of Nyeri. The opening and closing songs, the street vendors’
cries and the interrogation of suspects embeds the text with a hybridization which marks a
break away from canonical texts. In terms of power relations, the play offers a
straightforward opposition between indigenous rebellion and various forms of colonialism
military judicial and collaborationist---- and though colonialism ‘wins’ because Kimathi is
captured and killed, the evidence of popular resistance indicates that colonialism will not
always be victorious
Theme and Structure
The theme of the play is summed up in Dedan’s teaching, “Unite, drive out the enemy and
control your own riches, enjoy the fruit of your sweat,” (page 18) The play weaves together a
variety of strands, which are structured around three movements. The structure is not rigid in
time---it moves freely forwards and backwards in time to contain, in the first instance, the
story of how a female peasant activist, simply called “Woman,” attempts to help the
imprisoned Kimathi and in the process motivates two young people the Boy and the Girl to
involve themselves in the Movement by responding to, “The call of our people. The
humiliated, the injured, the insulted, the exploited, the submerged millions of labouring men
and women of Kenya.” (page 19) In the final scene of the play, they demonstrate their
commitment by trying to smuggle a gun into the prison to help Kimathi escape. The next
strand projects the temptations offered to Kimathi. The banker, business executive, politician
and priest, all try to bribe him, in various ways to give up the struggle, and to recognize and
accept with them the concessions that come their way. They pose as symbols of the self-
governing Kenya which has emerged since independence. The other major strand is
recapitulation of Kimathi’s actions and thought process when faced with betrayals.
As indicated earlier, the play is not concerned with the detailed legalistic process, but
more with showing how Kimathi undergoes four ‘trials’ which are essentially attempts to
break his resolve, which are more reminiscent of the temptations of Christ. In the first of
these, the symbolically multipurpose British official Shaw Henderson, who acts as judge,
prosecutor, etc. (and who bears the surname of the policeman who captured the real Kimathi)
offers Kimathi his life in exchange for a confession which would bring the fighting to an end.
“Dedan Kimathi: you must plead. Life comes before pride. You once vowed that no white
man would ever get you. But now you are in custody.

4
 Hanging between life and death. Plead, plead, plead guilty. It’s a game, yes. You can
name your prize. You’ll have your life. Only we must end this strife. Plead guilty for Life!”
(page 35)
In the second trail, members of the African and Asian middle class tempt Kimathi with
visions of material wealth. “Confess. Repent. Plead guilty. Co-operate like the surrendered
generals. Tell your people to come out of the Forest. We need stability. There never can be
progress without stability. Then we can finance big Hotels... International Hotels...seaside
resorts... Night Clubs...Casinos...Tarmac roads...oil refineries and pipelines... Then tourists
from USA, Germany France, Switzerland, Japan will flock in. Investment, my friend,
development, prosperity, happiness.” (page 40)
In the third trial, a politician, a priest and a former ‘radical’ now a successful
businessman, try to convince Kimathi that the people’s demands have been met and that there
is nothing to fight for. The business Executive glorifies the neo-colonial policies in an
attempt to influence Dedan. “It is not, eeh, exactly like that. But there have been two
important announcements. They have said: No more racialism. No more colour bar. In public
places. In administration. In business. In the allocation of loans. In the grabbing, well, in the
acquisition of land. Partnership in progress, that’s the new motto. Is this not what we have
been fighting for? Any black man who now works hard and has capital can become local
directors of foreign companies. We can now buy land in the White Highlands. White
Highlands no more. It’s now: Willing Seller. Willing Buyer.” To this Dedan replies cynically,
“Buy back our land from those who stole it from us?” (page 45).
In the fourth trial Henderson drops soft measures of persuading and attempts to break his
prisoner by torturing him into signing a letter telling the remaining Mau Mau fighters to
surrender. Henderson orders his soldiers to “set to work.” “Right askari! Remove him to the
torture chamber and let Gatotia give him intensive treatment” (bullying the soldiers who
remain behind in the cell as he and Waitina march off to the torture chamber.) Haraka!” (page
56).
Dedan overcomes all the trials of doubt and weakness, reaffirms his refusal, is ‘tried’ and
sentenced to death. Despite that the play ends on a note of defiance and hope. This reflects
the later Ngugi whose faith in the capacity of Kenyan people to lead a struggle against
resistance was restored. This is symbolized in the ‘Boy’ and the ‘Girl’ and the chorus- like
chanting of the final song in its final lines:
Group----Hoo-ye, hoo-ye, our unity is our strength
Solists----We shall fight till the end
Group----Let’s intensify the fight and we shall win
Solists----Hoes high and machetes high
Group----Let’s redeem ourselves and revive the nation.”(page.85)

5
 This song is sung after Kimathi is led off to his death and thus reaffirms the faith of the
Boy and the Girl in the teaching of Dedan Kimathi.
The Three Movements in Outline
The first Movement begins with an introduction to a colonized society of black people,
pauperized and discriminated against. Through a combination of song and dance and the
effect of soft light the history of the black people unfolds itself through different phases of
exploitation, subjection, slavery and cruelty to the contemporary period of anti-imperialist
militant protest. A glimpse of the prevalent political unrest shows clashes between the forces
of the settlers and the guerrillas whose leader is standing trial. The scene that introduces
‘Boy’ and ‘Girl’ presents them in their rustic simplicity, immaturity and feeblemindedness.
Similarly the Boy’s encounter with Woman gradually leads the former to a mental state of
self-realization that enables him in the last two Movements to acquire a more realistic and,
more empowering perception of reality. The omnipresent voice of Woman declares: “The day
you’ll ask yourself...what can I do that another shall not die under such grisly
circumstances...that day you’ll become a man, my son.” (page 22).
The moment Boy forgets and does anything contrary to the instructions of Woman, he
usually feels “as though she is watching me admonishing me. I feel so ashamed.” (page 41)
The Second Movement foregrounds Dedan Kimathi---the visionary, ideologue and poet.
The contending forces of the dominating imperialists, with their tricks and deceit and the
redemptive violence of the dominated peasants are brought into play. Though the imperialist
forces do everything possible to perpetuate their hold on the exploited Kenyans, Kimathi and
the committed revolutionists demand justice and self-determination. “I’m....tired....
of...running. All my life I have been running. On the run. On the road. Men molesting me. I
was once a dutiful daughter. A nice Christian home. It was in the settled area. CHRIST IS
THE HEAD OF THIS HOUSE THE UNSEEN GUEST AT EVERY MEAL THE SILENT
LISTENER TO EVERY CONVERSATION. I ran away from school because the headmaster
wanted to do wicked things with me. Always: you remain behind......” (page 41)
The Third Movement draws up the rescue plan for Kimathi and its implementation using
guerrilla tactics. Though there are temporary setbacks the people concerned do not waver in
their resolve to free Dedan. Woman says, “In the struggle, you learn to adapt to changed
circumstances. Yesterday was a day of setbacks. First the screening and the Johnnies! I
walked into the mouth of a gun! Then, after we parted, I found out that the fruit seller was
among the ones picked in yesterday morning’s raid. That was a crucial contact gone. This
upset all the plans. What was I to do? I dressed as a fruit seller so that you could easily
recognize me. The court adjourned sooner than I thought: I then followed the crowd. I was
going to speak to the Warder, another contact. I found that he too had been transferred to
another place. So only you remained. I kept on looking for you. Between here and Majengo,
there is not a place I have not visited. Great risks: but the task once started must be
completed.” (page 60)

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 The co-playwrights do not regard the seeming setbacks and temporary failure in the
course of the people’s struggles as lamentable dead-end, rather they are seen as challenges
which produce an anticipated fulfilment both in the world of the play as well as in the socio-
economic milieu. Neither the revolutionists nor the compradors of the ruling powers are
romanticized as the scenes shift from the courtroom, the street, the cell and the guerrilla
camp.
While the play winds up, it acquires a swift but gradual tempo towards the denouement,
and a definite but hardly predictable resolution. The plot moves to a climaxing end in the
death sentence passed on Kimathi by the trial Judge, and the sudden counter move that leads
both to Kimathi’s freedom and seizure of power by the youth i.e. Boy and Girl.
The Plot
The plot of the play is largely diachronic except for the monochromic sequence of the
historical phases in the opening scene. Criminal charges against the imprisoned Dedan
Kimathi, later court trials and the subsequent death sentence the trial Judge passes on him,
closely followed by a swift twist of events culminating in the liberation of Kimathi and his
people form the major part of the plot. The encounter between Boy and Girl constitutes the
sub-plot of the play. The sub-plot plays an important role in throwing light on the socio-
economic milieu characterized by widespread prevalence of poverty and helplessness.
Woman sums up the general misery: “Ngai! It is the same old story. Everywhere. Mombasa.
Nakura. Kisumu. Eldoret. The same old story. Our people.....tearing one another.....and all
because of the crumbs thrown at them by the exploiting foreigners. Our own food eaten and
leftovers thrown to us– in our own land, where we should have the whole share.” (page 18)
The sub-plot involving the skirmish, between Boy and Girl, the chase by Boy of Girl, Girl’s
passive attitude, her inability to resist her ‘oppressor’ and the final radical change in Girl
suggest the passivity, resilience and the final militancy of the Natives. Girl’s self-reflection,
self-reclamation and self-consciousness lead her to total restoration, self-assertion and
confidence and her subsequent rights to freedom and decent life, the moment she is able to
identify the weakness in her ‘tormentor’ –a mere bully. While asserting herself and rejecting
oppression she declares: “.........Brute. I’ll not run away from you.
I’ll never runaway from anybody. Never.” (page 42)
The play shows how the decision to reject oppression evolves gradually and collectivizes
under trusted leadership. Resistance is the last of the four historical phases against the
machinations of imperialism and this is actualized through the unity and solidarity of the
warring tribes and the fight against the dominating superstructure as well as its agents. This is
reflected in the sub-plot when Boy and Girl resolve their differences. The resolution of their
differences enables them to believe completely in Dedan Kimathi, and not only join the
forces of the revolutionists but also become capable of carrying forward the cause of
freedom. The significance of unity is discussed by Woman and Girl:

7
 “Woman: (proud) That is the way it should be. Instead of fighting against one another,
we who struggle against exploitation and oppression, should give one another strength and
faith till victory is ours.
Girl: (Despondently) It is hard. It is hard seeing that we are weak.
Woman: United, our strength becomes faith that moves mountains. ( page 60)
The play focuses on the nature of Revolutionary Struggle through the Woman’s
understanding which she passes on in response to the Boy’s queries.
Boy: Why did you come upon us so suddenly and also disguised?
Woman: In the struggle, you learn to adapt to changed circumstances.........Great risks:
but the task once started must be completed.
Girl: What are you now going to do? You, alone?
Woman: (contemplating Boy and Girl): I am not alone. You are there!
Girl: (jumping up-excited proudly): I am ready!
Boy: (also jumping up): I too am ready! But what shall we do? (pg 60)
The Plot develops through movements of the Woman, followed by the Boy and the Girl
which allow spaces for dialogues highlighting the significance of the Mau Mau movement for
the education of the younger generation. The course of action is carefully and confidentially
detailed for the benefit of the Boy and the Girl whose commitment to the Cause has taken
shape gradually, waiting to be translated into action.
Woman: (thoughtfully): Listen. Kimathi is a genius in this struggle. It is therefore
important to rescue him even at the cost of a few lives. The struggle must continue. They’ll
soon take him to court. I shall first go in, dressed to kill. Then you’ll follow dressed as you
are: I will speak to Kimathi with my eyes. When I cough, you start shooting. In the
confusion, Dedan will follow me. An expected surprise can do miracles. Once five fighters
made a whole Home-guard post surrender. It’s all a matter of timing. Thereafter it’s luck: we
make our way to Majengo. Once there, none can find us. (pg 61).
The Plot is closely-knit with reconstructing the heroic struggle and vision of Kimathi.
The dialogues also re-create the romanticism associated with Kimathi in popular imagination.
Boy: I have also heard it said that he could turn himself into an aeroplane........
Girl: That he could walk for a 100 miles on his belly........
Boy: That in the forest, he could laugh and no enemy would hear him.
Girl: That he could mimic any noise of a bird and none could tell the difference.
Boy: How then could they arrest him?
Girl: They have caught his shadow. (Pg 62)

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 The Woman re-captures the strength and versatility of Kimathi but realises the need to
humanize him so that the Boy and the Girl absorb the urgency of the mission they have taken
up.
Woman: (sadly, contemplatively): It is true children, that Kimathi could do many things.
Even today, they sing of the battle of Mithari; the battles he waged in Mount Kenya; the
battle of Niavasha, Yes, they sing of the enemy aeroplanes he brought down with only a rifle!
He was a wonderful teacher: with a laugh that was truly infectious. He could also act and
mimic any character in the world: a story teller too, and many were the nights he would calm
his men and make their hearts light and gay with humorous anecdotes. But above all, he
loved people, and he loved his country. He also hated the sight of Africans killing one
another that he sometimes became a little soft with our enemies. (softly): He, Great
commander that he was, Great organizer that he was, Great fearless fighter that he was, he
was human! (almost savagely, bitterly): Too human at times! (Pg. 62)
The plot in the play moves through the dialogues with the purpose of resurrecting
Kimathi in his multi dimensional reality as also anticipating the final action in the Court. The
Woman’s image of Kimathi takes the play to another turning point in which a scene from
Nyandarua Forest is played out throwing light on different aspects of the Mau-Mau
Movement — the betrayals, the loyalties, the conflicts and above all the tribute to the role of
women in the Movement.
Kimathi:
When this struggle is over
We shall erect at all the city corners
Monuments To our women
Their courage and dedication
To our struggle.
Come forward, mother of people
Teach us a lesson on
Diligence and commitment. (Pg. 73)
The Woman’s role in the struggle is couched in unflinching commitment to the struggle and
not swayed by any sentiment.
The significance of the Forest Trial
The Woman’s dialogue with Boy and Girl serves to re-introduce Kimathi as an important
historical figure. The shift to the Forest serves to re-enforce the special qualities which have
enabled Kimathi to perceive the Colonial and Neo-Colonial design and the need to sustain the
resistance, in spite of the difficulty in retaining his own kinsmen. The Guerilla. Camp in the

9
midst of Nyandarua Forest is seeped in a culture of another kind of fighting spirit and
conflicts within the Camp.
“Rwimbo Rwa Kimathi”, The Song of Kimathi sung by the forest fighters celebrates the
courage and inspiration which initiated the Movement “To defeat the Whiteman. The entry of
Kimathi along with other” generals “leads to interaction with the fighters to assess their
position and to conduct trials of the arrested British soldiers. The trial reveals Kimathi’s
perception of how exploitation is embedded in the Imperialist social structure.
(British) soldiers: Poor. We are poor.
Just working people.
Kimathi : Are you fighting for the working people of your country?
Soldiers : (They look at one another, confused, as if they don’t know what he is talking
about.)
Kimathi: It’s always the same story. Poor men sent to die so that parasites might live in
paradise with ill-gotten wealth. Know that we are not fighting against the British people. We
are fighting against British colonialism and imperialist robbers of our land, our factories, our
wealth. Will you remember British imperialism?
Soldiers: ( Standing up straight, trying to muster dignity):
We are the Queen’s soldiers!
Kimathi : (angry) This kind of imperialism’s vermin
Makes my blood boil with hate.
Did you come all this way
Many thousands of miles
Across the sea, over the air,
A long way from your home,
To kill our people
So that Lord So- and So
Might drink other people’s blood in peace? (Pg 64)
The African K.A.R. soldier is subjected to similar questioning and like the British soldiers
subjected to similar punishment for working as mercenary soldiers. A critic adds that the trial
of deserters and traitors held in the guerrilla camp at Nyandarua Forest, lends a new
dimension to the idea of a trial.
In this Trial, Kimathi, in the role of a judge is also being judged. The Woman guides him
out of his weakness of being “too human” towards his kinsmen. Out of love for his mother,
Kimathi allows the renegades to escape. He is made to realize how this emotional weakness

10
would harm the cause of the Struggle. The scene is important in that it brings out the contrast
between Henderson’s Trials and the Forest Trial which is conducted democratically and in a
spirit of fairness. Everyone is heard, even if there is a charge s/he makes against Kimathi
himself. The Woman challenges Kimathi’s concern for blood relations by re-defining real
kinship in revolutionary terms. The re-definition gives a new dimension and meaning to the
conventional notion of kinship in African culture. Kimathi accepts the woman’s arguments as
convincing and clearly reveals that he is not a rigid traditionalist in his anti - imperialist
ideology and action.
Kimathi : What do you say about
These slumberers?
These surrenderers of our freedom?
Woman:……………………..
When will you learn?
We shall continue to suffer
Until that day
We can recognize our own
Our true kinsmen
When we can correctly
Identify our enemies
What is this superstition about
Kindred blood even when it
Tums sour and treacherous
To our long cherished cause? My clansman, my kinsman,
My brother, my sister
If these are of my house
Let them honour the oath of unity Let them uphold
The struggle for liberation
From slavery, exploitation.
So whatever decision we make
It must be wise it itself
It must advance our struggle
And not be made on the basis
of kindred blood. (Pp. 73-74)

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 The Play functions as both critique of imperialism and self critique of conventions which
prevent people from bringing new understanding to changing realities. Kimathi, too, has to
learn In Nyandarua Forest, Kimathi as Judge learns and understands new concepts of kinship.
His personal anguish over the condition of his mother finds expression in simple words of
pain, till he sees the need for determined action.
Kimathi:.....................................
Mother is now crazy
That she collects flowers
And keeps on singing
Calling on God
To spare Wambararia
To spare her youngest. (Pg. 77)
The Nyandarua Forest scene is juxtaposed with the British courtroom scene, in which the
Judge is concerned with merely taking the condemning charge against Kimathi to its logical
end of sentencing Kimathi to death. During the pronouncement made by the Judge there is
quick movement of physical and symbolic intrusion into the functioning of Imperialist ways.
The Woman, disguised as a lady enters the courtroom, re-assures Kimathi in chains, followed
by the Boy and the Girl. Kimathi is convinced that the commitment to the Cause of Freedom
is alive. In reply to the Judge’s redundant query of “Have you anything to say before the
sentence?” Kimathi replies in a spirit of triumph, “............But now I know that
For every traitor
There are a thousand patriots
...............................................
And Kenya shall be free!
The play ends on a note of hope and re-assurance that the Struggle will continue, imbued
with the vision and strength of the successive generation, linked through Woman with the
spirit of Kimathi. As the Woman is whisked out of the courtroom, “....she breaks into
triumphant singing (freedom song), flooding the courtroom with her powerful, militant voice.
There is whispering and general excitement in them court.” Against this backdrop the Boy
and the Girl make their strategic entrance which reaffirms all that Kimathi represents love for
the soil and people of Africa and a political insight into neo-colonial development. At this
juncture in the play, the Freedom Song is sung inside the British courtroom by diverse voices
much to the discomfort of the Judge.
Bururi uyu witu Andu Airu
Ngai ni aturathimiire
Na akiuga tutikoima kuo.

12
 (God Blessed this our Land
This our country fellow Africans
Has been Blessed specially by God
And Decreed that we shall not move out)
For other translations see Appendix.
Appendix
Translations of songs and words in Gikuyu and Kiswahili
All textual references are sourced from the Heinemann Edition, 1977, distributed by
Worldwide Publications.
The songs are in Kiswahili dialect which is phonetic. The vowel sounds (a, e, i, o, u) are
vk],s] bZ] vks] mQ
The consonant sound ‘B’ is pronounced as’ F’e.g. Bururi (This) is read as Fururi.
This will help you in reading the Kiswahili text correctly.
Songs:
Page 4. We shall re-possess our Lands
We Fight for our Freedom
And Liberate our Education
We shall re-possess our Industries
Culture is our Land
Blood and Sweat will flow
We shall liberate our soils.
Page 5. We shall re-possess our Lands
We shall liberate our Africa
We shall re-possess our Industries
Page 6. To be beaten and jailed
Will not prevent us, Citizens, from
Claiming Freedom and our Land.
Page 14. God Blessed This Our Land
This our Country Fellow Africans
Has been Blessed by God
And Decreed that we shall not move out.

13
Pages 84-85– (People’s Song and Dance)
Soloists– Ho-oo, ho-oo, a big river flows!
Group– Ho-oo, ho-oo, a big river flows’
Soloists– West to East
Group– A big river flows
Soloists– North to South
Group– A big river flows
Soloists Hoo– i, hoo-i, the enemy indeed is stupid
Group– Hoo-i, hoo-i, the enemy indeed is stupid
Soloists– And he killed our first-borns.
Group– And exonerates himself, a winner Soloists–But many more have been bom.
Group– Let’s celebrate the new generation
Soloists– Let the present one hold the clubs high
Group– Let’s re-initiate the attack against enemy.
Soloists– Hoo-ye, hoo-ye, Workers of the World
Group– Hoo-ye, hoo-ye, Workers of the World
Soloists– And all the peasant farmers Group– Let us hold four] hands together.
Soloists– Let’s undo the chains of barborous masters
Group– We don’t want slavery any more.
Soloists– Hoo-ye, hoo-ye, our unity is our strength
Group– Hoo-ye, hoo-ye, our unity is our strength
Soloists– We shall fight till the end
Group– Let’s intensify the fight and we shall win
Soloists– Hoes high and machetes high
Group– Let’s redeem ourselves and revive the nation.

14
 Words and Phrases
Page 6
Uhuru - Freedom
Sikia - Do you hear
Ndio Afande! - Yes, Sir!
Askari - African regular soldier; also, policeman, guard.
Fande! - [Yea,] sir!
Page 7
Tayari Bwana! - Ready, Tiaster!
Ndio Bwana - Yes, master.
Pesi! Na pana kimbia. - Fast! And don’t run.
Haraka! - Quick!
Ngoja! - Wait!
Gakunia - Ga=little, kunia=sack. Thus, literally, ‘little sack’! figuratively, an
African agent of the Special Branch. These agents, “encased in sacking
from head to foot with only two holes for seeing through” ‘aided in the
initial screening of the Mau Mau suspects’.
(-Sicherman)
Leta Karatasi yako - Bring your papers (Identity card). Sina -1 don’t have [one].
Sina Arande! Rudial - I don’t have, sir! [Now], repeat! Kazi yako - Your work (i.e.,
‘Your occupation’)
Kulima - Farmer (peasant)
Mtu a Kimathi - You a man of Kimathi
Hapana - Certainly not. (’No’ with an emphasis)
Kwenda. - Go.
Wewe na shati nyekundu - You, in the red shirt. Mimi - Me
Page 8
Unfanya kazi wapi - Where do you work
Lazima you go to... - roughly, ‘we shall have you go to
Manyani - ‘You to to Manyani’, etc. is a threat, for Manyani was a detention camp
especially created during Operation Anvil in April 1954 where thousands of
detainees (suspected Mau Mau) were tortured brutally. The are in which the camp

15
 was located was extremely hot during daytime and cold during night. Insects of the
are including the dangerous tse-tse flies, added to the torture. (See also Notes on
Proper Nouns)
Wote March! - All [of you], march!
Uuu-u! Nduri ici ni kii gik! - ‘Nduri ici’ is an expressioin of shock and surprise.
O! O! Folks, what is this.
Group– Ho-oo, ho-00, a big river flows’
Page 9
Simama kabisa! – Stop absolutely still (’Stop dead’)
Ati pasi – Is it a passbook [that you require]
Ndiyo, passbook. Wapi passbook – Yes, passbook. Where is the passbook [the
“passbook’ was a sort of identity card]
Sema Afande – Say “Sir”,
Sina Afande – (When the woman uses these words, she suggests, for the own
satisfaction, the idea that the does not have a master.)
Kuja – Come! (a command)
Lain! – [Fall in] line!
Kwa nini, wewe hapana passbook - Why do you have no passbook with you.
Toa! Toa! Weka chini, upesi! - Take it out! Take it out! Put that [bag] down,
quickly!
Page 10
Shenzi – savage (or] ‘uncivilized’; or, ‘heathen’)
Page 13
Mzungu – White man
Page 14
Wui – (An interjection)
Page 15
Puuu – (sound of the spitting - not quite a word)
Page 16
Saidia maskini, sah – Help the poor, sir.

16
Page 17
“Ahsonde soona” – Actually “asante, sena”, but the boy here is mockingly
imitating an American accent. The words mean “Thank you very much’.
Page 18
Ngai! – God!
Page 19
‘Busaa’ and ‘Change’aa’ are names of home-brewed drinks; both are widely
available, but Change’s is illegal. Busaa is a beer fermented from miller; Chang’aa
is a strond liqueur also know as ‘Nubia gin’ and “Kill me quick”. ‘Kangari’ (a
Gikuya word) and “karubu’ too are home-brewed.
It is these drinks which were widely consumed by the poverty-ridden, despondent
African working, class people Jiving in Nairobi, Widowed and unmarried women
in the slums of Pumwani, Mathere Valley, etc, frequently earned their livelihood
brewing these.
Page 21
Thandaraita – Tha means ‘pity’, ‘mercy’, ‘peace’; ndaraita means ‘does not come’,
‘does not call upon (you)’. Thus, it appears, ‘Peace does not come’ is the cry. In the
separate references of this word – aaa and and – i are added (see also p. 30). – aaa
may indicate the speaker is happy, and - i may indicate a wailing tone.
Page 23
Utamu ... Gacamirwo-oo / Ukimeza, chozi lajimwagaQ/Ni utamuu... tam-
tamtamuuuu ... / kuheherwona gucamirwo. – The song (variations inpage 30 may
be noted) should roughly mean.- ‘O’ peace does not call upon one! Sweetness..
When you taste, tears drop as you swallow. It is sweetness., great sweetness., it is
chilling/biter cold when tasted. (Different emphases while singing can change the
implication of the lines quickly and throw out ironical suggestions of all kinds).
Utamu – ‘sweetness’: Gacanirwo- “taste”: wkimeza – “When you swallow’, chozi
– ‘tears’; kajimarwaga – has/have poured or dropped or dripped or ‘come out’; ni –
‘is’; na – here, ‘from’; kukeherwo – severe cold.
Page 29
Posho – maize meal
Page 53
Kabtsha – Completely
Page 58
nyinyi! – You (plural) stop! (It is an order to halt)

17
 Maasai Manyatta – “Popularly used to refer to Maasai village (correctly called
engang) but properly used only of the mudhuts encircled by thornbush fence that
are built for unmarried Massai warriors (moran), their mothers and their
uncircumcised girl firends.”
Page 59
Moran – Young Maasai soldier. A ‘moran’ practised a life of abstinence and
discipline to become a strong warrior.
Page 62
“Rwimbo Rwa Kimathi” – Song of Kimathi
Page 67
mbuci – guerrilla camp

Some Questions
Q.1. Discuss the title of the play, The Trial of Dedan Kimathi.
Q.2. What are the temptations offered to Dedan Kimathi to make him retract from his
struggle for total liberation of his motherland? Does he succumb to any of them?
Q.3. What problems concerning post-colonialism are touched upon by Ngugi in The Trial
of Dedan Kimathi?
Q.4. Discuss the role played by Woman, Boy and Girl in The Trial of Dedan Kimathi.
Q.5. Bring out the significance of the Forest Trail.
Q.6. Comment on the technique employed by Ngugi and Mugo in re-enacting Kenya’s
struggle for freedom in The Trail of Dedan Kimathi.
Further Reading
Writers in Politics. London: Heinemann, 1981.
“Mother Sing for Me” (Maitu Njugira), a musical documentary drama.
Gugelberger, Georg (ed.) Marxism and African Literature. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press,
1986.
Killam, G.D., ed. Critical Perspectives on Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Washington: Three Continents
Publishers, 1984.
Pieterse, Cosmo and Donald Munro (eds.) Protest and Conflict in African Literature.
London: Heinemann, 1969.

18
 (b) Animal’s People
(Tape 1, 2 and 3)
Indra Sinha
Binoy Bhushan Agarwal

1. Introduction
Environmentalists have for long been voicing their concerns regarding the environmental
crisis that has been looming large, owing in great measure to modern efforts apparently
aimed at development and urbanization. Steeped in ruthless exploitation of natural resources
with scant regard to the fragile ecosystem, the crisis and threat thus posed is unarguably man-
made as many environmental activists would concur. Climate change, global warming,
melting glaciers have been some of the oft used terms while talking about a deteriorating
ecosystem. However, increasingly the concern with the environment and destructive
modernizing impulses has found way, and more palpably so, in fiction such that it has led to
the emergence of a genre of its own arguably labeled as “climate fiction”. Such work of
fiction - that welds environment and literature together within its form - seeks to reflect and
resist the apocalyptic future that a deluded sense of progress holds for the human race. In
what has broadened the scope of this emergent genre are the ways in which it has
increasingly come to accommodate the many types of ecological disasters such as those that
are a result of the first world’s treatment of the third world countries as dumping grounds for
their toxic waste and testing grounds for potentially hazardous chemicals that can have long
term lethal effects on people. Some of the contemporary writers to have delved into climate
fiction are Amitav Ghosh (The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
2016, The Nutmeg's Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis, 2021), Margaret Atwood (Oryx
and Crake, 2003, The Year of the Flood, 2009 and MaddAddam, 2013) and Richard Powers
(The Overstory, 2018) to name a few. Indra Sinha too is one such writer whose Animal’s
People is an example of literary activism in the bourgeoning field of eco-criticism.
In his novel Animal’s People, Sinha, known to have championed the cause of Bhopal
tragedy survivors, presents his critique of global capitalism and its ruthless exploitation of the
global south. In it, he offers a fictional account of the catastrophic effects of the gas tragedy
in Bhopal. It in turn also evokes the traumatic memories of Chernobyl and Minamata as other
examples of environmental disaster that have had long term terrible impacts. While
foregrounding ‘a shared global vulnerability’ and the capitalist / neo-imperialist callousness
exhibited towards nature and people, the author does not fail to dramatize the resilience of the
survivors which is a pointer to hope despite an overarching framework of loss and
helplessness that spans the novel.
2. Learning Objectives
In this study lesson on Indra Sinha’s novel Animal’s People, you will learn about:

19
 1. “Climate Fiction”
2. The author Indra Sinha, and his literary output.
3. The novel’s unconventional approach to narrative.
4. Animal’s People as a novel about Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
5. Key ideas about industrial disasters, environmental crisis and human tragedy of
people caught in its web.
6. The novel as a text on disability studies.
7. The trope of animal and its significance.

3. Biographical Sketch and Literary Pursuits

Born in 1950 in Maharashtra (India), Indra Sinha is a British writer settled in Southern
France. He received his education from Mayo College in Ajmer (India) and University of
Cambridge. Before choosing to become a full-time writer, Sinha was a copywriter of top
repute. He has been known to employ his skills as advertising copywriter to make scathing
critique of Dow Chemical Company among others that have caused some of the worst
environmental disasters adversely impacting countless lives.
Sinha’s literary oeuvre includes an English translation of The Love Teachings of Kama
Sutra (1980), Tantra (1993), The Cybergypsies (1999), The Death of Mr. Love (2002) and
Animal’s People (2007). Animal’s People won the 2008 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize. It
was also shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize.
4. Context
Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People is set against the backdrop of man-made disasters because of
corporate recklessness and greed. In doing so, Sinha attempts to lay bare the natural and
human costs that have been the concomitant and ugly reality of ill-conceived planning and
misplaced notions of modernity. The unpalatable truth of the narrative of western progress is
revealed in moments such as one which is the focus of the book in question. What lends
credibility to his literary activism is the fact that Sinha has worked closely to raise funds for
those who have suffered as a result of the Bhopal disaster. In solidarity with the victims and
the activists, he also went on a hunger strike in 2008 to protest against the government’s
failure at not being able to bring the guilty to book and to ensure justice and compensation to
the survivors.
Written largely in a first-person narrative, the story is related by a nineteen year old
youth called “Animal” - named so because of his bodily deformity. He has been one of the
terribly affected victims of the massive toxic gas leak that occurred in an American owned
company in Khaufpur on “that night”. The fateful night refers to the night of 2-3 December
1984 when a leakage of tons of lethal gas from the Union Carbide plant turned the city into a
death chamber and has come to be known as the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Its poisonous fumes

20
not only killed people but also poisoned its soil, air and water, and the aftereffects of which is
that it has continued to affect children born after the accident. The youth then literally and
metaphorically embodies the crippling and terrifying effects of the gas leak tragedy; a result
of disregard for human lives that has left thousands of its victims dead and many more still
suffering and languishing in quest for justice even years after the fateful event took place on
‘that night’.
5. Summary and Analysis
In a unique departure from the conventional mode of narrative technique, the story has a
central protagonist namely “Animal”, a nineteen year old boy who refuses to identify as
human. On persuasion from a journalist, he begins to record his life story on tapes. Each
chapter/tape unpacks for the reader the treatment meted out to Animal and his thoughts,
desires as well as opinions regarding the other characters thus giving a subaltern perspective.
As the opening pages of the novel reveal, the story of Animal purports to tell the story of
Bhopal, fictionalized as Khaufpur, in the wake of 1984 Bhopal Gas Leak, a tragedy that
adversely impacted the life and health of city-residents for generations to come. That an
Australian journalist is keen on doing a story on the chemical disaster vis-à-vis Animal is
because the latter is both a witness to the catastrophe as well as somebody who literally
embodies within his corporeal self the tragic consequences of the venomous chemical leak
which has continued to affect the ‘Khaufpuris’, the inhabitants of the fictional city. In
translating the story of Animal, Sinha, the author, raises questions of corporate and state
responsibility and the lack thereof as well as environmental crisis, literary testimony, ethics
and care among others. At the same time, the author through an innovative narrative
technique has shown the power of fiction to tell the truth while also pointing to the limitations
of language to articulate grief and loss. It also helps to bridge the gap between the binaries of
human and non-human.
While fictionalizing Bhopal as Khaufpur, Sinha adds to the tension of the narrative by
using narrative techniques that give it a semblance of veracity. Consequently, the story has a
glossary and a website dedicated to the city of Khaufpur too to add to the authenticity of the
story. All of these also have an effect of universalizing the story such that it reflects the larger
concerns with narratives of capitalist greed and insatiable propensities of the global north that
has caused huge ecological damages in the global south. Sinha, the writer, admits as much in
one of his interviews where he said, ‘Khaufpur is every place in which people have been
poisoned and then abandoned. It could be Seveso, Halabja, Minamata, Caracas or Sao Paulo’
(The Guardian).
5.1. Tape One
The first chapter, referred to as Tape one, introduces the narrator who talks of memory albeit
a memory that he has no recollections but one that has been passed down to him by Ma
Franci, the French nun, of how he used to be human once. The opening chapter despite being
less than two pages alerts the reader to some of the concerns and style of the narrative.

21
Locating the story in memory allows the narrator to talk of a past when many years ago he
used to be human-like before the dreadful metamorphosis with his body bent double that
transformed him into animal like. However, despite his physical disability that has resulted in
his othering with him being called “Jaanvar” (Animal), he strongly refuses any aspiration to
be like human. And he makes no bones about it. He is honest about his “jealousies”, “rage”
and “raw disgust” at any reminder about his disability. Anger permeates the narrative of
Animal who is clear that his story would have none of the sophistication that language is
capable of and that it will be told on his own terms. Consequently, the story as it unfolds over
the pages of the novel is one which is told in an untrammeled voice by a foul-mouthed
narrator who does not shy away from engaging in profanities. The reader is already warned,
“If you want my story, you’ll have to put up with how I tell it,” because “If a person leaves
things unsaid so as to avoid looking bad, it’s a lie.” Effectively, the story makes it clear that
the ugly realities ought to be told as such without any embellishment or censorship; a point
that is highlighted in the next chapter/tape as well.
5.2. Tape Two
Tape Two which is the second chapter then has Animal getting to the business of talking to
the tape and the circumstances and sequence of events that led Animal to record his life on
what he calls “tape mashin”. Initially, the narrator is unwilling to record his life as desired by
the “Kakadu Jarnalis”, the Australian journalist who gave him the tapes. The refusal to do so
stemming from a sense of despair in light of the fact that the victims are still reeling under the
aftermath of the tragedy while there has been no progress in terms of justice and reparation,
and the court case against Kampani has been dragging on for years with no rightful closure in
sight.
Interestingly enough when Animal finally decides to do the talking, he makes an honest
confession of what he did to the original tape given to him by the journalist for this purpose.
That an otherwise foul mouthed character is honest about his action is telling in a world of
lies, deceit and corruption. It also helps complicate the binaries of human and animal.
In telling his story, Animal following his confession goes on to begin his story by talking
about his first encounter with the journalist. One is told that Chunaram who made money by
fleecing tourists and people flocking to Khaufpur had introduced the Australian journalist to
Animal. It had taken a lot of coaxing and cajoling on part of Chunaram to get Animal to
agree to the idea of recording his story for the journalist. With hopelessness looming large
since nothing concrete has been attained despite the “many books … written about this
place”, Animal anticipates the doomed nature of the project. Though many newspapers have
been written about the tragedy unleashed by the toxic chemical leak, and many authors and
journalists talked about it, they all have ended up amounting to nothing. While nothing has
been achieved in terms of justice and compensation for the victims, Khaufpur has become a
site peopled with news hungry media and people like Chunaram who monetize the situation
by acting as middlemen between the outsiders and the city residents. So when Chunaram, a
Khaufpur resident who makes money selling chai at Nutcracker and from people who come

22
to Khaufpur in search of stories, Animal notices the greed in both of them, “You were like all
the others, come to suck our stories from us…Like vultures are you jarnalis… You have
turned us Khaufpuris into storytellers, but always of the same story.” Animal feels not only
hopeless but a sense of invasion which is expressed thus, “their curiosity feels like acid on
my skin”. What adds poignancy to it all despite the brazen and expressly uncouth nature of
Animal is his intuitive sense that eager and curious “eyes” of the outsiders will never be able
to feel the trauma and the everyday struggles of the survivors and worst affected victims like
Animal himself. But Chunaram desperate to make money from the journalist is persistent in
his efforts to get Animal to agree to tell his story. Though reluctant Animal finally agrees to
tell his story but with the condition that “the book must contain only his story and nothing
else. Plus it must be his words only”. Such an insistence on his part is precisely because he
does not mince words and is exasperated at the many versions going around and none telling
the truth. He explains his predicament as a choice to make where there is not much of a
choice. He perhaps feels compelled to tell the story since he claims “knowing which is
which”. It is interesting to note that Animal turns his source of his sufferings into a weapon of
empowerment by asserting his right to tell the narrative in the manner he wishes to.
However, it is not before some time elapses that Animal starts to record his story. At the
same time as he starts off with it, the audience/reader is made privy to the rush of emotions,
cacophony of voices, and “secrets” and “unusual meanings” that Animal is contending with
that scream to be told. All of which serve to highlight the urgency and the uniqueness of the
untold narratives regarding the catastrophe that has the people of Khaufpur including Animal
in its grip.
Oscillating between the past and the present, the narrative unfolds with Animal’s painful
transformation from being a normal kid to a creature that walked on all four with his spine
“twisted like a hairpin”. Having been abandoned as a child with no one to claim him he is
stripped of identities that come to define human beings. What the physical deformity does is
to further denude him of any vestigial identification with the human. The transformation that
his body underwent “that night” is rendered visually evocative thereby implying the
monstrous impact of the chemical leak that took place in the Kampani on that night.
Accentuating his miserable plight is the teasing and name calling that he is subjected to. In
the orphanage that he is growing up, the kids start calling him Animal - “Jaanvar, Jungli
Jaanvar” - a label that sticks throughout and name calling and ridicule becomes his fate. As
such he shrinks from contact with the humans and finds himself scavenging for food with
dogs and finds a ‘friend’ in Jara, a dog. Inbuilt in the descriptions of his companionship with
Jara and their collective struggle is a critique of humanity. In a world defined by binaries and
categories, the solace is to be found in animals who seem more empathetic while humans are
reckless and cruel. It also helps complicate the human and non-human binary, and raise
critical questions regarding society and civilization. Furthermore while Animal-narrator does
come across as animalistic and a sex crazed creature, perhaps a result of being constantly
mocked at and the denial of human impulse, he is not totally incapable of arousing his
readers’ sympathy with his insights on the duplicitousness of human nature.
23
 As the story unfolds in Tape Two, Animal informs us of his turning into a sort of a
scammer for living, trained into it by Ali Faqri, the Pir Gate beggar. It is in the course of one
such pedestrian tricks for survival that he engages in, along with Jara, that he encounters
Nisha. Tape two then, introduces us to the some of the other characters – Aliya, Zafar, Pandit
Somraj and Elli, the American doctor who tends to the poor about whom not much is
revealed until tape six. He also introduces his mode of address to reader-audience whom he
calls “Eyes” about whom one comes to know more of in the later tapes/chapters as well as the
manner in which the lives of the residents have been impacted by the deadly gas leak. One is
also made aware of local humanitarian aid, people’s collective resistance against Kampani -
the company which has abandoned its moral responsibility having precipitated one of the
greatest disasters for the humans and the ecology, and the slow paced trial of the case
pending in the Indian court that seems to make no headway.
5.3. Tape Three
Tape Three continues with the theme of victimization and the resistance strategies both of
survival and for justice. Like Animal affected by the toxic gas leak, Aliya, a small school-
going girl too is affected by it. She lost her mother who died after suffering for long with lung
disease. Aliya is now in the care of her grandparents who are over-protective about her
having lost everything to the long lasting deadly effects of the toxic fumes.
Aliya and Animal are not the only ones who embody the long term sufferings of the
people of Khaufpur. Others like poet Qaif Khaufpuri suffered physical deterioration, and Ma
Franci, the French nun who worked at an orphanage where Animal was raised has gone
crazy, lost her comprehension abilities in so far Hindi and English languages are concerned
and consequently thinks that others are speaking gibberish. Pandit Somraj, a singer of great
repute, also known as “Awaaz-e-Khaufpur” (Voice of Kaufpur) had his lungs damaged by the
pervasive toxicity unleashed ‘that night’ notwithstanding the fact that he also lost his family
members except his daughter Nisha to the accident. What makes it worse is the fact that the
toxic chemical have so deeply penetrated the natural resources of air and water that it
continues to have debilitating effects on the people of Khaufpur.
Among these are people who have taken upon themselves more determined roles in their
fight against the Kampani whose recklessness had cost countless lives and immense tragic
loss that was palpable all around. One such figure who embodies people’s collective
resistance for humanitarian cause is Zafar. Zafar who has been a brilliant student quits
college. Though an outsider he has taken up the legal crusade against the company. An
advocate for humanitarian rights he is the messiah that Kaufpur community needs. He leads
the protests and mobilizes resources and people to serve the cause of justice. His devotion to
the cause is such that he has given up his studies for the people which is reciprocated in equal
measure by the latter who hold him in high esteem. As such he is the hero - “Saint Zafar”-
that the Khaufpuris worship. Likewise Pandit Somraj runs a poison-relief committee for the
poorest people to help those suffering with damaged lungs.

24
 In what lends a romantic tinge to the otherwise tragic story, is that he is also the love
interest of Nisha, Pandit Somraj’s daughter. Nisha too has joined the movement and helps
Zafar in his activities. She is someone towards whom Animal also has developed a romantic
interest for though not reciprocated exactly in the same manner. Though she does not view
him in the same way in which Animal desires her, she stands out for recognizing and
accepting Animal for who he is. She treats him like a human being and offers to help him by
introducing him to Zafar. Interestingly enough, Animal who longs for Nisha views Zafar as
his rival in love. Collectively then, Nisha, Zafar and Animal foreground a love triangle of
sorts and add to a degree of tension to the narrative. The author does so not to cater to all
sorts of audience-readers as to make a point about disability. Rather, the romantic triad serves
to underscore the humanity including the natural passions, desires and longings of Animal.
That it remains unrequited, rather mocked at by the larger society as is evident in one of the
episodes where he is made fun of by being compared to dogs mating throws into sharp relief
the frustrations of the disabled body. That physical deformity is seen as sufficient reason to
deny Animal’s humanity is telling of the able-bodied society that thereby only intensifies the
struggles of those who are anyway marginalized by virtue of being differently abled.
The book is as much about environmental tragedies and industrial disasters as it is about
disability as the novel makes it amply evident. The point being further underscored in this
chapter where Nisha and Zafar both reason with Animal to think of himself as “especially
abled”. Emphasizing upon Animal’s human identity despite his vehement refusal, Zafar says,
“You should think of yourself that way, but as especially abled.” He continues, “Plus you
should not allow yourself to be called Animal. You are a human being, entitled to dignity and
respect.”
Zafar in his sincere attempts to treat Animal as one like himself goes on to convince him
to choose a name of his own as the next step towards recognition of an affirmative identity.
When Zafar is brainstorming regarding the kind of work that Animal could be assigned the
latter finds it incredulous for never before had anyone treated him anything more than a
savage animal. Zafar and Nisha, are the counterfoils to the countless others who in their
prejudice and perversity never acknowledged the human identity of Animal with which he
was born. Zafar entrusting him with his plans convincingly inducts him in his group who
work for the fellow sufferers. He manages to convince Animal on the need to work for the
people of bastis. Nisha on her part offers to teach him Hindi. Animal proves to be a good
learner and Nisha moves on to teach him English as well. His sharp cognitive skills are best
described by Animal himself who says, “Like water flooding into a field, the new language
just came.” Though Animal joins Zafar, it is more for the sake of Nisha towards whom he is
romantically inclined. However, one noticeable effect of Animal’s working with Zafar and
Nisha is that people now show respect to him as well which Animal realizes. Also, the money
that he earns from it has meant that he can eat decently without scavenging for food from
leftovers and dustbins.

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 Interspersed within these narratives are descriptions of the present day ruined condition
of the Kampani factory that lies abandoned and has grown wild like a forest. The narrator
refers to it as “poison factory”, “death factory” to indicate the still pervading effects of the
poison that was unleashed that night. The terrible aspects of the chemical leak is brought out
in the following lines when the Animal says. “No bird hum. No insects survive here.
Wonderful poisons the Kampani made, so good it’s impossible to get rid of them, after all
these years they’re still doing their work”. Ironically enough, it is this site that Animal calls
home, “This is my kingdom, in here I am the boss”. It is in such descriptions as these that the
protagonist’s essential character is all the more revealed. Despite coming across as sex
obsessed and crude, he is not without his moments of lyrical poetry which expresses itself
when he ponders over the rusting site that once housed the foreign company. It is difficult not
to notice that the more Animal attempts to vocally resist human identification, the more his
humanity is stressed which is in sharp contrast to how people perceive him. Despite people’s
pervasive efforts at othering him, it is Animal who shows a heightened sense of belonging to
the place as well his romantic spirit that sees nature’s working hand. That he does not leave
the abandoned site which he has made a ‘home’, underscores Animal’s sense of belonging.
Further when he talks of the abandoned site which housed the Kampani once, in terms of
nature’s wrath, vengeance and its capacity to reclaim is striking for both its content and
tonality. Drawing the attention of his audience whom he calls “eyes”, he says, “Eyes, are you
with me still? Look throughout this place a silent war is being waged. Mother Nature’s trying
to take back the land. Wild sandalwood trees have arrived, who knows how…That herb
scent, it’s ajwain, you catch it drifting in gusts, at such moments the forest is beautiful, you
forget it’s poisoned and haunted. Under the poison-house trees are growing up through the
pipework, Creepers, brow and thick as my wrist, have climbed all the way to the top, tightly
they’ve wrapped wooden knuckles round pipes, and ladders, like they want to rip down
everything the Kampani made.” Such moments of poetic utterances however are soon
followed by descriptions of the terrible night and the “bhayaanak rasa” and “romanchik”
terror that it inspired in people.
Taking the readers through it all, the protagonist tells us of corruption, courts cases and
decade-long struggle for compensation. The court cases have been dragging on endlessly
with the company bosses having fled to America. In this god-forsaken place, the political
leaders are too corrupt to think about Khaufpur, and the lawyers not willing to advance the
case for compensation. The travesty of justice is summed up in the humour and many jokes
that it has birthed. Moreover, people’s anger, suspicion and resentment too is obvious in such
circumstances. In one of the scenes in tape three Pandit Somraj is found to have an argument
with his daughter Nisha. Pandit Somraj with his firm belief in the principles of justice and the
legal system argues for the legal right of the accused company to defend itself. It however has
the effect of upsetting Nisha given that she does not see the system having any effect as
seems obvious from the fact that the company has never turned up in the court. Not willing to
buy the hope and idealism that her father lives with, Nisha is all for protest though she finds
herself unwilling to defend Zafar on the point of violence.

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 The episode then subsequently moves to Nisha and Animal. Two key events happen
towards the end of Tape-3. One is the knowledge that Nisha gains of Ma Franci and her
madness when Animal expresses his wish to learn French. Moved by sympathy and concern
for Ma Franci, Nisha insists that Animal should go back to convent to be with Ma Franci.
Animal who liked his new found freedom, made possible because of his encounters with
Nisha and Zafar, wanted otherwise. More so because he wanted to be with Nisha whom he
secretly desired and who had been welcoming of him. Next is the disappearance of Ma Franci
one fine day which leaves Animal worried. Apparently upset with being told that she was
crazy and that she better go back to France, Ma Franci had left the convent. He goes out in
search of her but is frustrated as well as anxious for her. During the course of his frantic
attempts he is given to believe that she was last seen leaving Huriya Bi’s house, Aliya’s old
grandmother. Though she is not to be found at Huriya Bi’s place, the young girl child does
want to say something but is stopped by her grandmother who orders her to sleep. Huriya Bi
having lost her daughter to the toxic leak, is excessively scared of losing her granddaughter
who is her pride and hope which explains her protectiveness towards her. Nonetheless, Aliya
still manages to give some clue. Taking the cue, Animal continues his search and finally,
finds Ma Franci with her bare belongings scattered around her. Interestingly, the chapter ends
with Ma Franci’s utterance, not Animal’s, which suggests two things; one, she has kind of set
up a home on the spot and two, her sense of relief at finding Animal back at ‘home’. Both of
which have a humanizing effect raising provocative questions about what it means to be
human, and what constitutes animal(ity) and if home is a place to be carried with oneself.
6. Self-Check Questions
1. What is relationship between animal and environmental degradation?
2. Critically comment on the animal-human binary as suggested in the novel, Animal’s
People.
3. What is Eco-criticism? What purpose does it serve?
4. The physical disability of Animal in the novel allows a useful metaphor to think about
an emasculated identity. Do you agree? Write a reasoned answer.
5. What function does Ma Franci and Aliya serve in the novel?
6. Why does the protagonist refuse to identify himself as human being?
7. How does the novel explore the connections between rapacious corporates and
modernization? What does it mean for natural ecosystem?
8. The disfigured body of Animal is an embodiment of the colonial and neo-imperial
violence. Critically comment.
9. Would you agree that the romantic angle in the story is contrived? Give a reasoned
answer.
10. Comment on the narrative technique used by the author in the novel Animal’s People.
11. The novel Animal’s People not so much offers solutions as hope. Discuss.

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7. Conclusion
Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People is a provocative novel. While at the heart of it, the book is a
powerful critique of industrialization and corporate irresponsibility, the novel is also an
exploration of what it means to be disabled body in the capitalist mode of economy. Among a
variety of rich and complex ideas that the novel explores, it is also read as a postcolonial
critique of imperialism/neo-imperialism whereby the powerful and advanced nations have
sought to dominate, control and proliferate itself at the expense of less powerful countries
under the typical colonial ruse of a ‘civilizing mission’ and by promising a sense of
modernization. Taken together, they raise further questions of human rights, justice and
ethics.
8. Further Readings
Banerjee, Brojendra Nath. Environmental Pollution and Bhopal Killings. New Delhi: Gian
Publishing House,1987.
Barker, C. Postcolonial Fiction and Disability: Exceptional Children, Metaphor and
Materiality. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
‘Bhopal: a novel quest for justice’. The Guardian.
Glotfelty, Cheryll, and Harold Fromm, eds. The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary
Ecology. University of Georgia Press, 1996.
Rigby, Catherine E. Ecocritical Theory: New European Approaches. University of Virginia
Press, 2011
Sinha, Indra. Animal's People: A Novel. Simon and Schuster, 2009.
Williams, Délice. ‘Spectacular Subjects: Abjection, Agency, and Embodiment in Indra
Sinha’s
Animal’s People’ in Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies. 21 June
2018. Web.

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